Permits No Longer Required for Expression in Parks

Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has suspended a rule requiring individuals to have permits before the “expression of views” or distribution of literature in state parks.

The suspension was in response to a request from the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU), which recently received several complaints on the subject.

ACLU Legal Director Vic Walczak says over the past two weeks, DCNR rangers stopped two Green Party candidates for U.S. Congress from getting petition signatures in Point State Park. He says rangers prevented another man from making balloon art.

Point State Park is the only park in which this is an issue; Walczak says that’s because almost nobody passes out literature in rural parks.

Walczak says the ACLU had been dealing with the Pittsburgh Police on this issue, but when DCNR informed them of the regulation they asked them to stop requiring permits.

“It makes sense to do for a large demonstration that may result in blocking traffic. Then, yes, you can have a permit system, but you can’t have it for what the courts often call ‘the lone pamphleteer.’”

Although the law hasn’t been formally repealed yet, DCNR has stopped enforcing it.

Point Great Lawn Open

The Great Lawn at Point State Park has been reopened. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has completed the second phase of its multi-year renovation of the park. Work on the Great Lawn included re-grading and reseeding the lawn, adding LED lights to the outline of the original Fort Duquesne and restoration of the medallion and paving stones marking the location of the fort. Along with the renovation of the Great Lawn, Phase II included work in the Woodlands areas on both sides of the grass. That work included removing hazardous and dead trees, raising the planting beds, resetting the field stone edge, adding irrigation and planting more than 54,000 native plants. The DCNR says those plantings are representative of the types of plants that would have been found at the point in the mid-1700s. Visitors will have to stay out of those plantings until they have time to become better established. Phase III will launch next summer with work set for the wharf areas and walkways along the rivers. Point State Park is where the French Fort Duquesne was built in 1754. The French abandoned the fort in November 1758 when the British arrived to claim the Point for Great Britain.

Hiking Week Strikes Its Course

The eighth annual Hiking Week is currently taking place in Pennsylvania. 100 different planned trails are available to hikers at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website. Spokeswoman Chris Novak says the hikes vary in length and difficulty. She says there are also specialized hikes that include pet walks, night hikes, geology and wildlife walks, and so on. Novak says DCNR started this effort 8 years ago with the Keystone Trails Association to get Pennsylvanians more active and involved with nature.

DCNR could close 35 state parks

A state Senate proposal is to make deeper cuts into the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources funds, an insult to injury after Governor Rendell's budget cuts earlier this year. If the plan is enacted, the additional $19 million in fund withdrawal from the DCNR is devastating enough to close 35 of 117 state parks. DCNR Spokeswoman Chris Novak says this was not a loss they had been expecting, unlike Governor Rendell's belt tightening. She says those adjustments were maybe taking a pavilion out of service or cutting the grass less often, but such an enormous loss cannot go without dire consequences. It is estimated that nearly 3 million visitors would be turned away and $57 million in locally-generated revenue would be lost.

"We would really significantly reduce access at a time when families who can't afford to take a vacation because of the tough economy could count on a little rest and relaxation at a nearby state park or forest," Novak says.

PA’s DCNR Sec. Steps Down

Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Michael DiBeradinis is leaving state government to head the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department. DiBerardinis has run the DCNR since 2003. It's a move back to DiBerardinis' roots. He ran the Philadelphia Rec Department from 1992-2000 when Governor Ed Rendell was mayor. Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo disputes the notion that DiBerardinis' departure for another government job is a sign the governor is approaching "lame duck" status, with less than two years left in office. He says DCNR will keep working toward the same goals under a new secretary. “There are lots of capable people in government… to see us through. The direction has been set. Mike DiBerardinis set the direction for the agency. And it's a matter of executing for the rest of the time that we're here.” Says Ardo. DiBerardinis will start the new job April 6th.

DiBerardinis defends Rendell

The head of Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says the job Governor Ed Rendell created for a former Democratic lawmaker is consistent with government cutbacks and hiring freezes. Ever since former Democratic Representative Dan Surra was given a $95-thousand a year job promoting the Pennsylvania Wilds, the newly-created position has been a rallying point for Republicans who say Rendell isn't practicing what he preaches when it comes to government cutbacks. But DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis says he's standing by the decision. He says, “We needed the help. I've asked for it three consecutive years. We got the help. I think any secretary who gets support for their number one or number two program would be crazy to say no. And particularly with a guy we think can do the job. I have great expectations.” But Republican lawmaker Doug Reichley, says he doesn't buy that argument. Reichley point to 68 DCNR positions that are being eliminated in Rendell's budget, and says the new job shouldn't have been created in a year when services are being scaled back.