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The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

outsideonline.com

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Re: The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

#3

Post by galleywest200 »

> According to The Washington Post, the internal policy states “Interior shall not confirm a death,” and that this policy applies to “all Interior bureaus and offices” plus “all Interior communications involving fatalities, suspected fatalities, serious injuries or emotionally sensitive incidents.”

So now I cannot learn about known bear attacks when I plan a backpacking trip?

Re: The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

#4

Post by petcat »

galleywest200 wrote: post #3

> According to The Washington Post, the internal policy states “Interior shall not confirm a death,” and that this policy applies to “all Interior bureaus and offices” plus “all Interior communications involving fatalities, suspected fatalities, serious injuries or emotionally sensitive incidents.” So now I cannot learn about known bear attacks when I plan a backpacking trip?

What would you learn?

You should always be prepared to encounter unrestrained nature when backpacking in a national park.

Re: The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

#7

Post by khriss »

petcat wrote: post #4
galleywest200 wrote: post #3

> According to The Washington Post, the internal policy states “Interior shall not confirm a death,” and that this policy applies to “all Interior bureaus and offices” plus “all Interior communications involving fatalities, suspected fatalities, serious injuries or emotionally sensitive incidents.” So now I cannot learn about known bear attacks when I plan a backpacking trip?

What would you learn? You should always be prepared to encounter unrestrained nature when backpacking in a national park.

It's a bit like saying weather forecasts are useless in Seattle as you should always be prepared for the rain.

Re: The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

#8

Post by tshaddox »

petcat wrote: post #4
galleywest200 wrote: post #3

> According to The Washington Post, the internal policy states “Interior shall not confirm a death,” and that this policy applies to “all Interior bureaus and offices” plus “all Interior communications involving fatalities, suspected fatalities, serious injuries or emotionally sensitive incidents.” So now I cannot learn about known bear attacks when I plan a backpacking trip?

What would you learn? You should always be prepared to encounter unrestrained nature when backpacking in a national park.

I’m somewhat experienced in wilderness backpacking, and I always look into bear protocol anywhere I visit (including talking to the rangers there in person). But it’s disingenuous to suggest that you’d learn nothing from death statistics. Are you suggesting that there’s no need to know that, because if the numbers were too high in an area they’d close it down?

Re: The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

#9

Post by slg »

One thing that I can't get over about this administration is its cartoon villainy. There are all sorts of substantive and important issues in which people can have viable disagreements. Even when I disagree with people on those issues, I can usually at least understand their motivation. But this administration has so many policies like this which both seem completely unimportant to be worthy of focus and yet are also seemingly only motivated to make things worse. I truly can't imagine why anyone would put their energy into enacting a policy like this that is so transparently wrong. And I also don't know why people don't see policies like this as a canary in the coal mine for the administration's other positions.
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