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