Pros And Cons Of Desert Solitaire

Industrial Tourism has taken over the countries national parks. With millions of visitors a year, they have become polar opposite of their intended purpose. When the National Park Service was created in 1916, the founders could not have imagined how popular the national parks have become. One man who experienced this growth personally was Edward Abbey. During the 1950’s Abbey worked three summers as a park ranger in Arches National Park. While he saw a large increase in the visitation, but today however, the number of people visiting the parks is decresing. He wrote in journals which were turned into the compilation now called Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. This was before paved roads and buildings were created throughout the

park. The development that was pushed forward by the popularity of the automobile troubled Abbey. He saw it as a slap in the face to the purpose of the national parks. Where people were supposed to leave the safety and comfort of their cars, roads were being built to provide motorized access to the most remote places. When men from the U.S. Bureau of Roads show up at his trailer to survey the new road, his worst fears came into sight. He argued against their need to build a road and explained how the park didn’t need more visitors. The road was built anyway, and the master plan to erect grand campgrounds and many more roads was completed. Also, this change has caused an increase in the entrance fee. According to Brett Prettyman, an Outdoor Editor for the Salt Lake Tribune, “Park managers emphasize the fees aren't necessarily spiking just to spiff up the places in advance of the big party. But they certainly help” (Prettyman). This was the final straw for Edward Abbey, and he came up with a threefold plan that would restore the sanctity to the wilderness under the protection of the National Park Service. His plan should be implemented today more than ever, due to the degrading environment of the national parks. The solution to Industrial Tourism in national parks, as stated by Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire, is as follows: No cars allowed, new roads cannot be built, and the park rangers need to work more as a ranger.
Edward Abbeys’ ideas, in Desert Solitaire, to restore the state of the national parks and the visitors begins with the ban on the use of motorized vehicles.

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

nation.
The second major change to the national parks that Abbey suggests, in Desert Solitaire, is to stop building new roads. While it is too late for some national parks many of the newer parks are still relatively undeveloped. And if cars were no longer allowed in the parks then this second step would not be hard to implement. If only a few cars, for the use of park rangers, are allowed in the parks then, more roads are not needed. If the goal of the National Park Service is to leave the parks unimpaired for future generations, the best way to achieve this is to stop developing the parks. Abbey states: “Fortunately for the parks, by the mere elimination of motor traffic, will come to seem far bigger than they are now – there will be more room for more persons” (Abbey). And he illustrates how this would draw many more visitors due to the true natural experience of the parks. They need this increase in visitors more today than the parks did in the sixties when the book was written. According to an article in the Journal of Research, Thomas Stevens says: “visitation to the 58 major nature-based national parks-the "crown jewels" such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon-actually peaked in 1997 at 69.4 million visits, and has since declined nearly 7% to 64.6 million visits in 2010” (Stevens). The study cites several reasons for this decline, from the television to the less childhood interaction outside and away from technological advances. When people travel through the national parks on roads and in their cars, they are not fully experiencing the park.
The final change Edward Abbey wanted to see in Desert Solitaire, is putting the park rangers to good work. Instead of sitting behind desks filling out paper work and charts, they should be rangers who lead people safely through the parks. Without the aid of their vehicles many persons will need guidance in the natural world. The rangers will be their new leaders. There are some people who have the knowledge and know how to survive alone in the wilderness, and they will enjoy the new rules greatly. Yet for the many who have just emerged from their steel, aluminum, and plastic contraptions, abbey says the will need the rangers who should be their guides. About the economics of the plan abbey says: “Guide service by rangers should, of course, be free to the public” (Abbey). This change would create a new atmosphere in the interaction between the park rangers and visitors. People who never dare to venture deep into the backcountry of the parks would now have access to experts for no extra cost. Dino Zanon reported on the NPS rangers, stating: “Park agencies must plan to accommodate a diversity of visitors in order to satisfy visitor expectations and encourage future visitation” (Zanon). With the introduction of rangers as guides, the parks would gain a new dimension, drawing more visitors every year.
The three changes that Edward Abbey suggests we make to our nations national parks: the ban on motorized vehicles, ban on new construction, and turning the ranger service into a guide service, will save the nations last great places of wilderness. The first new change will force visitors to experience the parks in a way that not many people get to. They will get to experience nature the way it was intended. The second rule will ensure that the true purpose of the National Park Service, to protect and ensure that the wilderness remains untouched for generations, is restored. The final improvement proposed by Edward Abby will draw many new visitors and encourage those visitors to enjoy the parks to their fullest extent. “National Park Service further underscored that its purpose was not to shut off and close these natural wonders, but rather to open them for the use and enjoyment of the general public” (Political Transcript Wire). The improvement of national parks can be a very positive thing. However, for the sake of protecting and preserving, national parks should be changed to fit these needs.