If one were managing Yellowstone National Park, a close review any plans to build additional roads to increase park access would be necessary. One would need to define what a national park and wilderness are, review reasons to build the roads, reasons not to build the roads, and develop a plan for Yellowstone that would allow current and future generations to enjoy a great national treasure.
First, one must understand the concept of a nation park and wilderness. Yellowstone became the first national park. President Ulysses S. Grant designated Yellowstone, as a national park in 1872. The law establishing Yellowstone as the first National Park declared the area would be preserved "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." All "timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders" would be kept "in their natural condition" (McNamara, 2014). The natural state of the park is a wilderness area. Although wilderness is often taken to mean a wild or untamed area people have held various perspectives of wilderness throughout history. Some of these historical perspectives of wilderness in the United States are: 1."The Puritan model encouraged an aggressive and even antagonistic attitude toward wilderness. The wilderness must be tamed” (Dejardins, page 154). Wilderness was, as an area to be feared but yet an area where one could escape from oppression. 2. “The Lockean model sees the wilderness as real estate, a commodity to be owned and used” (DesJardins, page 154). 3. “The romantic model views the wilderness as a symbol of innocence and purity” (DesJardins, page 155).
Denial of Additional Roads 3
Even though perspectives of wilderness have changed and will continue to change Yellowstone was established with the purpo...
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...hat it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us" ("Greenpeace usa," 2014). By closely viewing the reasons for national parks, the definition of wilderness, a critique of reasons to build or not build roads in a national park, a comparison of preservation, cost-analysis, and conservative approaches to the environment, I feel that the best approach is preservation. This preservation approach would not eliminate access to the park but seek to control public access to protect the natural environment. The end result would allow the current generation to enjoy Yellowstone Park and make sure that future generations could as well. In speaking about wilderness, Robert Nash may have expressed it best when he said, “Its preservation is not only one of the best ideas American culture ever had; it may be a better one than we ever knew” (Nash, 2001).
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. .
Yochim, Michael. “The Development of Snowmobile Policy in Yellowstone National Park.” N.P. Web. 4 March 2014.
There are more than twenty-thousand employees that work in a wide reaching variety of organizations and disciplines. The employees work from the parks, to covering specific regions, to working in national programs throughout the National Park Service. At the top of the National Park Service is a Director who is supported by senior executives who manage national programs, policy, and budget in the Washington, DC, headquarters, and seven regional directors responsible for national park management and program implementation. In addition to the employees there are park partners and volunteers who work in a boots on the ground type of role in the
Petrified Forest National Park is located in the Painted Desert in northeastern Arizona taking up 93,532.57 acres of its land. Before the national park was established, it was founded as a National Monument on December 8, 1906 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation. Years later, the Congress passed a bill and established it as a national park on December 9, 1962. Centuries before Petrified Forest National Park was preserved as a national park, the land was preoccupied by the Paleo people. At the onset of the end of the last Ice Age, hunter-gatherers, people who lived by hunting game and only gathering edible plants, roamed the Southwest from 13,500 to 8000 B.C. Although these people enjoy meals consisting of meat and vegetables, they don’t raise livestock and grow crops. During these years of hunting and gathering, the region was cooler with a grassland environment, and people gathered wild plants for food and hunted bison and other large herd of animals. The types of bison these people hunted are now extinct. Nomads used a device called an atlatl to throw their weapons, such as spears and darts, to hunt. By 4000 B.C., during the archaic culture, the climate had changed and became similar to the one of the present. This period of hunting, gathering, and farming had lasted from 8000 to 500 B.C. In contrast to the time of the Paleo people, the climate was warmer, people extended their access to different types of food, and people began to farm and grow their crops. Due to the extinction of animals of the past, people had to expand their source of food, and they had to include many different species of plants and animals into their meals. Two hundred twenty-five million years ago, trees fell and were washe...
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...
Schltz Jr, Thomas M. Wofl reintoduction into Yellowstone Nation Park: a symbol of changing values and hiden agendas? 1995.
Since its creation in 1916, the National Park Service (NPS) has had to balance between its two goals, which are to preserve wilderness and nature and to provide the public with access to these wonders in a monitored environment. These two goals tend to create a conflict for the NPS because as soon as one goal is given more priority than the other, the administration of national parks is harshly criticized by the public. The accusation that by allowing people to experience the wilderness, the NPS is corrupting the natural environment is very common, as well, as the criticism towards the lack of government funding to preserve nature and history. However, regardless of arguable criticism and a certain need for improvement, after one hundred years,
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?
In comparison, wolves were gone from Yellowstone for more than 70 years. While they were gone, the ecosystem continued to function properly. With the gray wolf returning, the ecosystem improved. Yellowstone depends on the gray wolf to hel...
King, N. (2009, June 20). Wolves in Yellowstone: A Short History | wolves | issues. Yellowstone Insider: Your Complete Guide to America's First National Park. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://www.yellowstoneinsider.com/issues/wolves/wolves-in-yellowstone-a-short-history.php
By placing this emphasis on beauty in the wilderness the American people expected to see a beautiful wilderness, although in reality these two are not mutually exclusive. Muir supported a form of natural improvement in which alterations to the natural world are made, but not with any economic value in mind. Interestingly, Muir suggests that our wildness is a commodity to which, we are glad to see how much of even the most destructible kind is still unspoiled”. (Muir) By the time the National Park Service was founded in 1916 the American people wanted to be entertained by, and in, nature
Yellowstone park was the first national park in the United States. The park dates back as far as 11,000 years ago, when the Native Americans were the first to stumble upon the