National Parks Group Applauds Death Valley National Park for Setting New Standards with Wilderness and Backcountry Stewardship Plan
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PRESS RELEASE
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | |
| Date: | August 7, 2013 |
| Contact: | David Lamfrom, California Desert Senior Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association: 760.219.4916 Kati Schmidt, Senior Media Relations Manager, National Parks Conservation Association: 415.728.0840; Mobile: 415.847.1768 |
National Parks Group Applauds Death Valley National Park for Setting New Standards with Wilderness and Backcountry Stewardship Plan
Statement by David Lamfrom, California Desert Senior Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association
Background:
Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the continental United States. Its 3.1 million acres of designated wilderness alone comprise an area nearly a million acres larger than Yellowstone National Park. Death Valley National Park today announced its adoption of a wilderness plan, four years in the making. Death Valley released a Finding of No Significant Impact today, allowing the park to move forward in implementing its Wilderness and Backcountry Stewardship Plan.
“The National Parks Conservation Association commends the unprecedented, forward-thinking approach that Death Valley National Park followed in crafting its Wilderness and Backcountry Stewardship Plan. The park’s plan takes into consideration the natural and intrinsic values that attract its nearly one million annual visitors, such as open space and pristine night sky, as well as the solitude that many seek in the park’s deep quiet spaces.”
“The plan is unique in that the park has implemented a process for assessing, monitoring, and seeking to protect or improve wilderness character. Death Valley National Park involved desert communities and key stakeholders to find an innovative way to better understand and protect the vast wilderness resources in the park. This is the first plan I have seen that actively measures wilderness character and seeks to improve it – the results were well worth the wait.”
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