Grand Canyon National Park not permitted to give its geologic age (PEER)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Saffo <paul () saffo com>
Date: December 30, 2006 12:31:46 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Grand Canyon National Park not permitted to give its  
geologic age (PEER)

oh my...
-p

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility News Release
(www.peer.org)

For Immediate Release: December 28, 2006
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

HOW OLD IS THE GRAND CANYON? PARK SERVICE WON’T SAY — Orders to Cater to
Creationists Makes National Park Agnostic on Geology

Washington, DC — Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an
official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to
pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt
review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was  
created by
Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years  
later no
review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park,
according to documents released today by Public Employees for  
Environmental
Responsibility (PEER).

“In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National  
Park
Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER
Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official
position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand  
Canyon is
‘no comment.’”

In a letter released today, PEER urged the new Director of the  
National Park
Service (NPS), Mary Bomar, to end the stalling tactics, remove the  
book from
sale at the park and allow park interpretive rangers to honestly answer
questions from the public about the geologic age of the Grand Canyon.  
PEER
is also asking Director Bomar to approve a pamphlet, suppressed since  
2002
by Bush appointees, providing guidance for rangers and other  
interpretive
staff in making distinctions between science and religion when  
speaking to
park visitors about geologic issues.

In August 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the  
sale
at park bookstores of Grand Canyon: A Different View by Tom Vail, a book
claiming the Canyon developed on a biblical rather than an  
evolutionary time
scale. NPS Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. To  
quiet
the resulting furor, NPS Chief of Communications David Barna told  
reporters
and members of Congress that there would be a high-level policy  
review of
the issue.

According to a recent NPS response to a Freedom of Information Act  
request
filed by PEER, no such review was ever requested, let alone conducted or
completed.

Park officials have defended the decision to approve the sale of Grand
Canyon: A Different View, claiming that park bookstores are like  
libraries,
where the broadest range of views are displayed. In fact, however,  
both law
and park policies make it clear that the park bookstores are more like
schoolrooms rather than libraries. As such, materials are only to  
reflect
the highest quality science and are supposed to closely support approved
interpretive themes. Moreover, unlike a library the approval process  
is very
selective. Records released to PEER show that during 2003, Grand Canyon
officials rejected 22 books and other products for bookstore  
placement while
approving only one new sale item — the creationist book.

Ironically, in 2005, two years after the Grand Canyon creationist
controversy erupted, NPS approved a new directive on “Interpretation and
Education (Director’s Order #6) which reinforces the posture that  
materials
on the “history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific  
evidence
available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of
scientific peer review and criticism [and] Interpretive and educational
programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs  
explaining
natural processes.”

“As one park geologist said, this is equivalent of Yellowstone  
National Park
selling a book entitled Geysers of Old Faithful: Nostrils of Satan,”  
Ruch
added, pointing to the fact that previous NPS leadership ignored strong
protests from both its own scientists and leading geological societies
against the agency approval of the creationist book. “We sincerely  
hope that
the new Director of the Park Service now has the autonomy to do her  
job.”

###

Read the PEER letter to NPS Director Bomar

View the NPS admission that no policy review on the creationist book has
occurred

See the 2005 NPS Director’s Order #6 on Interpretation

8.4.2 Historical and Scientific Research. Superintendents, historians,
scientists, and interpretive staff are responsible for ensuring that  
park
interpretive and educational programs and media are accurate and reflect
current scholarship…Questions often arise round the presentation of
geological, biological, and evolutionary processes. The interpretive and
educational treatment used to explain the natural processes and  
history of
the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as  
found
in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer  
review and
criticism. The facts, theories, and interpretations to be used will  
reflect
the thinking of the scientific community in such fields as biology,  
geology,
physics, astronomy, chemistry, and paleontology. Interpretive and
educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious
beliefs explaining natural processes. Programs, however, may  
acknowledge or
explain other explanations of natural processes and events. (Emphasis  
added)

Trace how the creationist book controversy started and grew

Look at tax dollars used to support the Bush administration program of
“Faith-Based Parks”

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801




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