Malcolm Wallop: “She makes a compelling argument in favor of allowing owners of single-family residences in the proposed Mojave National…”

“She makes a compelling argument in favor of allowing owners of single-family residences in the proposed Mojave National Park to occupy private land, to construct, modify, replace or improve those residences. Now the backlog of authorized but unacquired lands within our National Park System is absolutely staggering and many of these lands are occupied by single family dwellings. And there is no way in our lifetime that this service will be able to properly compensate those owners of private property who, in many cases through no fault of their own, landed in the middle of a park. In the interim, they are paying taxes. They cannot sell their house because the Park Service will eventually buy it, or so they say. They cannot improve their house because the Park Service views it as incompatible with the purposes of the park. They cannot reconstruct it if it burns down. They cannot add a garage. They cannot add a room or a deck unless they want the property to be condemned. They cannot get the price they wish without going to court and seeing the Government's deep pockets run them up a legal bill that takes anything that they might get extra out of the process of administration.”