Hart D Ranch controversy

WSEN staff

Some area residents say that an aggressive campaign to build another visitor complex for the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (WRST) is being handled in an unethical manner, and may be illegal.

Like the recently constructed $7.6 million Copper Center Complex, this one is also outside of the park boundaries.

When Congress turned down a request for $4.5 million to purchase and refurbish the Hart D Ranch near Slana, flyers began to appear soliciting private funding through the Trust for Public Land, a group that has been working with former superintendent Gary Candelaria for several years to acquire additional property for the nation’s largest national park.

(Although Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office told us that the Park Service has requested money for the purchase, NPS Regional Director Marcia Blaszak had a different story: “When Ms. DeHart approached us we thought it might be nice but we told her she must either find someone to purchase and donate to the park, or find another buyer,” said Blaszak.)

“The Wrangell St. Elias National Park would like to refurbish the Hart D Ranch Complex located on the Nabesna Road so it could function as this Visitors Interpretive Center / Campground / and very much needed employee housing,” says a beautiful full color poster that is circulating in the area. The poster asks for people to either donate funds for the project, or write the Alaska Congressional delegation with a “support letter showing immediate need.”

The National Park Service (NPS) has been quietly acquiring land in the Slana area over the past few years. Much of that land lies outside park-preserve boundaries. Since WRST, at 13.2 million acres already comprises 16.3 percent of the entire national park system, critics are suggesting that no more additional land be added.

Slana has had a visitor contact station for many years, the Slana Ranger Station. But Ms. DeHart says that it is not easily accessible by large motor homes.

The Slana Ranger Station was built in 1993 after the existing Ranger Station burned down. Then Superintendent Karen Wade had been asking for funds to replace the aging structure, but Congress turned her down. After the fire, NPS was able to get an immediate grant of $229,000 to build the beautiful new structure. Park historian Geoff Bleakly suggests the fire was the work of an arsonist in his book Contested Ground, but some locals tell a different story. According to the bartender at Duffy’s Tavern, the Ranger who was living at the station was sent home from the bar in the early hours of the morning after consuming too much alcohol. Several hours later the Ranger Station sat in ashes. The official word at the time was that it may have been caused by an electrical fire.

Critics also say they believe the fund-raising effort violates NPS regulations. They point to the NPS Director’s Order #21, which states that “Donations of land, buildings, and other property must be within the boundaries of the park unit...”

NPS does not have Congressional authority to solicit gifts. Their personnel are restricted to educating the public about their ability to accept gifts, and specifying their needs. Congress has chartered certain partner foundations which may accept and solicit funds for NPS, and certain funding sources are prohibited.

No public announcements of fund-raising efforts are allowed until final approval of a written agreement.

Campaigns should also not solicit funds for projects included in the Department of the Interior’s budget request to Congress. NPS’s request of Senator Murkowski to fast-track funds for the Slana project leads some to believe that they have already asked for an appropriation.

NPS Director Fran Mainella came under fire at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in March which was called to scrutinize the agency’s spending. Her announcement of plans to cut back on visitor services due to lack of adequate funding were met with criticisms of mismanagement and misplaced priorities. Partly as a result of those concerns, House bill (HR 4578) was enacted on June 21 to further regulate NPS expansion and construction spending. Under this new bill, NPS may not accept donations or services for the planning, design, or construction of new facilities without advance written approval of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. Just this past week, the Park Service turned down an offered $10 million donation from the Oneida Indian Nation and canceled fund-raising for the American Revolution Center at Valley Forge.

The Residents of the Wrangells (ROW), a local citizens group, has asked Senator Murkowski’s office to look into the project.

Susan Smith, Chairperson of ROW said, “Going for the Hart D is an underhanded, aggressive move to enlarge even further this gigantic park and squeeze more private visitor services out of the Slana/Nabesna area. It’s an outrage that the NPS is attempting to circumvent process by trying to slip this by Congress and bloat the WRST with more maintenance costs at the same time it is constantly whining about not having money to maintain what they already have.”