the trails that guide us around acadia on our family vacations have been in use for thousands of years before us as legacy trails. instead of being used for recreation, legacy trails brought ranchers, indigenous peoples, or firefighters from point a to point b as quickly as possible, long before the times of cars and paved roads. 

rising visitation in national parks

acadia now hosts about 4 million visitors each year. on trend with many other national parks across the country, visitation soared after the pandemic. i was first thrilled to hear that many other americans are taking advantage of their public lands. however, calls from the parks rang a different tone. this rapid increase in visitor use has strained infrastructure systems, spread already overworked staff thin, and battered hiking trails. 

times like these are when the work of recreation ecologists shines through. jeffrey marion, ph.d., is a recreation ecologist with the us geological survey out of virginia tech and studies how the history of legacy trails shape the sustainability, design, and durability of our current hiking trails across the country. marion’s goal is to better understand how to mitigate the impact that humans have on the environment while allowing them a taste of wilderness through hiking trails. 

hiking trail design is oftentimes hidden on the paths that i grew up on. once trail designers and builders have completed their trail, it often should appear as if they were never there to give visitors a taste of “untouched” wilderness. careful planning is critical in ensuring that a hiking trail is long lasting. this careful planning may often be contrary to the legacy trails that already lie in place—these were built for convenience, not sustainability. 

after analyzing the legacy trails in an area, designers must assess if they are already sustainable, can be altered, or must be scrapped all together. marion emphasizes that water plays the biggest role in a trail’s sustainability. if you were to dump your water bottle down a mountain, the water would take the fall line down to the bottom. if a hiking trail follows that same route or lies at an unfriendly angle to it, water will either wash out or puddle in the trail.

creating the ideal trail

according to marion, the ideal trail angle is one that is diagonal to the fall line. in the process of trail design, designers then carefully craft the control points of a trail. these points lay out where the trail needs to begin and end, where people should go, and where people shouldn’t go. in the case of bubble rock, the iconic viewpoint that makes the hike is a positive control point. other examples of positive control points include waterfalls or scenic vistas, any beautiful scenery that humans would stray off the path to see if the trail did not already lead them there. negative control points such as ecologically sensitive sites are used to mark areas that the trail needs to avoid. 

marion says that trail design is not rocket science—it’s just a general understanding of the ecological role that outdoor recreationists have on their environment. with all of the steps that go into the design process, trails reemerge as more sustainable and durable to the effects of high foot traffic and natural elements. sustainably built hiking trails mitigate the effects that outdoor recreationists have on their environment while giving them the feeling of being in total wilderness.

with the recent surges in park visitation since the pandemic, recreation ecologists suggest that relying only on sustainable hiking trails isn’t enough. in 2020, visitation records were up 335% in july in comparison to may visitation numbers—this figure historically lies at 75%. 

christopher monz, ph.d., a professor of recreation resource management at utah state university, explains that visitor management is also key in mitigating the impacts that overcrowding has on hiking trails. he researches visitor impacts in rocky mountain national park in colorado, the fifth most visited park in 2020. to reduce overcrowding, rocky mountain national park implemented a timed-entry system into the park. visitors cannot get into the park without a reserved spot at a specific time.

monz says that timed-entry systems help reduce the burden of overcrowding on park resources while improving overall visitor satisfaction. some have suggested that extending access into the backcountry areas could alleviate overcrowding, however this raises questions about whether parks exist to serve visitors or the environments they protect. to monz, the future of managing overcrowding in america’s public lands looks like combining sustainable hiking trail design with managed access into the park. 

behind my family’s hikes in acadia were trail designers working to ensure that we had the ability to hike to bubble rock without harming the native plants, animals, and soil. after learning about how sustainable trail design and visitor management can reduce the impacts of overcrowding, i no longer just see hiking trails as the pristine nature that i once did. i now see the trail designer studying topographic maps to find the best route or the trail crews moving rocks, building stairs, or clearing trees to make a trail passable.

