It seems not a week goes by without some issue being identified as a threat to the national parks. One week it might be funding woes, another week pollution, another diversity concerns, and then, of course, there's climate change.
So, from the following list, which do you think poses the greatest threat to our national parks? And if your concern is not on the list, please tell us what it is.
* Funding issues. It's been often reported that the National Park Service has a maintenance backlog of about $9 billion. And, of course, there's the issue of annual funding in general for the Park Service. Is Congress spending too little on the parks, or is the Park Service not as fiscally fit as it could be?
* Pollution. Whether it's ground-level ozone at Acadia or Great Smoky Mountains national parks, air quality in general at places such as Shenandoah and Sequoia national parks, or heavy metals and acid rain deposition in the Sierra, Rockies, or Appalachian parks there are plenty of pollution issues that can be cited across the National Park System.
* Diversity. This is a two-pronged issue, as there are concerns over both a lack of diversity in park visitors and within the NPS ranks.
* Climate change. Is this, as Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has said, "fundamentally the greatest threat to the integrity of our national parks that we have ever experienced"?
* Visitation. This also is a two-pronged issue, as some worry that the parks are not being seen by enough visitors, while others argue that places such as the Yosemite Valley, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Old Faithful in Yellowstone are overrun with visitors in the summer months.
* Inholdings. There are many cases across the National Park System where pockets of private property exist within the borders of a national park. And earlier this year there were news stories about a developer who was buying up parcels to build multi-million-dollar homes on them. Is the Park Service's inability, due to lack of funding, to buy these parcels harming the integrity of the parks?
* Motorized recreation. How great a threat are snowmobiles, personal watercraft, and off-road vehicles to national parks?
Comments
We, the people, who enjoy the parks are the parks' greatest threat. Our impact on the wildlife and park environment is rearely good. One thing I experienced just recently at Zion National Park was my first introduction to a MANDATORY bus system for visitors to use. Before I got there, I thought I would hate it, but once there, it was terrific. Not only was it super-convenient, but it minimized the normal congestion in the park. Having been to Yellowstone a couple of times, I could only wish the park service would establish a bus system for that park and others that are frequently visited. It would be so much better for the wildlife and the environment, and would give visitors more time to enjoy the park than deal with road congestion and bad drivers!
Bureaucracy, both Democrat and Republican. The park service has taken personal ownership of the parks and forgotten that they were established for the use of the people. Every time we visit the major parks like Yellowstone, Zion, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and others we find closed trails, roads, campsites, etc. Questions about these are answered with lots of meaningless words which attempt to give some real reason for the closure or whatever, but never really sound as if the person doing the telling has a clue. Most of the Ranger types nowadays act as if you being there is a real inconvenience to them. I truly feel that in 30-40 more years most all areas of our parks will be closed to the general public. You will be able to drive the roads and maybe stop at selected spots, but things like back country hiking, fishing, camping, etc will be a thing of the past.
I think the greatest threat is failing to realize what a precious resource we all have in the varied units in the park system. We have a great treasure and if we fail to pass it on to future generations in a condition where they will also be able to enjoy it is a great travesty.
In my opinion the issue of relevancy to the American public is one of the biggest challenges that the NPS faces. It's obvious that most on this board are park users and supporters, sadly that's not the case across society. As demographics continue to change, there are huge segments of our society that either know nothing about the National Park System or worse they care nothing about it. The parks will survive only as long as they remain relevant to the public.
On November 17, 2010 at 11:07pm, Colorado Cowboy wrote:
"We, the people, who enjoy the parks are the parks' greatest threat. [...] One thing I experienced just recently at Zion National Park was my first introduction to a MANDATORY bus system for visitors to use. Before I got there, I thought I would hate it, but once there, it was terrific. Not only was it super-convenient, but it minimized the normal congestion in the park."
I'm with CC. I think the free bus system at Zion is a remarkable success. Yosemite is less so, perhaps because the cars are allowed farther into the park. But what a difference from the major areas of Yellowstone, where there are no buses. Traffic jams are common -- when someone spots a mama bear and her cubs along the road, 20 cars park along the road for the photo-op. A park ranger stands in the road trying to keep traffic moving, but the congestion detracts from the experience of visiting the parks.
Chains, gates and padlocks.
Personally I agree with "Barky" I think he summed up my feelings. I also would comment that the buses at Zion are amazing and I did not miss having to find parking at each stop. At Glacier we drove around a parking lot at "Trail of Cedars" for about 20 minutes waiting for someone to leave. But I actually enjoy the bear jams and would miss the photo opportunity if i just rode by in a bus.
Greatest threat to the park system as a whole? The sluggishness and waste of a bureaucracy. The cry of GREAT THREATS (on a macro level) to the entire park system will only encourage the bureaucractic monster to waste loads of money trying to fix the unfixable. Superintendents should operate on a micro (one park/problem at a time) level. By making huge Call-to-Arms proclamations we risk encouraging park managers to spin their wiheels on grand sounding, political career-building themes that change with the tides and solve nothing. Meanwhile, each park has its own environment/habitat niches, vistor safety needs, and visitor enjoyment ideals that are dying a death of a thousand cuts.
If you really want to help...pick one small problem in one of your favorite parks and do some creative and critical thinking about what you can do to fix it or how you can get that park's superintendent motivated to work on it.