Anti-Drug Plan for Parks Involves Rangers, Public

The Interior Department on Wednesday unveiled a plan to combat the presence of illegal drugs in national parks and other public lands by training rangers to recognize signs of drug activity and encouraging vacationers to report suspicious behavior.

In keeping with President Reagan’s “zero-tolerance” campaign against illegal substances, Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel also pledged to prosecute to the fullest possible extent all drug offenders caught on public lands.

Department officials say that drugs are not yet a major problem but that they are increasingly prevalent in public areas. In urban Eastern parks, they say, the problem is mostly drug use and trafficking, while in remote areas of Western public lands there appears to have been a surge in the cultivation of illegal crops.

“One of the biggest problems we face on federal lands is knowing when and where drug activities occur,” Hodel said, adding that heightened ranger and visitor awareness could help solve the problem.

According to the Interior plan, the department will intensify training of personnel from a variety of Interior agencies--the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service--to improve their ability to recognize signs of drug activity and to apprehend offenders. About 11,000 department employees will receive the training this year.

National Park Service chief ranger Walt Dabney said increasing awareness of drugs will not detract rangers from other duties. Rather, rangers will be able to take action against drug offenders when they find evidence in the course of their day-to-day activities, he said.

Hodel said the department also has begun a campaign to enlist park visitors as the “eyes and ears” for the government. Three public service announcements already have been sent to 600 television stations urging vacationers to report suspected drug activity.