Denali Park Supe Drops Bid
For U.N. Site Designation
Citing Time Constraints
For U.N. Site Designation
Citing Time Constraints
By John R. Moses
Publisher - Talkeetna Pioneer Press
Publisher - Talkeetna Pioneer Press
The superintendent of Denali National
Park and preserve called off a bid for a
United Nations designation of the park as
a World Heritage Site after months of
planning and visiting town councils and
Native communities seeking the support
for the application.
Park Superintendent Paul R. Anderson
had solicited letters of support from
surrounding cities, native Alaskan
communities and groups like the
chamber of commerce to show Juneau
legislators and the park service that the
community is behind the plan, and they
should be as well.
Before the issue became moot it raised a
lot of talk at the Talkeetna Chamber of
Commerce.
Talk of fund raising and local events
took a backseat to issues of world politics
as 14 members of Talkeetna’s Chamber
of Commerce debated whether the
National Park Service should even seek
a United Nations designation for the
heart of Denali National Park and
Preserve as a means to attract more
tourists.
Some felt that rushing a request for a
“World Heritage Site” designation is
unnecessary since the park is already a
major tourist destination. Others either
felt the designation couldn’t hurt tourism
or that it might even bring in more
visitors.
Glacier Bay and Wrangell-St. Elias are
two Alaska places already on the list,
which includes the Grand Canyon,
Yellowstone National Park and the
Statue of Liberty.
Even if the request had been made
through the park service to the U.N., that’
s no guarantee the old boundaries of the
original 1917 park would have been
included in the World Heritage list.
The next chance to get on the Park
Service’s U.S. Tentative List happens in
2016.
National Park Service Park Planner
Miriam Valentine brought the chamber a
list of local entities that support the
designation, including the Denali and Mat
Su borough assemblies and many towns
surrounding the park.
“We know it’s a national treasure, it’s a
national park,” Valentine said of the
proposed World Heritage area. “We
believe it’s also a worldwide treasure.”
Valentine said the designation would only
help to attract more visitors to the area
year-round, and that would benefit
everyone.
No one in the chamber’s general
membership meeting debated that point,
but the request for a letter of support
passed by just one vote after lively
debate -- in part because some fear
getting on that list will lead to
international pressure or increased
regulation of flightseeing and other
activities.
Others simply do not want any
involvement with amount of bureaucracy
they say is attached to anything from the
United Nations.
The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) chooses every 10 years which
sites get to join the list. The agency exists
in part to help maintain world treasures,
especially those threatened by civil
strife, natural disasters or decay.
Scientists might be requested, for
instance, to help find ways to save a
crumbling artifact. An historic city on the
World Heritage list that is damaged by
fire could ask the agency for aid.
For longtime resident Jim Kellard, the
very idea of seeking anything from the U.
N. is unpatriotic. “This is a bad thing to
have,” he said. “. . .What do we need the
U.N. for?”
“You see no need for the recognition of
a national park as a world destination?”
Valentine asked.
“It’s already a world destination,” he
replied. “We may not even be picked.”
Businesswoman Bev Tanner, who runs a
general store and coffee house
downtown, had other concerns. She
noted the Alaska delegation in Juneau
has previously voiced opposition to the
designation.
Valentine said that’s why park
management is seeking local letters of
support from groups like the chamber
before asking the state to support the
nomination.
Chamber President Suzy Kellard, a
longtime resident who runs a gift shop
downtown and whose parents were 59ers,
said she’s seen a lot of unintended
impacts over the decades from things
that were supposed to be good for
everyone.
“At first glance it sounds like the most
wonderful thing in the world,” she said.
Kellard said she doesn’t want to open up
a worldwide opinion poll on Denali
flyovers and glacier landings, even
though they take place outside the
boundaries of the original park proposed
for a heritage site. She said that even
though the UN would have no authority
over the heritage site, there might on
some level be an impact that could
influence local control.
She also noted that UNESCO is
headquartered in France, a country with
a reputation for unfriendliness to
America and American interests. “You
know, they don’t even call them French
fries anymore, they call them freedom
fries,” she said.
