Keeping our state parks safe today and always

Maine state parks are well known as places of spectacular beauty, where vacationers can retreat for a safe outdoor experience. But today our state park system is undergoing internal changes that may affect the security of park visitors and resources.

The Department of Conservation and the Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL) are responsible for the oversight of the state parks. A number of recent administrative policy changes will place obstacles in the path of park managers and rangers preventing them from properly safeguarding the visitor and our natural areas.

In a draft document released June 1, BPL Director Tom Morrison proposes to reverse a long-standing prohibition of alcoholic beverages in state parks by allowing drinking on designated campsites. This change in course is troublesome for a number of reasons. The drinking ban serves as a deterrent to irresponsible behavior but more importantly, it acts as a crucial enforcement tool for park rangers to handle disruptive campers who may endanger the safety of others.

Existing laws, developed over years of experience in managing the public, give rangers the tools to correct many situations before they get out of hand. Under the new guidelines, rangers would only have the right to expel drunk and disorderly campers after they had gotten out of control. At that point intoxication levels are often so high that putting these people out on the highways would be too dangerous.

Not only is BPL proposing this policy change at the beginning of a busy season, but also it comes on the heels of numerous complaints from park staff that they are increasingly hamstrung in their efforts to protect the public and themselves. In March 2000, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) surveyed managers and rangers. In that study, staff reported that a wide range of illegal activity takes place in our parks including assaults, theft, and disruptive drunkenness.

Park managers further reported that they had not received any law enforcement training since 1995 and only a small fraction indicated that they “received clear guidance from the bureau on how to handle law enforcement problems.” Sadly more than a third of the managers did not feel that visitor safety was “well protected” in Maine parks.

Excessive drinking already causes a multitude of problems in our parks including property destruction and personnel injury. One incident last Memorial Day weekend in the Penobscot River Corridor near Millinocket underscored the problem. Bureau reports describe a situation where inadequately trained park staff found themselves confronting a party of 12 who were drunk and disorderly and who had assaulted three people camping on an adjacent site. Park rangers were able to handle the situation but sadly another 15 innocent campers, who became concerned about their safety, felt the need to cut their vacation short.

The proposed reversal of the no drinking policy is the latest step in an effort by BPL to undermine its law enforcement staff. Aside from a lack of training, management continues to discourage rangers from enforcing park rules and state law. In 1999 the BPL proposed to strip away all law enforcement designation from park rangers. If this proposal had taken effect, rangers would have no recourse when they witness a crime on park land but to call the police, who are often miles away. Fortunately this effort, which was widely opposed rangers, was defeated after a three-year campaign by PEER.

Late last winter BPL came back with another attempt to handcuff its own employees. Morrison sponsored legislation to statutorily remove arrest powers for parks enforcement personnel. Again it was a move opposed by park staff and PEER. Fortunately the BPL’s legislative oversight committee did not agree with the bureau’s attempts and they voted to retain park ranger law enforcement.

Park employees do a great job with the resources they have, but they need support. Maine state parks should be a refuge where families can spend quality time secure in the knowledge that rangers have the training and encouragement to do their jobs. Parks should be areas where we do not have to worry about dangerous behavior tolerated by a bureaucracy that doesn’t care.

Tim Caverly is the director of Maine’s Public Employee for Environmental Responsibility.