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Federal law to stop such land exchanges as this one, and Representative Philip Burton, Chairman of the Committee, wrote the letter to the Park Service which halted the exchange until the legal situation could be clarified. State Representative George Beard is continuing to help make the Virginia reversion law effective.
We do not believe that we can relax until the intent of the Federal law is accepted by the Park Service, namely that “the Secretary of the Interior may not alienate property administered as part of the national park system in order to acquire lands by exchange.”
Land exchanges, unknown to the general public, have become a way of life with the National Park Service. In 1970 the Park Service traded access to the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, near National Airport, for 29 acres owned by Charles Fairchild, a developer. This exchange has now led to a suit by a nonprofit group attempting to block a $150 million high-rise development which would greatly change the nature of the Parkway. This deal was apparently concluded in private, with no public hearings and with no significant environmental review. Another proposed swap which is arousing increasing protest involves Acadia National Park, in Maine. Superintendent Jacobsen says that five exchanges involving Shenandoah National Park have already been completed, and two more are contemplated.
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