in a way, hiking trails are more beautiful now. i see the future of high visitation in national parks as a mesh between human impact and natural beauty. we can still preserve our public lands, make hiking trails more durable, and allow access for visitors all while protecting the core environment of parks. it’s something we rarely see in today’s world—a relationship that strikes the perfect balance of human impact and protection to let people appreciate nature while preserving it for generations to come. 

it is hard to believe there was a time when what was renamed as the c&o canal national historical park was unknown to me and not a part of my life. but once i reached it, there was simply no turning back. that very same place i had avoided because it seemed too far from home, now became a part of my life, requiring hours at a time for wandering the towpath, mountain trails, tunnels, across wetlands, and always taking field notes and pictures. having been a teacher meant that i was always wondering how to convey this sense of exploration and discovery to others, especially the coming generation that was losing its contact with the natural world.

when biodiversity took off

over the next three decades, separately, but soon to be interconnected, came a growing awareness of the world’s biota. in 1986, scientists dr. e.o. wilson and dr. thomas lovejoy led a national forum on biodiversity, which catapulted this subject into prominence. at this particular meeting, the national parks lacked a formal spokesperson regarding the biota within their boundaries.

one goal of this forum was to gain attention to the need for management and attention to our living, global species. as time passed, the concept and meaning of biodiversity grew from a novelty of the 1980s to the subject of global conventions and reports. reflecting on the interconnectedness of life, biodiversity came to stand for the study, discussion, and conservation of the various species that live on our planet. as this message reached out to the public, those crafting educational standards for science in grades k-12 also recognized the significance of biodiversity, albeit in a very truncated form. standards for such were instilled as part of the next generation science standards, a product of the national research council published in 2012.

eventually the national parks were recognized as another location where biodiversity could be found and studied. this recognition came as visitor’s interests were increasing and diversifying. thus, parks had to scale up efforts to meet both the new interests of visitors and programs for the protection and conservation of biodiversity. an early example of such came in 2004 with a report titled, “the potomac gorge conservation plan,” which marked the first set of biodiversity surveys in the c&o canal park. this was done cooperatively between the national park service and the nature conservancy. however, it was not until 2018 that a strategic plan emerged for conservation to enter park planning.

a more recent document, from our national academy of sciences is titled biodiversity at risk, which highlights extinction rates of 10 to 100 times those recorded before human domination. it also finds that at least 1 million species are further threatened with loss of life and concludes by recognizing how such losses cause decline in the world’s functioning ecosystems.

sadly, in late december 2021, these global losses were again brought to our attention, but this time marked by remembrances and obituaries telling of the deaths of two scientists, who, more than any others, pioneered our understanding of the significance of the earth’s green treasures, and whose thinking would come to influence the national parks as well.

first, lovejoy, 80, known as the person who produced the word biodiversity, passed away on saturday, dec. 25, followed just a day later by wilson, who died at age 92 on dec. 26. their lives’ work became synonymous with the practice of understanding the birth, death, and loss of species, and how this understanding would guide conservation.

lovejoy first ventured into the tropics in 1965 and continued to expand his research by opening an educational camp in the tropical forests of brazil. from his forested camp 41, award-winning research on fragmentation of forests was born. it became a place where those most interested in the workings of a rainforest could be housed and informed by lovejoy himself of the often-unseeable entities hiding among the towering canopies.

among things championed by wilson was the bioblitz, an event of citizen science at its best. one such event was held in 2016 to locate and identify species from the chesapeake and ohio canal national historical park.

responsibilities for biodiversity in the c&o canal park became part of its current strategic plan (2018 to 2023), to “maintain and protect wisely, to ensure towpath continuity, and protect and preserve cultural and natural resources.” it is this section that contains a strategic plan to develop and implement resource management by prioritizing critical natural areas and species of special concern. thus, while not yet embracing biodiversity by name, actions that lead to the conservation of species are now part of the park’s strategy.

