To the Editor:

The synergy being created between government and business interests is creating a corrosive environment that is leaving our national parks wide open to exploitation by special interest groups, private businesses and overzealous public officials.

Millions of dollars of federal grant money and private donations are being used to mount a cruel and greedy assault on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The government is so desperate now to stimulate economic activity that they are pawning off our national parks and private organizations and businesses are rushing in to cash in on this new opportunity.

President Obama’s Great Outdoor Initiative announced in 2011 has opened a Pandora’s box of potential ethical and legal problems which is always possible when government and business get too cozy. When that happens it becomes very difficult to do anything to stop them.

A full and impartial investigation of this project will reveal the underlying truth of our governments failed social and economic policies and why our national parks should not have to suffer because of it.

Construction of non-motorized trail systems is leading the U.S. Department of Transportation to use federal funds to engage in unorthodox transit systems throughout the national park system which were never intended to become part of any mass transit system in the first place.

Congress must act to place some effective limits on how much private and federal money can be used to construct facilities like the Heritage Trail. This will protect our national parks and preserve the integrity of the national park service. That is a lot more important than the bicycle rodeos the protrail promoters have envisioned.

Chris Crowther

P.O. Box 303, Glen Arbor