By Juliet Eilperin
Monday, September 15, 2003
A fight is brewing in Congress over a proposed land swap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
House leaders are pushing a bill, sponsored by Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R-N.C.), that would exchange 143 acres in the park known as the Ravensford tract for the Yellow Face property owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians by the Blue Ridge Parkway. Republicans plan to bring up his bill this week, but Democrats and environmentalists decry it.
The Cherokee want the tract so they can build tribal schools there -- they can't build schools on their land because it's on the side of a mountain. But environmentalists warn development could jeopardize as many as 52 species of wildlife. The Ravensford site is also on the country's National Register of Historic Places.
Jim Zoia, staff director for the House Resources Committee Democrats, said it makes no sense to push for a vote while the National Park Service is in the midst of negotiations with the Cherokee over an environmental impact statement for the Ravensford tract.
"Obviously, the legislation is an effort to shortchange the process that's in place, and prejudge the issue," Zoia said. "Before we create a 143-acre hole in the middle of the most visited national park in America, we should allow the current effort the Park Service is engaged in, in consultation with the tribe, to conclude and not prejudge it."
But Republicans -- who are privately gleeful they are pitting Democrats and environmentalists against Native Americans, traditional Democratic allies -- say the minority party is insensitive to the needs of the Cherokees.
"It is incredibly important because the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have school buildings that are falling down around the students," said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for the Republicans on the Resources Committee. "It's unsafe. This would be more than a fair trade with the United States government, which is getting land higher in value and higher in wildlife and natural resources."
But environmentalists question that assumption. The National Parks Conservation Association commissioned a study that said the land the federal government would be handing over is worth $3.5 million. The land the Indians are trading is worth roughly $500,000.
"That obviously raises questions that ought to be thought more about before this legislation moves forward," said Craig Obey, vice president of the NPCA. "At this point I think rushing through something prematurely when there's still controversy with it is counterproductive."