a world canal conference

all reservoirs of biodiversity are a painting of inter-connectedness. this applies to the c&o canal park as well, along with the possibility to serve as a wildlife and conservation corridor. this suggestion was highlighted at the most recent world canals conference, held in august 2021 in hagerstown, maryland. in my presentation (“the capital’s corridor: from purveyor of goods to conservation corridor,” and two others), the emerging focus of biodiversity alongside the canals was discussed for the first time in this series of annual meetings, and participants could begin to consider this issue in relation to the more traditional history and interpretation and canal infrastructure discussions. a personal questionnaire was also distributed to seek guidance on how these issues should be managed by the c&o canal park.

in this talk, it was mentioned that the c&o canal park offers possibilities for exploring biodiversity and as a wildlife/conservation corridor. to do so, the corridor would take the same route as the canal and towpath, as if a passenger on a train. and as the canal stretches northward, so does the potential for a corridor, cutting through six geologic zones, climbing in altitude over 600 feet, each having different biota. as with all national parks, such diversity, remaining natural formations, historical and engineering artifacts, combined with our new and increasing understanding of biodiversity make the park more than the towpath and locks.

an alphabetized guide to the chesapeake and ohio canal national historical park

in fact, this park can open visitors up to life in nature, something that is getting harder to accomplish this close to major metropolitan areas. complete with great falls, and the kayak riders that dare the rapids, one finds a form of wilderness built of unique parts, sitting, waiting for others like justice douglas to ponder. with this thought in mind, a new guide to the canal park was begun with the intent to help readers rapidly locate those things of greatest interest. 

the question then became how to put this all together with old school and new school; a little bit fun, a little bit learning; a little bit art, a little bit science, and a hint of natural history and american history. it’s all for you, so put it to work. our response to this seemingly immense challenge is to provide excerpts from a book under production, titled, “an alphabetized guide to the chesapeake and ohio canal national historical park.” it is structured and illustrated to provide immergence for what is seen from the towpath and what the viewer knows already. it is like having a guide to ask, “but what is that and what does it do?”

however, while this book points one in the right direction, this national park and its exiting pools of biodiversity would benefit even more by modifying educational and research approaches conceived by lovejoy and wilson for establishing longer term programs. secondary students could undertake biodiversity studies that are consistent with educational standards from ngss (next generation science standards). in this time of restricted travel, financial pressures, and a virus complex still largely misunderstood, the opportunity to conduct work on populations, species, wetland, and fragmentation would go far in accelerating learning prior to graduate school or employment.

in summary, the book might best thought of as a guide to the constellations. so, think for a moment, how do we learn the constellations in the nighttime sky? at first, you see thousands of stars looking all the same, but as study their brightness and color, you suddenly see the major stars come forward in your eyes and voice in your ears, whispers, “that is the one, now look to your right and above, and there is another.” then slowly one star at a time, and following those clues whispered in your ears, the entire constellation appears in the sky, that very same sky where before there was nothing but he unknown twinkling of a thousand points of light.

except in our book, the night sky becomes an outstretching of green, blues and browns that slowly come into focus, completing a picture of a sycamore leaf swaying, waiting for the sun, and from there, we go inside the leaf, from cells to photosynthesis. you start with what you see or what’s on your mind, and next thing you know, like hearing voices in your ears of lovejoy, wilson, rachel carson, margaret mee, jane goodall, wangari maathai, fred urquhart, and on and on they come, a song that won’t stop and a melody that won’t let your feet stop dancing till the book is closed. you know that feeling, don’t you? so, take a walk on the towpath, any ol’ time of day and be surprised by what you see and learn.

conclusion: camp 41a, an education between the potomac river and the c&o canal

the canal was saved once, by the efforts of many who conceived of it as a national park rather than a parkway. thanks to their foresight, the canal was opened for a second time, only this time for nature not commerce. we hope that the book previewed and excerpted here will help bring together a place and its artifacts; its species and the science behind what is visible, the elements that bind its parts together, and help open eyes once again and fire up the engines of wilson and lovejoy to take us all place still unknown.

