[Geysers] Exhibits new OFVEC

[TSBryan at aol.com]

(No doubt I did something stoopid, but none of the e-mail I received 
yesterday was saved by my computer, so...)

Tara Cross wrote that work on the new interpretive exhibits has been undrway 
for months. Yes. Did I tell the tale about September-October 2002 (yes, that 
far back) a gentleman in New York City contacted me. He is a designer for a 
firm that has produced a great many interpretive displays for government 
agencies, including NPS. He had been invited to attend a meeting in YNP regarding the 
new OFVEC and, supposedly, would then be in a position to make a bid on the 
job (and wished for my "expert" input). The last I heard from him was a letter 
filled with disgust at Yellowstone inviting him, and prepresentatives of other 
design corporations, to a meeting in the park when, in fact, the contract has 
essentially already bee granted... He discussed a lawsuit, but I doubt that 
that ever happened.,

Well, so all that is in the past. The designs are well in-progress. But does 
that mean there can't be input, the opportunity to update, to modify, to 
correct? Evidently there will be no such opportunity. But therefore everybody had 
better believe: if I find new interpretive exhibits that have (for example) 
backwards photos (such as the existing photos at Grotto and Riverside), or a 
flat-out wrong photo (such as the photo of Opalescent Pool on the Biscuit Basin 
sign), or incorrect/scientifically invalid statements, or any such et cetera, 
you can be very certain that I will get as noisy as I possibly can. And it won't 
be confined to this list, nor to Wyoming.


Now, please, two follow-up items:

1. So now the Bush Administratioin is announcing its proposed budget for the 
next fiscal year, filled with huge cuts in some programs including, I'd almost 
be willing to bet, the NPS. If so, does this in any way affect the funding 
for the new OFVEC?

2. Tara encourages people to write, saying "those letters are read and 
responded to." Responded to who? In the past two or three years, I have sent 
comments to the park Supterintendent using the official form that is available in the 
visitor centers. My understanding from when I worked in the park, and I would 
presume still, is that any such submission is supposed to receive a written 
reply (probably not from the Superintendent, but at least from somebody in 
Admin). I have not received any reply whatsoever, including no reply to my 
on-the-form complaint about not receiving replies!

Scott Bryan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20050207/38251591/attachment.html>