Close on the heels of ABP’s successful presentation to the Utah state parks board, changes are now being made to the National Park Service Management Policies manual - and the apparent direction of those changes is due in significant part to the ABP’s letter system that enabled members and non-members alike to send letters to Congress in support of the ABP’s and Congressman Tom Tancredo’s 4-year effort to end discrimination against backcountry parachutists. As reported in the New York Times, more than 190 pages of proposed changes were made in the document. Not reported in the Times or elsewhere were the specific changes proposed to Section 8.2.2.7, which in the 2001 edition declared that backcountry parachuting “is not an appropriate public use activity within national park areas, and is prohibited by 36 CFR 2.17.”

In a “redline” edition leaked to the media by a group of park advocates, that sentence has been deleted from Section 8.2.2.7, and additional language added specifying the manner in which backcountry parachuting can be allowed within NPS units. Your ABP has been in contact with the NPS during this period and continues to negotiate with key officials to obtain an even better outcome in both the official draft documents - scheduled to be released within the month - and in the final document, to be completed later, after a public comment period.

This is a significant achievement and your letters helped to make it happen. So congratulations and stay tuned for further news on this fast-moving story as your ABP continues to work with NPS to achieve fair access!

See the New York Times story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/politics/26park.html?th&emc=th

See the Section 8 revisions in the leaked document being hosted on the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees' website at: http://www.npsretirees.org/05_0826-CH8-UseoftheParks-redline.htm