“It is tight. It is cramped. It is hot. It probably isn’t completely safe to have everyone go up, in any numbers, at any time. But the Park Service is full of slightly dangerous things you can do.”
Interior Secretary Salazar after climbing to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. As senator he supported reopening the crown to the public. (I’ve been there. It is tight. It is cramped. It is hot. It is also glorious!)
I think I’m encouraged.
Last summer I took my 8 year old on visits to NPS locations in which we were permitted to choose our desired distance from wildlife including moose, bison and bear. While rangers suggest some minimums, most people are lousy at estimating feet of distance anyway. (FYI, the distances we chose were ‘whoops, those antlers are bigger than I thought’, ‘wow, they smell really foul from up close’ and ‘holy smokes, who knew something that big could run that fa…GET IN THE TRUCK!’)
Our national heritage includes opportunities to do things that are dangerous even when all possible cautions have been observed. New Jersey should be more like Wyoming, in the sense of NPS leaving it up to me to choose.