There's a wealth of information that can contribute to a better understanding of management of our public lands. At the National Council for Science and the Environment, "a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the scientific basis for environmental decisionmaking," there are a number of reports on public lands, many prepared by the Congressional Research Service.
To make the Traveler more of a resource, we're developing a library to house these and other studies topical to the national parks. The first addition is a CRS study on Recreation on Federal Lands, which looks closely at motorized recreation in national parks. It's attached below as a pdf.
This and future additions to the library can be found by going to the "Library" section of our content topics.
Comments
Whether you admit to it or not, you two (the editors) are already a resource to a vast audience. There are many people nationally who have a varied degree of interest in the topics presented in this forum, but lack the resources, intellect, or motivation to sift through the mountains of reports, articles, interviews, etc. of their own vocation. However, when given a "Reader's Digest" version of events that directly or even indirectly effect the park facilites network, readers have access to data otherwise not found through the daily course of their life's events. The knowledge base that is provided within this arena is powerful, enabling and empowering. And the open exchange of views should make for a well rounded interpretation of the scope of events and their possible effect on the public land system.
In other words, it's about damn time you guys fulfilled your obligation to the public and opened up your library of information to the masses! Now, if we only knew the best way to handle the new influx of information...... slowly is best, I guess. I sincerely hope more than just the "usual suspects" are driven to investigate the new database. We need more inquiring minds contributing and debating these issues. Of course, a little intellect would be nice, too!