Outwester.com

Big Plans for Boosting Funds to US National Parks

More than 200 US National Parks stand to gain from a much-needed injection of cash for key development and infrastructure projects, courtesy of the legacy-conscious Bush adminstration.

California Redwoods, the USS Arizona, Mesa Verda cliff dwellings and the New Orleans jazz legacy are among potential recipients of the "Centennial Challenge" proposal.

Underfunded for years, the parks are in line for upwards of $150 million in federal funds, in anticipation of the national park system's centennial, in 2016.  Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has been urging advance planning for the 100th anniversary, and developing public/private funding plans.

In this USA Today article, Kempthorne announced some proposed park initiatives, including Everglades habitat restoration in Florida and the building of a memorial to Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, and the amount of funding lined up: $215 million in private donations, to be coupled with proposed federal funds.

Before you book centennial campsites, know that federal funding still needs to work its way through Congressional approval. Watch this space.

Wired Magazine Backpacking Stoves

Just tested backpacking stoves for the August 2006 Wired Magazine. Too bad that Jetboil GCS didn't wow me like I'd expected, but can't wait to use the Brunton again.

  MSR pocket rocket 
  Originally uploaded by ryebrye.

  Ah....the Jetboil 
  Originally uploaded by mike.palic.

SF Disc Golf: Adopt a Hole

307 Days without a disc golf course in San Francisco...

Yet the news of today is progress! As the San Francisco Disc Golf Club continues working in conjuction with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department in installing the city's first permanant disc golf course in Golden Gate Park. Thanks to the generosity of disc golf-loving sponsors, they're 7/8 of the way toward hole sponsorship coursewide.

Disc golf's return to SF is all the closer. Closed since December 2005 for fundraising and expansion, the GGP course will reemerge as a full-fledged 18 hole course once the moolah's in. An additional 18 hole course will be built in McClaren park, too.

So step up to sponsor a hole on the Golden Gate Park course. And get ready to whip those Vipers.