The motion to write a letter of support
came from someone who, with her
husband co-owns an already highly-
regulated business. Aviation company co-
owner Geri Denkewalter runs an
operation with husband Eric at Talkeetna
State Airport. She assured the attendees
that the FAA and park service are the
ones she deals with, and putting the park
on the U.N. list would make no
difference.
The old park’s boundaries have long
been off-limits for landings.
“We’ve been trying like mad to land in
the old park,” she said. Landings happen
in the park’s more recently-acquired
land, and only U.S. government agencies
will regulate such activities, she said.
Also, she noted, if problems arise from
being on the UNESCO list the park
service could simply resign from the list.
Materials on the park service’s Web site
state that there is a lot of inaccurate
information going around about U.S.
participation in the program. “A nation
that nominates properties to the World
Heritage List does not surrender
sovereignty, control or ownership of
them,” a statement reads. “…The World
Heritage Committee does not thereby
gain any legal or management authority
over U.S. World Heritage Sites.”
There are 30 U.S. sites, two of which are
jointly managed by the U.S. and Canada.
The U.S. has participated in the program
since 1972. Denali was previously
nominated in 1980.
The Web site also notes that placement
of a site on the list has in many places,
including the U.S., “had the effect of
stimulating public debate and even
international publicity regarding what
measures should be taken to protect
properties regarded as threatened or
potentially threatened. As might be
expected, there is often no consensus on
the nature of threats and on what steps
should be taken to remedy them.”
The park service also states that the
commission is not a court, does not
render orders and its only sanction is to
remove a site from the list. As of 2005,
the statement said, that had not
happened.
Suzy Kellard, the chamber president,
did not cast a vote, and after the near tie
vote stated that the “ayes” had it. The
chamber would write a letter of support.
Said her husband, Jim Kellard, the letter
should not declare the chamber’s full
support as the vote was not unanimous.
In other business the chamber welcomed
downtown businesswoman Trisha
Costello as its newest boardmember.
Park and preserve called off a bid for a
United Nations designation of the park as
a World Heritage Site after months of
planning and visiting town councils and
Native communities seeking the support
for the application.
Park Superintendent Paul R. Anderson
had solicited letters of support from
surrounding cities, native Alaskan
communities and groups like the
chamber of commerce to show Juneau
legislators and the park service that the
community is behind the plan, and they
should be as well.
Before the issue became moot it raised a
lot of talk at the Talkeetna Chamber of
Commerce.
Talk of fund raising and local events
took a backseat to issues of world politics
as 14 members of Talkeetna’s Chamber
of Commerce debated whether the
National Park Service should even seek
a United Nations designation for the
heart of Denali National Park and
Preserve as a means to attract more
tourists.
Some felt that rushing a request for a
“World Heritage Site” designation is
unnecessary since the park is already a
major tourist destination. Others either
felt the designation couldn’t hurt tourism
or that it might even bring in more
visitors.
Glacier Bay and Wrangell-St. Elias are
two Alaska places already on the list,
which includes the Grand Canyon,
Yellowstone National Park and the
Statue of Liberty.
Even if the request had been made
through the park service to the U.N., that’
s no guarantee the old boundaries of the
original 1917 park would have been
included in the World Heritage list.
The next chance to get on the Park
Service’s U.S. Tentative List happens in
2016.
National Park Service Park Planner
Miriam Valentine brought the chamber a
list of local entities that support the
designation, including the Denali and Mat
Su borough assemblies and many towns
surrounding the park.
“We know it’s a national treasure, it’s a
national park,” Valentine said of the
proposed World Heritage area. “We
believe it’s also a worldwide treasure.”
Valentine said the designation would only
help to attract more visitors to the area
year-round, and that would benefit
everyone.
No one in the chamber’s general
membership meeting debated that point,
but the request for a letter of support
passed by just one vote after lively
debate -- in part because some fear
getting on that list will lead to
international pressure or increased
regulation of flightseeing and other
activities.
Others simply do not want any
involvement with amount of bureaucracy
they say is attached to anything from the
United Nations.
