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To Conserve Unimpaired: The Evolution of the National Park Idea
Abstract
When the national park system was first established in 1916, the goal "to conserve unimpaired" seemed straightforward. But Robert Keiter argues that parks have always served a variety of competing purposes, from wildlife protection and scientific discovery to tourism and commercial development. In this trenchant analysis, he explains how parks must be managed more effectively to meet increasing demands in the face of climate, environmental, and demographic changes.Taking a topical approach, Keiter traces the history of the national park idea from its inception to its uncertain future. Thematic chapters explore our changing conceptions of the parks as wilderness sanctuaries, playgrounds, educational facilities, and more. He also examines key controversies that have shaped the parks and our perception of them.Ultimately, Keiter demonstrates that parks cannot be treated as special islands, but must be managed as the critical cores of larger ecosystems. Only when the National Park Service works with surrounding areas can the parks meet critical habitat, large-scale connectivity, clean air and water needs, and also provide sanctuaries where people can experience nature. Today's mandate must remain to conserve unimpaired but Keiter shows how the national park idea can and must go much farther.Professionals, students, and scholars with an interest in environmental history, national parks, and federal land management, as well as scientists and managers working on adaptation to climate change should find the book useful and inspiring.
... It sits at the center of the 22 million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), which is comprised of a patchwork of federal, state, and privately managed land. Due to its historically central position, both politically and within the environmental conservation movement, the GYE must continue to take the lead in developing innovative and effective management policies (Keiter 2013). ...
... This mandate distinguishes the NPS from most other land management agencies and guides its current wildlife policies. However, this mission statement contains objectives of conserving nature unimpaired and providing for enjoyment by people that may conflict at times (Clark and McCool 1985, Wright 1992, Keiter 2013. ...
... monthly visitation examples). Although traffic is restricted to a 500-km road system that dates back to the 1930s and 1940s, the road corridor intersects several prime river valleys and landscape features, providing wildlife viewing opportunities to greater areas of the park (Keiter 2013). Previous research has indicated winter motorized travel can alter the behavior of animals, and possibly affect their physiological condition (e.g., Creel et al. 2002, Fortin andAndruskiw 2003). ...
Widespread habitat loss and overharvest have been identified as major drivers of population declines and range contractions for terrestrial mammalian species. Protected areas, like national parks, are increasingly important as refuges for rare and exploited species, as well as critical natural laboratories that serve as baseline examples of ecological processes largely free from human intervention. Yellowstone National Park (YNP) sits at the center of a 22-million-acre mosaic of federal, state, and privately managed land in northwest Wyoming known as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The region boasts one of the last nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth, providing vital habitat for seven species of native ungulate and seven large predators. We sought to answer fundamental wildlife conservation and management questions pertaining to large predator distributions and behavior. We snow-tracked cougars (Puma concolor) for four consecutive winters to gather noninvasive genetic samples. We applied Bayesian spatial capture-recapture models to estimate abundance, density, apparent survival and recruitment for this cryptic, low-density species. In addition to these noninvasive studies, we captured and GPS-collared cougars and wolves (Canis lupus), a subset of which contained tri-axial accelerometers to monitor instantaneous movement signatures. Using GPS locations from these animals we searched and identified predation events, allowing us to directly link known predatory behavior to accelerometer readings. We compared patterns in seasonal predatory behavior for these sympatric species that utilize divergent social strategies. Finally, we examined nearly twenty years of wolf GPS locations to understand the impact of growing visitation (>4 million human visitors/year) on habitat selection patterns. We identified behavioral shifts away from the road during peak visitation but found increased tolerance by wolf packs exposed to more human visitation. Findings from our work give managers information to effectively monitor population trends for cryptic species, remotely gain insights on fine scale behavioral patterns and circumvent visitor use management issues that may be modifying wildlife behavior.
... Tourism development around PPAs often provides substantial economic opportunity for local communities [26][27][28][29]. Park and protected areas also provide a variety of ecosystem services and recreation opportunities that positively contribute to the character of the community and the quality of life for residents [28,30,31]. ...
