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National Parks Conservation Association Lauds New Restrictions to Protect Big Cypress National Preserve From Off-Road Vehicles

3 October 2000

National Parks Conservation Association Lauds New Restrictions to Protect Big Cypress National Preserve From Off-Road Vehicles

    HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Oct. 3 "Big Cypress National Preserve has
always been one of the National Park System's dirty little secrets," says Mary
Munson, South Florida regional director of the National Parks Conservation
Association.  "The new reforms in off-road-vehicle use give hope to everyone
who cares about protecting the preserve in the healthiest state possible.
Management must be designed with all users in mind, including users of future
generations.  The era of hunters dictating policy in Big Cypress is at an end.
The preserve will evolve from a symbol of motorized destruction to a model of
sustainable use."
    "Conservationists welcome the plan with open arms in part because it
offers protection for the habitat of endangered species such as the Florida
panther and Cape Sable seaside sparrow," Munson says.  "The effects of off-
road vehicles on wildlife will be monitored.  If the vehicles jeopardize
wildlife, the plan can be refined.  We strongly support this flexible and
environmentally sensible approach."
    The plan, signed last week by National Park Service Director Robert
Stanton, Regional Director Jerry Belsun, and Superintendent John Donahue,
limits the number of off-road-vehicle (ORV) users and exerts a system-wide set
of controls on ORV access. Hunting is allowed in Big Cypress, where too many
hunters use heavy swamp buggies that tear up fragile soils and vegetation.
The plan will limit these heavy vehicles to less than 400 miles of maintained
trails, prohibit their use in thousands of acres of fragile prairies, and
institute an ambitious permitting and operator-education program.  The plan
will also restrict airboats in areas inhabited by the endangered Cape Sable
Seaside Sparrow.
    The National Parks Conservation Association is America's only private,
nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated solely to protecting, preserving,
and enhancing the National Park System. NPCA was founded in 1919 and today has
more than 450,000 members.

    NPCA -- Protecting Parks for Future Generations

    A library of national park information, including fact sheets,
congressional testimony, position statements, press releases and media alerts,
can be found at Read All About It on NPCA's World Wide Web site at
http://www.npca.org.