The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) chooses every 10 years which
sites get to join the list. The agency exists
in part to help maintain world treasures,
especially those threatened by civil
strife, natural disasters or decay.
Scientists might be requested, for
instance, to help find ways to save a
crumbling artifact. An historic city on the
World Heritage list that is damaged by
fire could ask the agency for aid.
For longtime resident Jim Kellard, the
very idea of seeking anything from the U.
N. is unpatriotic. “This is a bad thing to
have,” he said. “. . .What do we need the
U.N. for?”
“You see no need for the recognition of
a national park as a world destination?”
Valentine asked.
“It’s already a world destination,” he
replied. “We may not even be picked.”
Businesswoman Bev Tanner, who runs a
general store and coffee house
downtown, had other concerns. She
noted the Alaska delegation in Juneau
has previously voiced opposition to the
designation.
Valentine said that’s why park
management is seeking local letters of
support from groups like the chamber
before asking the state to support the
nomination.
Chamber President Suzy Kellard, a
longtime resident who runs a gift shop
downtown and whose parents were 59ers,
said she’s seen a lot of unintended
impacts over the decades from things
that were supposed to be good for
everyone.
“At first glance it sounds like the most
wonderful thing in the world,” she said.
Kellard said she doesn’t want to open up
a worldwide opinion poll on Denali
flyovers and glacier landings, even
though they take place outside the
boundaries of the original park proposed
for a heritage site. She said that even
though the UN would have no authority
over the heritage site, there might on
some level be an impact that could
influence local control.
She also noted that UNESCO is
headquartered in France, a country with
a reputation for unfriendliness to
America and American interests. “You
know, they don’t even call them French
fries anymore, they call them freedom
fries,” she said.
The motion to write a letter of support
came from someone who, with her
husband co-owns an already highly-
regulated business. Aviation company co-
owner Geri Denkewalter runs an
operation with husband Eric at Talkeetna
State Airport. She assured the attendees
that the FAA and park service are the
ones she deals with, and putting the park
on the U.N. list would make no
difference.
The old park’s boundaries have long
been off-limits for landings.
“We’ve been trying like mad to land in
the old park,” she said. Landings happen
in the park’s more recently-acquired
land, and only U.S. government agencies
will regulate such activities, she said.
Also, she noted, if problems arise from
being on the UNESCO list the park
service could simply resign from the list.
Materials on the park service’s Web site
state that there is a lot of inaccurate
information going around about U.S.
participation in the program. “A nation
that nominates properties to the World
Heritage List does not surrender
sovereignty, control or ownership of
them,” a statement reads. “…The World
Heritage Committee does not thereby
gain any legal or management authority
over U.S. World Heritage Sites.”
There are 30 U.S. sites, two of which are
jointly managed by the U.S. and Canada.
The U.S. has participated in the program
since 1972. Denali was previously
nominated in 1980.
The Web site also notes that placement
of a site on the list has in many places,
including the U.S., “had the effect of
stimulating public debate and even
international publicity regarding what
measures should be taken to protect
properties regarded as threatened or
potentially threatened. As might be
expected, there is often no consensus on
the nature of threats and on what steps
should be taken to remedy them.”
The park service also states that the
commission is not a court, does not
render orders and its only sanction is to
remove a site from the list. As of 2005,
the statement said, that had not
happened.
Suzy Kellard, the chamber president,
did not cast a vote, and after the near tie
vote stated that the “ayes” had it. The
chamber would write a letter of support.
Said her husband, Jim Kellard, the letter
should not declare the chamber’s full
support as the vote was not unanimous.
In other business the chamber welcomed
downtown businesswoman Trisha
Costello as its newest boardmember.
| ABOVE: This portion of the Alaska Range was at the heart of the first Denali National Park, and at the heart of recent controversy until mid-March when the park's top administrator announced there wasn't enough time to put together a World Heritage Site application from a United Nations organization. BOTTOM: Park Planner Miriam Valentine spoke at the Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce meeting March 8 seeking chamber support for the Historic Site Designation proposal. |
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