it is in lovejoy’s memory that “camp 41a” could be established for the canal where students could undertake much as lovejoy did, field studies on migration, fragmentation, speciation and the effects of corridors, thus enriching their education.

why be concerned about this park in particular? right now, it offers the potential to be the capital’s corridor, meaning that it becomes akin to a strip of “natural” habitat bringing together two or more other habitats, which then counters the effects of fragmentation, enriching the means by which organisms can move, encounter new genetic populations, and migrate. this could be the future of the biodiversity study in c&o canal park.

as of late, the word is that glass bottle beach is a great place to spend your sunday afternoon collecting vintage glass, or even just as a place for a casual stroll along the brooklyn coastline. in the words of a headline from a popular online newsletter  “the new yorker,” glass bottle beach is a treasure trove. yes, us humans are looking towards this pile of trash a place to find treasure. what does that say about the values of our society? 

the way we speak about certain things can often weigh heavy into how we perceive those particular things, and even further, may reflect how we treat them. in the case of glass bottle beach, unfortunately i don’t see the garbage going anywhere any time soon. but i do see the conversation surrounding it, changing. 

just as my friend suggested to me that one day— to check out glass bottle beach because it’s “cool,” i do the same to you. i suggest that you go, but go with a critical eye. i suggest you go for a walk along the polluted coastline with a loved one, and wonder about where the trash will end up after the next few waves wash it away. allow your visit to glass bottle beach be a wake-up call to how much waste you produce, because we all have a part in this, you just have to play it.

washington – democratic lawmakers beat back a series of republican amendments wednesday before advancing bills to restrict mining around the grand canyon and on tribal lands in arizona and new mexico.

in a sometimes emotional meeting, the house natural resources committee gave preliminary approval to bills banning mining on 1 million acres around the grand canyon, taking uranium off the list of “critical minerals” and setting a 10-mile mining buffer around chaco canyon.

the approval came after three hours of attempted amendments by republicans, who said the bills in their current form are doomed in the senate.

“the three bills we are marking up today are going nowhere,” rep. rob bishop, r-utah, said at the opening of the hearing. “they’re not going to be considered in the senate. they’re not going to be signed by the president. we are simply spinning our wheels once again.”

republicans said the mining bills will hurt the local economy while standing in the way of national and economic security for the u.s. as a whole.

but rep. deb haaland, d-new mexico, pointed to the cultural and sacred sites that would be protected by the bills, noting that tourism and outdoor recreation offer greater economic potential for the region than mining would.

“grand canyon national park was responsible for $667 million in consumer spending around the park and supports over 7,000 local jobs,” she said during the hearing, adding that a bureau of land management report found that mining would only support about 295 jobs in the region.

more importantly, haaland said, the measures will protect the health of area residents after decades of mining on the navajo nation left a “toxic burden” that shows up in higher risks of cancer.

“we cannot allow people to suffer from these preventable impacts simply to do the bidding of the mining industry,” she said in a statement released wednesday.

the bills passed out of committee on mostly party-line votes, that followed mostly party-line rejections of 14 amendments, the majority of which were proposed by rep. paul gosar, r-prescott.

gosar argued that the bill prohibiting mining on federal land around the grand canyon alone would mean the loss of up to 4,000 potential jobs and billions of dollars worth of economic activity and tax revenues for the region.

“it’s copper, it’s mining, it’s where you get true wealth to come from,” gosar said.

the uranium bill would reverse a trump administration plan that put it on a list of non-fuel minerals that are critical to the nation’s economy and defense, and could be threatened if imports from other countries were cut off.

president donald trump ordered the departments of interior and defense to develop the list in 2017, and the commerce department last month released a plan for ensuring a reliable supply of the 35 minerals on the list.

gosar at one point offered an amendment to rename the bill the “enhancing soviet and chinese dominance act,” arguing that not having a ready stockpile of uranium runs the risk of making america dependent on potential adversaries.

