From the mighty mountains, waterfalls and forests that cover our country, the energy that has gone into preserving these earth-given gifts alive is extensive. The environments created by thousands of years of natural progression have within themselves kept a piece of the world to themselves. Beginning in 1872 with the Yellowstone National Park located in the previously known territories of Montana, people began to protect these places, placing them within national parks boundaries. Since then, national parks have appeared across the country from “sea to shining sea”. With the creation of fifty-nine of national parks to date, people across the country travel to visit these sites where nature has been left alone to be as it was before human …show more content…
The beginning of the journey towards forming the first national park begins with a battalion in California, charged with the task of bringing the Native Americans onto reservations. During this trek, they came across a valley of immense beauty, and named it in what they believed was the Indian tribe’s name. They named it “Yosemite”, which later on was found to actually translate to “they are killers” (pbs.org, 2009) in the Native’s language. After a period of nine years, a photographer visited the park, accompanied by a land developer by the name of James Mason Hutching’s. His photos slowly made their way around the country, amazing people with the beauty of this piece of land. They called for its protection, even as the nation was slowly being torn apart by the civil war between the Union and Confederacy. With the Natives being pulled off of their land, the movement to save the lands they previously occupied was in danger. Niagara Falls in New York had already been nearly devastated, and Yosemite might be soon to follow in a short period of time, if Hutchings had his way. People gave back to the goal of protecting the land and towards building the national park system, but the man who truly brought this movement forward to create this first park was John Muir a naturalist who had studied “geology and botany at the University of Wisconsin” (pbs.org, 2009), …show more content…
One of these organizations is the National Parks Conservation Association, based out of Washington D.C. and formed by Stephen Mather, the “first director of the Park Service” (NPCA, 2015) in 1919. This group works for the benefit of the parks as an “independent voice- outside of the political system- to ensure these places remained unimpaired for future generation” (NPCA, 2015). This group has a voice in Washington, though locating other solutions when need be to solve legal problems that may negatively affect the parks, as well as pushing for laws that would support the parks through the years. NPCA also acts as an overseer for the National Park Service. In supporting the parks well-being, this organization has in the past and present resisted people’s attempts to add dams to the parks waterways, forbid mining, logging and hunting within the parks. In the present, NPCA is directing their energies into protecting our air from pollution, which effects nature, animals and people. Moving on, the organization NPCA oversees, the National Park Service, established three years before the NPCA, was the first organization formed for the benefit of the parks. Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson through the Organic Act, The NPS’s mission was, and is, to “promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as
Committee on Senate Energy and National Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. 3 June 2003: ESBCO. Mission Viejo Library., Mission Viejo, CA. 31 July 2005. http://web31.epnet.com/citation.
...c structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest in federal ownership as national monuments. National parks were established together with National Forest Service throughout U.S. for conservation and recreation purposes. These actions faced opposition from Western settlers and Congress members who had plans of using the land that was set aside but also the Indians who were forced to stop hunting and fishing. However, settlers were happy with 1902 Reclamation Act that put aside funds to irrigate unlivable chunks of land and previously dry.
Robbins, Jim. Last Refuge: The Environmental Showdown in Yellowstone and the American West. New York: Morrow, 1993. Print.
United States. National Park Service. "Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. .
There should be no man made machinery operating in the park unless absolutely necessary. The creation of the National Park Service is to preserve wilderness in a way that gives people the opportunity to experience nature in all its wonder. It was never intended to create amusement parks where people never leave the safety of the modern age and look at the natural world through glass. Being completely enveloped in nature has many benefits, from physical such as lowering blood pressure, to psychological in boosting moods. According to Tyler Tapps in Parks & Recreation: “Recent research indicates that outdoor activity is associated with positive mental and physical benefits, including increased cardiovascular function, decreased stress levels, and reduced blood pressure” (Tapps). Abbey understood this, as did many Americans. Today however the number of people willing to immerse themselves in the nations parks is decreasing. In Desert Solitaire, abbey puts it this way: “A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourist can in a hundred miles” (Abbey). Today many members of the younger generation have lost that sense of joy and wonder in the outdoor setting. This change would bring back the love of nature in this
Yosemite and its history, young to old the story of an area of land that is doomed to be mined, forcibly stripped naked of its natural resources. In 1864 Yosemite land grant was signed into act by president Abraham Lincoln, the first area of land set aside for preservation and protection. Yosemite being a very important historical plot of land, some time ago president Theodore Roosevelt visited the park managing to disappear from the secret service with John Muir. Through the years the contrast of ideas between the industrialists and the preservationists have clashed, Yosemite’s history both interesting and mysterious but more importantly inevitable .
