June 2 , 2006

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington DC 10140

Dear Secretary Kempthorne:

Congratulations on your new job. I am writing to you about a growing problem in our national parks. Increasingly with each visit to a national park I am seeing more and more dogs. The official national park rule is that no dog is allowed on any park trail. The National Park Service needs to do more to enforce this rule and keep dogs off the trails in order to maintain and improve a visit to the parks and to maintain the park's mission which is to preserve and protect for future generations. Dogs are not compatible with a natural park experience which includes wild animals such as bears, ancient trees, and natural wild beauty. Dogs are domesticated animals that frequently harass and bother wild life and other park visitors.

On Memorial Day I visited Sequoia National Park. I took the brand new trail to the General Sherman Tree and was very disappointed to see four dogs on the trail. When I entered the park and paid my $20 I was given a park newsletter that clearly stated dogs are not allowed on any park trail. The trail is very nice and I was glad to see that the park removed the old parking lot and replaced it with tree plantings. It looks like this trail was very expensive to build. The railing should help to keep people off of the fragile root systems of these grand giant sequoia trees. But why are dogs there? Viewing a 2000 year old tree in a national park is not compatible with dogs roaming around. Dogs should be left at home. One dog I saw was running up and down the trail unattended. I have frequently seen bears in this area and I do not believe that dogs should be allowed in the area. When I was leaving the park I asked a ranger at the temporary kiosk at Big Stump if dogs were allowed on the General Sherman Trail and she said yes. This is not acceptable. Dogs are not allowed on any park trail according to the national park service's own literature. The General Sherman trail is clearly a trail; it is ½ mile and it drops down 200 feet in elevation and it goes to one of our most precious national treasures. Dogs have no place there. I would like to know why the national park service is refusing to enforce its own park rule. I am writing to ask you to please direct the superintendent of Sequoia National Park to post a sign at the entrance to the trail reminding park visitors that dogs are not allowed. This is clearly a park trail and dogs should not be there. I do not want to view a magnificent ancient tree with a bunch of dogs roaming around.

I want to know what you intend to do about this very serious problem.

Sincerely,

Michelle Brodie