“making ourselves completely reliant on other countries like russia, china … is exactly why this bill should be changed directly,” gosar said.

but democrats argued that uranium has no place on the list of “non-fuel” minerals the president ordered up and that there are decades of uranium stockpiles available for military needs.

rep. tom o’halleran, d-sedona, said in a statement after the vote that uranium mining “throughout northern arizona has impacted the health and wellbeing of families across the region, and communities are still grappling with the legacy of this activity decades later.”

“we cannot allow these precious lands to be turned over to mining operations that could irreparably harm the area,” said o’halleran, a co-sponsor of the grand canyon mining bill.

grijalva rejected gop claims that not all tribes support the bills, which he said have wide support. he cited a poll that showed the majority of those surveyed support a mining ban around the grand canyon and believe that protecting public lands and waters is essential to the future economy and quality of life in arizona.

“there is national support and there’s certainly support from tribal nations from across this country, and in arizona itself, considerable and strong support,” grijalva said.

——

this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal. follow them on twitter.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. 

what silvero is referring to is the root of one of argentina’s recent causes of local fervor: a government push to monetize the national parks.

argentina is a nation that stretches across more than 2,200 miles from north to south, encompassing stunning national parks of varying land features. while the country hosts these astounding natural sites, the nation itself is facing a difficult economic period.

in late 2018, the argentine government announced a plan called “oportunidades naturales” (natural opportunities), what they deemed as “the call for sustainable tourism investments in natural areas throughout the country,” according to a translation of a government website.

the initiative “seeks to attract private investments for the development of tourist services in natural protected areas of the country.”

enter iguazú national park, a breathtaking wonder, home to waterfalls, plants and wildlife in the atlantic forest. the park is nestled along the iguazú river, which separates parts of argentina and brazil, though the falls stretch across both borders.

through this initiative, plans for constructing a tourist villa inside the famous iguazú national park were drawn out to increase profits from the national park. iguazú is just one of 20 parks impacted by this program.

the villa’s theme is “glamping” or “glamorous camping.” the attraction could be sited on land that has limited use, per the park’s management plan, according to a recent column in el independiente iguazú.

meanwhile, local residents of puerto iguazú, an argentine town near the park, have drawn their own line. and that line physically couldn’t be crossed when tourists tried to enter the national park in early february.

during the week of feb. 3, dozens of locals blockaded the entrance to the national park in protest of what the initiative could bring to iguazú national park.

dr. natalia vespa works with the institute of subtropical biology and moved from buenos aires to puerto iguazú 10 years ago. in february, vespa and jussara di benedetto, an outspoken resident of puerto iguazú, sat down with planet forward to talk about their experience within the park and the town.

“for national parks in argentina, the objective is to preserve the natural resources. that’s it,” vespa said in spanish. “aside from this objective, there should not be exploitation of these resources within these parks.”

in a translation of an official statement to planet forward from the national parks administration in argentina, they state that, “oportunidades naturales project does not consist of the installation and development of tourist villages, but is based on small-scale, sustainable, distant implementations.”

the statement declares that the program “is aimed at positioning argentina as a world destination for nature tourism, integrating this development as a tool for growth and promotion of regional economies and generating foreign exchange,” per a translation into english.

town already offers tourism opportunities

vespa said locals already are facing problems within the town of puerto iguazú and she fears that these strains on the relationship between the town and the park will only escalate if construction of the tourist villa within the national park is pursued.

“the town already has bad issues with the lights, water, and internet,” vespa said in spanish. she noted that many neighborhoods in the town went without water for two weeks last month.

puerto iguazú is greatly frequented by tourists, as it is a short 11-mile drive to the northwest of the national park and is host to many restaurants, hotels, casinos, bars, shops, and, of course, residents. much of what the proposed tourist villa would offer could stymie not only business but the needed attention to keep puerto iguazú afloat as a town. vespa fears that if the villa is pursued, puerto iguazú would further augment these issues and lack of attention.

currently, there are hotels within the national park on the argentine side and on the brazilian side.

in an article by misiones online published on feb. 19, vespa is quoted to saying that the national park already has a large public with infrastructure and benefits for tourism.

