Back to Chapter 2: Challenges

Feral horses at Cape Lookout National Seashore
by Sue Stuska, Ed.D.

Lessons from NEPA lawsuits
by Jake Hoogland

What can the National Park Service do about air quality problems?
by Christine Shaver

National Park Service prevails in court; environmental impact statement on schedule
by John D. Varley with Ann Deutch

Challenges--News Briefs

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by Steve Gibbons

After a 10-year hiatus in designating new sites, the National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program is back on its feet, steady, and raring to go. As you may recall, the National Park Service placed a moratorium on the NNL Program in 1989, which postponed the nomination, evaluation, and designation of new sites for landmark status. Though not a welcome development at the time, in hindsight the moratorium provided the National Park Service with an opportunity to take stock of the program on a national scale and make some key improvements. During this period, the National Park Service was successful in garnering a congressional appropriation of $775,000 to bolster the national program, which provided funding for additional "full-time" NNL regional coordinators. Just as important, program officials had time to revise the NNL regulations, identify and contact all landmark owners, update both the national landmarks handbook and the database, and adopt management controls for the program.

The painstakingly slow and protracted 10-year moratorium officially came to a close on 12 May 1999, with the promulgation of the new NNL regulations in the Federal Register. The new regulations reflect a balance between the National Park Service and private landowners while providing clarity, direction, and meaning to the landmarks program. Specifically, the new regulations reinforce the truly voluntary and honorary nature of the program by granting a 90-day withdrawal period to all landmark owners. Withdrawal requests were still being processed at the end of 1999; however, early tallies indicate a large percentage coming from three problematic landmark sites across the country. These three sites each have more than 1,000 landowners and were negatively affected by local misinformation about the landmarks program. The intent of the National Natural Landmarks Program is to resume the designation process after all withdrawal requests have been processed and boundaries adjusted.

With the final passage of the new regulations and the lifting of the moratorium, a new day has begun for the NNL Program. However, the National Park Service cannot do it alone. To be a truly successful program an all-inclusive prescription is needed, forging cooperative partnerships and relationships at all levels. Success for the NNL Program must prescribe success for all stakeholders, involving private landowners, government employees, academia, county commissioners, state representatives, and the Congress at large. Director Stanton's Natural Resource Challenge affirmatively echoes this call. National Natural Landmark Program coordinators, too, are ready to make a go of it. The real question is, are you?

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Last Updated: 09/26/00
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