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- NATION, Page 27American NotesPARKSMott Out, Fund Raisers In
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- In four years as director of the National Park Service,
- William Mott fought the Reagan Administration's reluctance to
- expand the system and spend enough to preserve existing sites
- against an ever rising tide of visitors. "Professionals in the
- field loved him, but the politicians often ignored him,"
- observes Paul Pritchard, head of the National Parks and
- Conservation Association. Mott's long career as a respected
- outdoorsman and conservationist will end soon with his dismissal
- by Manuel Lujan, the new Secretary of Interior. Mott, 79, said
- last December that he wanted to keep his job.
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- No one would give a reason for the impending firing except
- that George Bush and Lujan want their own team. Mott will be
- replaced by James Ridenour, director of Indiana's natural
- resources department. He was campaign finance chief for Dan
- Quayle when the Vice President won election to the Senate in
- 1980. Ridenour's new boss is expected to be Constance
- Harrington, a former attorney at the department and daughter of
- a Republican Party fund raiser. She is in line to be named
- Assistant Secretary of Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Said a
- department employee about Secretary Lujan: "It looks like he is
- filling the ranks with folks who brought in the cash."
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