European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 2, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday june 2, 1938 the stars and stripes Page 9 preserve the Parks Summit begins leaders discuss for ears to . Natural heritage grand Teton National Park Wyo. A with the tourist season fast approaching superintendents of the National Park service gathered wednesday Tor a Summit meeting to discuss How to attack threats to America s natural heritage. The four Day conference at Jackson Lake Lodge the first of its kind in 12 years was called by the National Par service director William Penn Mott who was to officially open the Confer ence wednesday All 341 superintendents were invited. It conies on the Brink of summer a Many National Parks and recreation areas gear up for record crowds. It is also inc latest chapter in the continuing controversy Over the nation s officially preserved natural heritage. Among the topics expected to he Dis cussed Are the strains imposed by too Many visitors at some Parks where popular natural resources Are taxed to the limit by crowds the Parks service budget and increasing external pres sures such As logging Oil drilling an commercial and residential development on Park Borders. Motl left most of the planning an Agenda for the meeting to a committee of superintendents headed by Robert Barbic who oversees Yellowstone National Park 20 Miles North of Here. This is not a regional or Headquarters Agenda this conference is by an for the superintendents said George Berklacy chief of Public affairs for the Park service. I think it is a very serious professional thing thai they have done in holding the conference said t. Descry Jarvis vice president of the National Parks and conservation association i Washington based non profit citizens group. I think it s very important that the National Park service enhance the no Tion that this is a single service with a i 10 most endangered National Parks  Santa Monk mountains  los Ano otes area pm Swaton atm single purpose said Jaryis who planned to attend the meeting As an observer. I m sure they will get a lot of Busi Ness done that would not occur if they weren t  it is in the Best interest of the country said Steve Whitney of the wilderness society adding that the superintendents should t Wail another decade for another  the National Park system includes 49 full fledged National Parks and 292other units including National recreation areas and National seashore areas encompassing 77 million acres. Last week the wilderness society issued a report calling on the Federal government to move All hotels and other concessions out of the Parks. The report also identified what the environmental organization deemed were the 10 most endangered Parks among them Yellowstone. The National Parks and conserva Tion association also recently issued a report compiled during three years that recommended a $50 million an Nual increase in the Park service s budget just to fix a backlog of resource management problems. The Park service issued a 1980 re port to Congress on the stale of the Parks that identified More than 4,000 individual threats. A recent general accounting office Survey concluded that the Agency had an unmet need of $1.9 billion for maintenance and capital improvements in the 1987 fiscal year. Because of advanced continuing deterioration some of these assets May be lost permanently the study said. The Reagan administration has pro posed a Park service budget of $779 million for the next fiscal year. One conference session deals solely with the Federal budget process and the Park service. The Tab for the meeting is estimated at $600,000, said Berklacy. He noted that this year s regional and zone superintendents meetings which Cost about $300,000 in All have been can celeb. Bottle deaths9 become lessons to be Learned by Richard Halloran fort Leavenworth Kan. Not to Many tank and mechanized infantry battalion commanders Are being killed in training exercises after which hair units deteriorate Andare trounced in Battle the Center for army lessons Learned has discovered. Research disclosed thai this has been a military problem shared by Mobile units for More than a Century. Data collected from the National training enter at fort Irwin calif., where battalion task forces of 1,000 soldiers in tanks and armore personnel carriers undergo two week training cycles year round demonstrated the problem. So did historical records including operations of israeli armoured forces in the Arab israeli War of 1973, combat records of tanks in the German army under Field marshal Erwin Rommel i world War i and even cavalry fighting in the american civil War. The findings were jarring. The National training Center casualty rates Are consistent with historical experience and May be a Harbinger of the casually intensive nature of future Armor Battles the Center said in a report to army units in the Field. Along with that conclusion went advice on How commanders should protect themselves and prepare their units to continue righting if the Are killed. In a laconic observation the report said that having the commander survive is the preferred method of maintaining command  the Center for army lessons Learned was set up three years ago to collate information on successes and failures in operations and advise officers and non commissioned officers. The invasion of Grenada in 1983, where much did not go according to plan was the catalyst. Before there was no mechanism to do this said the Center s commanding officer. Col. Kente. Harrison. Commanders gave subordinate units reviews of training but the reports were not shared. We needed to pull All that stuff out of the file cabinets distil it and get it Oul to in appropriate users he said most of the lessons Learned were from the negative Side Harrison said we needed to turn that around and provide the army with things that will work. I m not looking for the single Beltway to employ things on the Battlefield but for a series of things that will  once a pattern or trend has Bee discovered and a correction devised officers at the Center Send it out to the army in bulletins newsletters and articles in professional journals or by briefing commanders. Among its recent findings Are these smoke on the Battlefield is More useful in deceiving to enemy than Many had thought combat units should train More with engineers and make belter use of their ability to build fortifications or to breach enemy positions. Intelligence officers Are producing goo information but operations officers Are not using it properly nor Are commanders finding ways to counter enemy surveillance. Simple deception and operations Security efforts pay off the Center advised. The Center also is beginning to collect Dau from the new joint readiness training Center at fort Chaffee ark., where Light infantry battalion Sand rangers train. Initial reports said operations orders from company commanders had not been sufficiently detailed. In the Case of tank battalion commanders gelling killed the Center advised them not to get out in front of their troops unless that act of personal courage is the key to  but the Center also said there is no magic position that would guarantee a commander s safety. Off to the Side and towards the rear has the advantage of posing less apparent threat to enemy banners the report said. A command vehicle eing in the midst of Many similar vehicles is Les Likely to be singled  the Center advised commanders not to get involved in the fighting themselves but to direct their units. The majority of commanders killed at the National training Center chose positions where they quickly became involved in firefights and lost the ability to direct their  when in. Battle the Center s report said commanders who fail to get enough sleep court  it said that sleep deprivation cause Leaden at All Levels to make mistakes and decisions which directly or indirectly cause the dealt of not Only themselves but their  to keep a battalion fighting if the commanders killed the Center took a Page front air Force fighter pilots who always Fly in pairs the task Force commander and his Deputy need  other tank Crews would protect the commander or initiate the succession process if his tank is hit