National park rangers say inadequate funding is
adding new risks to their jobs. Crime in parks is on the rise, and
most parks don’t have the money to beef up their law enforcement.
To publicize the problem, the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the
Fraternal Order of Police has listed the top 10 most dangerous
national parks.
Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument, located along the Mexican border 120 miles west
of Tucson, ranks first. Other dangerous Western parks include
Saguaro on the outskirts of Tucson, Big Bend, Yosemite, Lake Mead
National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon.
Organ
Pipe Superintendent Bill Wellman says he doesn’t think his park
deserves to be number one, but acknowledges that it has a place in
the top 10. Up to 1,000 illegal immigrants pass through the park
every day, he says, and 60,000 to 80,000 pounds of marijuana were
seized within its boundaries last year. Between five and eight
rangers patrol the 330,000-acre park, says Wellman: “It’s about
half of what we need to handle the
situation.”
The ranger group, which represents a
majority of the 1,600 commissioned Park Service rangers, surveyed
its members and then offered the results. Randall Kendrick, the
group’s executive director, says Organ Pipe’s predicament isn’t
unusual. Rangers routinely struggle with radio “dead zones,” drive
inferior patrol cars and fire engines, and police vast areas
without backup officers.
Contact the Fraternal
Order of Police, U.S. Park Rangers Lodge at 800/407-8295 or
www.rangerfop.com.
Copyright © 2001 HCN and Mitch Tobin
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Dangerous parks.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