For most Americans, traveling to and from home is relatively simple. Travel in most of the United States is on paved roadways, and most roadways draw very little attention from conservationist groups. This, however, is not the case for residents in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
John Muir believed that for the future of America that the natural world should be protected. Muir felt that the environment of much of the United States was not protected properly and the locations that were protected were not managed adequately. Muir felt that Americans had much to gain from the protection of their national resources and park lands. In John Muir’s book Our National Parks, written in 1901 he states: “Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own...
Christopher McCandless’ long, fascinating, but ultimately fatal journey into the wilderness of Alaska is depicted in the biography, Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer. Late in the of summer of 1990, a very young Christopher McCandless left his ordinary world in Annandale, Virginia to pursue a solitary life in the untamed wilds of Alaska. Many will insinuate that Christopher McCandless’ actions were childish and idiotic, but a stronger argument would be that his unconventional thinking and desire to live life on his own terms allowed him to reach self-actualization.
Every year, over nine million hikers and adventure seekers travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park making it the most visited national park in the United States. There are abundant reasons for this, but many popular reasons include over 150 hiking trails extending over 850 miles, a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, sightseeing, fishing, horseback riding, and bicycling. The park houses roughly ten thousand species of plants and animals with an estimated 90,000 undocumented species likely possible to be present. It is clear why there was a pressing interest in making all this land into a national park. My research was started by asking the question; how did the transformation of tourism due to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park affect surrounding cities such as Gatlinburg and Sevier County, and in return, its effect on the popularity of the park?
Public dog parks could be very essential to cities. Many people who own dogs have no where to take them, which does not give the dogs any exercise or social interaction. We should treat our pets as equal and satisfy their needs as much as our own.
The purpose of this paper is to inform you about John Muir and his effect on America's national forests. He was a Scottish American and was born in Dunbar, UK on April 21, 1838. He arrived in the U.S in 1868 when he was 30 years of age. John Muir was one of the most influential naturalists in the world. If it wasn't for John Muir we probably would not have the national park known as Yosemite. Some of his goals in the U.S. were the preservations of the national forests. He was an environmental philosopher and did well for the U.S. national parks. John Muir founded the Sierra Club, an American organization and the 211-mile trail called the Sierra Nevada was named in his honor.(John Muir, wikipedia)
“… It is apparent, then, that we cannot decide the question of development versus preservation by a simple referral to holy writ or an attempt to guess the intention of the founding fathers; we must make up our own minds and decide for ourselves what the national parks should be and what purpose they should serve.”-Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
John Muir was one of the most passionate men of all time on preservation of the land. Few of his time, found Yosemite; considered by some to be the “garden of eve”, to be something that future generations would always enjoy. Unlike most men of his time, Muir was not focused on exploiting Yosemite, but instead to protect it. This life long passion of John was what gave him his nickname as “Father of our National Parks”. Many books have been wrote about John Muir but the most famous is of his personal journal called My First Summer in the Sierra. This book shows perfectly John Muir’s love and outlook of the land. John describes every little detail of the Sierras, bringing it to life and ultimately personifying the land. John accounted every little detail on his trip, from the bristle of leaves in the wind, to an ant walking below him. This profound love of nature was almost spiritual, realizing that “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” I strongly believe that John Muir’s intentions were always in the right place and morally correct, as the
The National Park Service was a huge and crucial stand in history because it started a new system of preserving land. This event was in 1916 but it carried on until now. It was established to protect beautiful landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park. This topic is important because these landmarks could have been destroyed. But, some industries such as oil and mining companies still don’t care if they are ruining the protected land. So, this is an important topic that affects our world. After this act many environments were affected and became more preserved. That is how this topic was a significant stand in history.