... A variety of factors shape the impact of PPA tourism development on gateway communities, many of which are also tied to the long-term development of a protected area. As PPA managers increasingly navigate encroaching development around their borders, mitigation strategies that mobilize communities as ambassadors for parks are much needed [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. This is certainly the case for Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which is situated within the Bakken Oil Formation and surrounded by gas and oil extraction operations. ...
... During community member meetings, we began to understand some of the intricacies of the communities that are deeply intertwined with these industries. As PPA managers move away from management strategies that view parks as islands [30], the necessity to add community collaboration to strategic planning processes is becoming increasingly important. This study indicates that the utilization of the AI method can aid in that process. ...
Appreciative Inquiry was employed to understand the mutual impact of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and nearby communities’ relationships with tourism. Specifically, the goals of this study were to: understand the role of Theodore Roosevelt National Park related to stimulating regional tourism; to ascertain gateway community resident perceptions of benefits from tourism as it relates to economic development and quality of; and, to explore nearby communities’ relationships with the park and how those communities may help influence quality visitor experiences, advance park goals, and develop and leverage partnerships. Results include a collection of emergent themes from the community inquiry related to resource access and tourism management, citizen and community engagement, conservation, marketing, and communication between the park and neighboring residents. These findings illuminate the need to understand nearby communities’ relationship to public lands and regional sustainability support between public land managers and these communities.
... The importance that an aesthetic appreciation of "picturesque" landscapes has had in determining priorities for land protection in the United States cannot be underestimated [8,11]. During the early development of landscape architecture in mid-19th century Europe and North America, the "picturesque" was characterized by forms and arrangements that conveyed a sense of the sublime, raw power of a capricious, uncaring natural world [12]. ...
... As noted in the Introduction, the 1916 legislation (the Organic Act) establishing the U.S. National Park Service emphasized the importance of conserving the scenery of the parks so that it could be enjoyed by the general public. Although the Organic Act also required that the scenery (and wildlife) be left "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations", the management of the U.S. National Parks has almost always prioritized scenery and the visitors' experience over keeping them in an unimpaired state [8,57]. This idea has its roots in landscape architecture. ...
... Whether existing parklands can be preserved unimpaired while roads and hotels are built, trees are cut, or cattle are grazed continues to vex National Park management [8,26,57]. At the same time, however, Lane wrote that: In short, the importance of scenery-and scenery as landscape architecture to be enjoyed by all-was, and remains, the raison d'être of identification, establishment, and management of U.S. National Parks. ...
The predominant environmental consciousness in both the United States and China reflects an underlying sense of separation of people from nature. Likewise, traditional landscape paintings in the United States and China share a common underlying aesthetic—i.e., the “picturesque”. Together, these similarities appear to have led to the preservation of similar types of landscapes in both countries. Because decisions regarding landscape preservation and subsequent management of preserved areas in both countries reflect aesthetic preferences more than they reflect economic values placed on ecosystem services, contemporary artists have an opportunity to help shape future societal decisions regarding what natural areas to conserve and protect.
... 10). However, dichotomization of humans and nature is a colonial, Euro-North American occurrence manifested in creation of national parks and reserves as conservation spaces to protect the environment from human activity (Cater, 2006;Crowe & Shryer, 1995;Gissibl, 2016;Keiter, 2013;Melubo, 2020;Sène-Harper & Séye, 2019). This paper explores how application of this dichotomization of East African contexts by European colonizers has had lasting influence on ways in which East Africans experience, interact with, and perceive the natural environment. ...
... European interests in hunting and obtaining ivory played a critical role in restricting uses of this land (Gissibl, 2016). Modelled on U.S.A. national parks, colonial administrators created protected areas across East Africa displacing members of rural communities from their traditional land, separating wildlife from local people, and challenging livelihoods of local community members (Johannesen & Skonhoft, 2005;Keiter, 2013;Sabuhoro et al., 2017). In East Africa, areas once supporting prosperous farmers transformed into wildlife reserves, often guarded by a militarized security force (Nelson, 2003). ...
