A Dual Mandate

The National Park Services unsolvable problem<

DVIDS...

Conflict can come in many forms. As a fiction writer, I try and instill it into my characters as both inner and outer voices. Every scene should either resolve an existing conflict or create a new one. In a previous post,I illustrated the conflicts within the setting of my Kurt Hunter Mystery Series, Biscayne National Park. Another conflict comes from the National Park Service itself.

Our National Parks were placed in a precarious and unsolvable situation by the Organic Act of 1906. In the act, park management was given the impossible task of preserving the parks and at the same time allowing us to enjoy them.

The conflict takes different forms in different parks. Not surprisingly decisions fall along political lines. The Natural Resources Section has been responsible for defending numerous challenges to these management decisions. Some of the more notable issues that have been litigated involve snowmobile use in Yellowstone, off-road vehicle use in the Big Cypress Preserve, jet ski use on national park waters, motorized rafts in the Grand Canyon, cruise ships in Glacier Bay, the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, hunting in many national parks, and management of wild and scenic rivers.

Closer to home in my stories personal watercraft (jet skis and wave runners) were banned from Biscayne National Park in 2000. The decision affected eleven parks in total.

Twenty years later the park administrators are faced with another threat—and another decision. In recent years the sale and resale of boats have skyrocketed. More people on the water naturally leads to more problems, particularly right of way issues, disregard of speed zones, and groundings. The newer boaters are also a different crowd than the fishermen, divers, snorkelers, and cruisers who sought out the park waters for their solitude.

Sandbar parties have become a byproduct of the influx of boaters. In Miami, the Haulover and Nixon sandbars attract hundreds of boats and many times that number of people. In the park itself, there are several sites: Sands Cut, the channel between Elliott and Sands Key, and Billy’s Point off Elliot Key have become popular meeting places.

On the surface, there is nothing illegal, but the parties are just that. Besides the drinking, drug use, and loud music, the volume of boats and partiers has taken a toll on the already fragile seagrass.

Vital for the health of the bay, the seagrass protects against erosion, filters the water, and provides habitat for crustaceans and fish. Thousands of feet trampling it and propellers scarring it has damaged the already fragile ecosystem.

It was easy to craft a murder around the parties. It was harder to figure out how Kurt Hunter, the special agent in charge of the park would deal with the problems. I illustrated his thinking in my post on the Overton Window. Faced with the difficult decision of whether to close off areas of the park, restrict them, or allow the parties to continue he had to deal with the Dual Mandate straight on.

My books Backwater Haven and Backwater Predator deal with his search for an answer.