Finally the NPS has put in writing what it always denied: It actively singles out and discriminates against wilderness parachutists.
Notice everyone that this is NOT a new regulation, despite the "8.2.2.7" designation. It is a management policy only, and thus it can be changed on a moment's notice, so don't anyone lose heart about it.
In fact, we should all send notes of thanks to the NPS for publishing this rule because the NPS has basically just shot itself in the head:
In declaring it as an "inappropriate public use activity," it does not in any way shape or form explain WHY it is inappropriate or why it makes an exception at the New River Gorge Bridge.
Moreover, this "policy statement" is false on its face: BASE jumping is absolutely, positively, unequivocally NOT prohibited by 36 CFR 2. 17(3), which says ONLY that a PERMIT is required for such use.
Period.
Just like camping, or going into the backcountry, or a host of other public uses that the NPS has not (yet) declared "inappropriate."
BOTH of these activities are "prohibited" by the 8.2.2.7 "logic;" the only difference is: Permits ARE issued for those activites.
Thus is the NPS BASE managment policy statement a deliberate and documented LIE by the National Park Service, promulgated because it desperately seeks to justify its continuing discrimination against and bigotry toward wilderness parachutists.
Thanks for putting it in writing, gentlemen. NOw that you have admitted that it is a NPS-wide policy, and not just the individual policies of individual managers, it means we now have an actual target -- Robert Stanton, the NPS director, who I'm sure is going to want to know EXACTLY which of his subordinates put him in the crosshairs.
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