In East Africa, settler-colonization during the Scramble for Africa period and the militarized conservation regimes that became a common feature of colonial governance in the region, characterized by conserved land secured via fences and patrols of armed rangers, fundamentally altered locals’ access to and relationship with their land and natural environment. In parallel to the impacts on locals’ relationship with nature, direct colonial governance impacted local expressions of leisure. Colonial authorities often enforced particular activities during times normally allocated as free time, forcing individuals sometimes to perform tasks or engage in activities contrary to local conceptions of leisure. This paper draws linkages between two discrete but related scholarly literatures focusing on African contexts: the lasting influences of a particular period and type of colonization on local peoples’: (a) conceptions of leisure, and (b) relationships to their natural environment. East Africa is the primary regional focus, to contain the scope. Snowballing literature search and database keyword searches are used for literature review, in which African-authored scholarship is prioritized to address Euro-North American bias in academic research. Evidence in the literature describes how leisure and perceptions of nature were constrained and redefined during the settler-colonial period and their evolution in the postcolonial era inform how leisure and perceptions of nature are shaped in the present. However, the paper focuses only lasting impacts of a particular period and type of colonization, and thus the lasting impacts are likely to be deeper than those described in this analysis. Next, the paper draws on intersections of these literatures to examine a contemporary issue in East Africa: recent efforts to increase domestic ecotourism by encouraging locals to engage in nature-based recreation activities and leisure experiences. The paper contributes to the African ecotourism literature by intersecting colonization, sociology of leisure, and tourism literatures to identify contemporary historically-rooted opportunities and challenges in domestic ecotourism in East Africa, highlighting gaps in sociology of leisure and ecotourism literatures pertaining to prospective African tourists’ perceptions of ecotourism activities.
... outside their purview (Keiter 2013). Consequently, in this essay, we devote much of our discourse to detailing how protected area management, environmental education, and outdoor programming are all complicated by four key factors: (1) a worldwide record growth in visitation, (2) the transboundary nature of climate change impacts, (3) the lack of self-efficacy beliefs exemplified by last-chance tourism, and (4) problems associated with short-term governance -all of which press down on the fragile natural resources professionals are entrusted with stewarding. ...
... The Anthropocene has forced managers to increasingly look beyond parks and protected areas as "islands" to see dynamic social-ecological systems impacted by transboundary forces often outside their purview (Keiter 2013). Put differently, the human-generated boundaries of protected areas, designed to preserve specific natural areas (e.g., the Great Barrier Reef) and species (e.g., corals), are regularly influenced by other biotic, geological, socio-cultural, economic and political boundaries (Krafte et al. 2017). ...
Aldo Leopold is widely regarded as one of the founders of the modern field of ecology. He was also a skilled woodsman, hunter, and a proponent of personal development through time in the outdoors. In this essay, we focus on how Leopold viewed certain benefits concomitant with immersive outdoor experiences. Guided by his 1943 essay, The Flambeau, we highlight the importance Leopold placed on opportunities for trial-and-error through primary experience in nature for youth, while asking if these freedoms still exist in the Anthropocene. We then present four broad and interrelated social-ecological dimensions – record visitation, climate impacts across boundaries, last-chance tourism and volatility in governance – facing park and protected area managers, and outdoor and environmental educators who are the caretakers of these freedoms. Despite these challenges, we close by asserting the importance of a youth agenda to maintain access to experiences that provide young adults opportunities for risk and exploration. These experiences are paramount for both their intrinsic value and their potential to inculcate environmental ethics in future generations.
... This mandate distinguishes the NPS from most other land management agencies and guides its current wildlife policies. However, this mission statement contains objectives of conserving nature unimpaired and providing for enjoyment by people that may conflict at times (Clark and McCool 1985, Wright 1992, Keiter 2013. Understanding how to implement this dual mandate by simultaneously protecting wildlife and facilitating visitation in YNP requires monitoring and research on the impacts of roads and visitation on wildlife behavior, which is broadly applicable for wildlife managers in most protected areas. ...
