His Conscience Is His Guide

May a scary Christmas ghost visit the National Park Service, for its ungenerous treatment of David A. Mihalic.

Mihalic is at the peak of his career in the Park Service, the custodian of the nation’s natural and historic treasures. Even so, he’s retiring at 56 to go trout fishing in Montana and to preserve his personal integrity. It’s a courageous move by Mihalic, but ominous for the integrity of the Park Service. Mihalic is retiring rather than accept a forced move from his post as superintendent of Yosemite National Park the last three years to the top job at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee.

The hitch was that Mihalic’s political bosses in Washington wanted him to work a controversial land exchange in the Smokies and push through a trans-park highway that had long been opposed by the National Park Service for its certain environmental damage. The road plan, shelved in the 1960s, is strongly supported by prominent Republicans in both states.

What did Mihalic, a veteran of 33 years in federal service, do to deserve this shove from Washington? He had been picked by a Democratic administration to do a specific job, to finally put in place a long-term plan to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in Yosemite Valley. He succeeded admirably, balancing commercial activity in the valley with restoration of meadows and other areas damaged by years of overuse.

The management plan is backed by some, but not all, environmental groups. It is opposed by surrounding local governments and tourist-related businesses fearing that fewer day visitors to the valley would mean empty motel beds and restaurant tables for them. In fact, it’s quite likely to generate more business, with more visitors staying outside the park.

But the Bush administration has paid special heed to commerce in park regions, most notably in rolling back a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park because of clamor from snowmobile-related businesses. A Republican congressional source said of the Mihalic move, “The director of the National Park Service wants to make sure the folks in the field are responsive to the central office.”

This is a dead-wrong way to manage the parks. The knowledge of what’s good for the parks rests with the David Mihalics of the Park Service, created to preserve the nation’s natural wonders while allowing them to be enjoyed by the people in a way that leaves them “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

When Mihalic took over at Yosemite, he told The Times that Yosemite Valley “is a sacred place and what we do here, we have to do for the common good.” Mihalic fulfilled his mission in that spirit, the true spirit of the 1916 Park Service act. Thank you for a job well done, David Mihalic. Happy holidays and good fishing.