“we consider the implementation of a project that has its main objective to generate opportunities of touristic development, without solving the current problems that need to be addressed to mitigate the impact of tourism in the natural area, unnecessary,” according to a translation of the interview.

the protests in early february reflect the current sentiment of some locals. according to radio cataratas, organizers from la asamblea vecinal sent a note that expressed their desires for the cancelation of the “natural opportunities” project in the iguazú national park as a whole, noting plans for future protests.

for di benedetto, she sees the aforementioned protests as being exemplary of how things go in south america.

“we know that in argentina and all of latin america, there’s this condition of reproducing things,” di benedetto said, citing past revolutions and movements in the southern hemisphere. “clearly, we want this (the protests against the villa) to mark a precedent.”

going forward

beyond infrastructure problems and competition for tourists, there’s another issue on the minds of protesters.

a worker at the national park, who wished to remain anonymous, said he understood what drove so many puerto iguazú locals to protest the possible construction of the tourist villa in the park.

“many people think about the environmental impacts of the villa,” he said in spanish.

planet forward was told by the administration of national parks, “in the case of the iguazú national park, on a total of 67,000 hectares of total surface area, within the public use area, the actual utilization of the park visitation is reduced to 300 hectares (0.5%).

“in this sense, the oportunidades naturales project is studying interventions that, at most, foresee the use of only 12 hectares, previously intended for public use.”

but “the town (puerto iguazú) is small, too,” the anonymous park worker said. “because of this, people think that the tourists will only go to the tourist villa.”

while en route to town after a day spent in the national park with taxi driver silvero, planet forward interviewed him about his thoughts on reactions to the plans.

“we are going to have a lot of consequences that will hurt us if we don’t fight against this (the villa), and take care of nature,” silvero said passionately.

when asked if he fears an impact on his livelihood should the plans of a tourist villa be pursued, silvero said he is not. he simply wants nature to continue to be protected.

with the financial state that argentina is currently in and the promises for sustainability by the administration, ways to increase profits off of iguazú could offer benefits.

vespa, who has a doctorate in biological sciences, said, “the people of iguazú do want investments in tourism, but they should stay in puerto iguazú.”

i think that this lack of access to the outdoors is precisely what makes national parks so meaningful to me. this summer, i went on a road trip with the singular goal of visiting as many national parks as possible. with two friends and an incredibly packed suv, we traveled to denali, crater lake, the redwoods, joshua tree, zion, the grand canyon, canyonlands, arches, mesa verde, and the great sand dunes.

here’s a short list of why national parks matter to me, and why they should matter to you, too.

1. they are beautiful

it is an incomparable feeling to be so awestruck by your surroundings that time seems to lose its meaning, and all you are able to do is stare in wonder at nature. for me, watching the sun rise over the never-ending depths of the grand canyon was one such moment. standing underneath the peak of denali, with a shear elevation gain greater than everest, was another. perhaps the most amazing moment of all was hiking in arches national park. as the sun retreated, the sky turned from blue to crimson to violet to night. the stars spread themselves across the sky, bright and shimmering, and soon the outline of the milky way appeared behind delicate arch. the image below captures that moment, as night fell over us — but it was even more captivating in person.

far from cities and lights and so-called civilization, the night sky is a magical sight; nothing compares to being dwarfed by the entire universe. national parks ensure that spectacles like these can be experienced by anybody who seeks them out. towering redwoods, sweeping vistas, and lofty mountains are only a fraction of the value that our national park service helps protect. the true beauty lies in the preservation of natural, historic, and cultural areas in every part of the country for visitors to create lasting and meaningful experiences in.

