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public hearing should also have been scheduled with the transcript sent to the Park Service Regional Director before he made his decision on the exchange.
It’s not hard to understand why landowners who share boundaries with the tracts involved in the land exchange are concerned. Living next door to a protected National Park is infinitely more desirable than living next door to potentially developable land. And while a mountainside is not prime subdivision property, there’s no land that can’t be built on if the owner wants to spend money enough.
If the exchange goes through, the new owners have publicly stated that they have no plans for development. But if they change their minds or decide to sell the property, the only restrictions that will apply to the land are those in the county’s zoning and subdivision ordinances.
Even without development, the character of the land can still be drastically altered by logging operations. In addition, hunting that is illegal within the Park can legally be allowed on private land.
We don’t think that Park authorities have tried to arrange the land exchange without public knowledge. However, if policy calls for changes in the Park boundary to be handled in this fashion, then the policy needs to be drastically revised.
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