2. they help protect important wildlife

part of the park service’s mission is to preserve the natural resources found in our parks for current and future generations. foremost among those resources are the animals who call national parks home. all sorts of wildlife inhabit the ecosystems that the park service oversees. certain species such as the gray wolf have been brought back from the brink of extinction due to the efforts of the park service. these wolves, and similar animals elsewhere, play a vital role in their ecosystem and ensure its health in the long term.

national parks are a haven for research and scientific discovery about the natural world. on an individual scale, visitors to many national parks can assist researchers and rangers as citizen scientists. in denali, which is larger than the state of new hampshire, my friends and i undertook the mission of collecting grizzly bear scat and recording the location of each sample by gps. since the rangers are unable to search the entire park by themselves, they enlist the help of visitors like us to collect data. i was able to contribute to a much broader project analyzing grizzly bear populations and movement patterns. as a result, i grew to appreciate the park in an unexpected way.

3. they offer an escape from everyday monotony

whenever school becomes too stressful, the last thing i want to do is trek back to the library and do homework under flickering light bulbs. similarly, the chaos of city life can easily become overwhelming. there is something soothing about being in the outdoors, surrounded by trees and mountains and dirt. and there’s science to back this up. the new york state department of environmental conservation details all the health benefits of spending time in nature — from boosting your immune system to lowering stress levels.

national parks are exciting because they create a setting so drastically different from everyday life. while many parks are brimming with tourists, there are still ample opportunities to escape and find a moment of solitude. i find there is no better place to recharge and center your thoughts, which can help prepare you for a return to the demands of bustling urban life.

4. public land is important

as president franklin d. roosevelt put it: “there is nothing so american as our national parks…the fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”

federal lands like national parks are owned by you, and every citizen has a stake in them. the iconic forests, rivers, deserts, canyons, vistas, and mountains that define the united states are shared by every american and open to any visitor.

i would encourage everyone, and especially other college students, to step out of your comfort zone and make the effort to visit a national park or two. along the way, you might learn something about yourself, your friends, your country, and the natural world around all of us.

drawing inspiration from the vintage national park posters of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as from hannah rothstein’s national parks: 2050, i imagine a world where our parks are celebrated, not for the natural wonders within them, but for the resources we extract from them. i have chosen the top five most visited national parks in an attempt to bring this issue, that may seem far removed from the american public, closer to home. it is up to us to make our voices heard, before this worst-case scenario becomes our reality.

write to your state and federal elected officials and tell them why you care about public lands, support businesses that advocate for them, and get involved with organizations like outdoor alliance who are fighting fiercely to protect them. together, our support won’t move mountains, but keep them as they were meant to be, wild and free.

—

for more information about the artist, visit: https://kaitevensen.wixsite.com/website

it can be hard for us to accept that there are wonders of this planet whose existence has nothing to do with us. places like alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge (anwr) have intrinsic value that far exceeds the benefits we could reap from drilling it or even from visiting it ourselves. few people will ever visit anwr, as it is isolated, unsettled, and very wild; only 1,200 people visit annually. though i may never be one of them, i know that its value is not up to me to decide.

there is truly nothing else like anwr. the new york times calls it “the wildest place in america that you’ve never heard of.” stretching from the coast to the brooks range in the northeast corner of alaska, it is home to populations of caribou, polar bears, migratory birds, and much more. it is also home to decades of conflicts between the state, oil companies, alaska native communities, and environmentalists.

simply stated, anwr is huge. at 30,136 square miles it is roughly six times larger than connecticut, the state i grew up in, and 443 times larger than washington, d.c., where i live now. it is larger than anything i can wrap my head around, and yet i know that drilling even a small part of it — the coastal 1002 region that has been opened to drilling by last year’s tax bill — is an environmental crime and an irreversible mistake.

as captivated as our imaginations have always been by our country’s wild west, the trump administration and other government leaders are trying and succeeding at making it less wild. if alaska’s state leadership and senator lisa murkowski have their way, alaska will soon be forever changed.

we are a nation that is 25 percent public land; in nevada it is 80 percent, and in alaska it is 61 percent. public land can mean national parks like yellowstone, which receives 3.8 million visitors per year. but it can also mean anwr, which is so vast and wild that parts of it will be kept secret from us forever.

one of the first things you’ll learn in an environmental studies class is the difference between a conservationist and a preservationist. conservationists believe in protecting resources for the sake of sustainability, so that future generations can benefit from them, while preservationists believe in protecting them completely from human use, because they have a value all their own.

conservationists protect land for humans, while preservationists protect land from humans. both sides have noble goals, and they don’t have to be in conflict with each other. in fact, they are usually on the same side of the battle against those who visit a landscape and can only see as far as the monetary potential beneath their feet.

as a child who loved nature and had high expectations that everyone else did, i was inspired by people like john muir, who gave nature a capital letter and a proper name, and marjory stoneman douglas, who crusaded for the defense of the everglades but famously avoided entering them herself. what i didn’t know was that arguing on behalf of preservation out in the world is akin to being a dreamer, someone who has not yet been bogged down by reality.

even when i arrived at the wilderness society as an intern last fall, i still had stars in my eyes and expected that i would be working alongside the most staunch agents of preservation. it turned out that the wilderness society was more rooted in teddy roosevelt conservation, defending the rights of americans to use their public lands rather than defending the right of that land to exist untouched.

as a communications intern at the wilderness society, i found that our frame most often had to be, “drilling/mining/privatizing/raising park entrance prices is wrong because it will limit your access to the lands that belong to you,” because it was easiest to garner public and media attention when human impact was involved. it is much harder to get donations or shares on facebook if your primary message is, “drilling/mining/privatizing is wrong because this land has existed for thousands of years before us and it should continue to exist because there is nothing else like it in the world.”

i observe this not as a flaw of the organization by any means, merely as a reality check for myself. the choice to focus on conservation over preservation is often no choice at all. in our economy of sacrifices and benefits, it can be impossible to convince the average person to care about something that doesn’t affect them. environmental organizations must realistically navigate the political world and act where they can have the most impact.

and yet, the wilderness society has been deeply involved in the decades-long battle against opening anwr to drilling, calling the refuge the “crown jewel of the nation’s wildlife refuge system.” focused as they are on conservation and recreation, the organization recognizes that intrinsic value matters, too, stating, “the arctic refuge is one of the finest examples of wilderness left on earth and among the least affected by human activity. its wilderness values are timeless and irreplaceable.”

our transactional worldview extends beyond the environmental sphere, and perhaps it is exacerbated by our current leadership. when the president of the united states degrades and threatens to deport immigrants, those immigrants feel that they must justify themselves and their presence here by showing their degrees and accomplishments; it is not enough that they are humans deserving of respect and safety. we make people prove their worth in order to receive basic goods like food and living wages. it should be no surprise, then, that we expect natural places to somehow earn their right to not be mined or developed into oblivion.

most of us will never summit everest, yet we would never advocate for mountaintop removal or building a shopping mall at its base. we know that everest’s existence precedes us and that it is worth much more than what we might turn it into. natural wonders like anwr are no different, though they may exist more quietly. anwr has existed for thousands of years without our input, but unfortunately, it won’t be here for much longer if those concerned among us don’t step in.

you and i may never touch it, but it exists, and it matters.

the conservation leaders program, a partnership between the national park conservation association and participating universities, aims to increase student engagement with national parks and introduce them to a career in the national park service.

the program was born out of the need to connect young people with nearby national parks, and encourage them to further engage with public service. i had the privilege of working with fellow students on the blue ridge parkway, a scenic roadway spanning north carolina and virginia, where we spent sessions learning about park management, citizen engagement and outreach, and some of the challenges those in the nps are encountering.