... For example, in 2017, average monthly visitation from November to April was approximately 4% (27,102/ month) of that recorded during May-October (658,985/month; NPS 2018; see Appendix S1: Fig. S1, for monthly visitation examples). Although traffic is restricted to a 500-km road system that dates back to the 1930s and 1940s, the road corridor intersects several prime river valleys and landscape features, providing wildlife viewing opportunities to greater areas of the park (Keiter 2013). Previous research has indicated winter motorized travel can alter the behavior of animals, and possibly affect their physiological condition (Creel et al. 2002, Fortin andAndruskiw 2003). ...
Understanding the behavioral responses of large carnivores to human activity in protected areas is important for conserving top predators. Roads and associated vehicle traffic have a range of impacts on wildlife, including mortality from vehicle collisions and behavioral changes from increasing traffic levels. Roads concentrate human activities and may be particularly impactful when located adjacent to high‐quality habitat for wildlife. However, people often overlook road impacts in protected areas because of relatively low road densities. From 1979 to 2017, annual visits to Yellowstone National Park increased from 1.9 to 4.1 million, with many visitors in the last 25 yr focusing on the opportunity to view wild wolves (Canis lupus) in their natural habitat from the roadway. To better understand how human activity interacts with landscape attributes and prey availability to shape wolf habitat use, we developed seasonal and diel‐specific step selection functions (SSF) for wolves. Wolves responded to increased human activity by using areas farther from roadways during the day and during peak visitation in summer. Prey availability, as estimated by an elk SSF, did not significantly alter habitat selection patterns by wolves. The strength of habitat selection in relation to roads varied among wolf packs. The most heavily viewed wolf packs exhibited less road avoidance, suggesting increased tolerance, which could lead to increased vulnerability to human harvest if they leave the park. Federal and state managers have implemented several measures to mitigate disturbance effects to wolves and curtail habituation. These results may inform adaptive management strategies that seek to continue to conserve natural wolf behavior.
... Moderniin kestävään luontomatkailuun ja suojelualueisiin liittyvä keskustelu on vilkastunut 1990-luvulta alkaen. Tärkeimpiä aiheita ovat olleet matkailun kehitys kansallispuistoissa ja muilla erityisalueilla (Fredman & Tyrväinen, 2011;Frost & Hall, 2009;Keiter, 2013) sekä kestävyysajattelun tuominen osaksi suojelualueiden matkailutoimintaa (Fennell & Dowling, 2003;Keiter, 2013;Plummer & Fennell, 2009;Puhakka & Saarinen, 2013). Kestävän matkailun ideaa on kyseenalaistettu jo vuosia, ja matkailun kestävyys on lähtökohtaisesti problemaattista. ...
... Moderniin kestävään luontomatkailuun ja suojelualueisiin liittyvä keskustelu on vilkastunut 1990-luvulta alkaen. Tärkeimpiä aiheita ovat olleet matkailun kehitys kansallispuistoissa ja muilla erityisalueilla (Fredman & Tyrväinen, 2011;Frost & Hall, 2009;Keiter, 2013) sekä kestävyysajattelun tuominen osaksi suojelualueiden matkailutoimintaa (Fennell & Dowling, 2003;Keiter, 2013;Plummer & Fennell, 2009;Puhakka & Saarinen, 2013). Kestävän matkailun ideaa on kyseenalaistettu jo vuosia, ja matkailun kestävyys on lähtökohtaisesti problemaattista. ...
In the past few decades, sustainable nature tourism has become one of the most growing and debatable fields of the tourism industry. This article focuses on analyzing the possibilities and threats regarding sustainable nature tourism of two Finnish national parks: Koli in North Karelia and Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland. The main data of the study consists of the interviews of the park managers and planners and of the survey study of the companies and societies cooperating with the parks. The main findings of the study suggest that the entrepreneurs operating in the national parks have adapted to the sustainability thinking and are developing their businesses in that regard. From the park management’s point of view, the concept of sustainable nature tourism and local cooperation by that means has been an effective tool to improve tourism and the positive attitudes towards the parks. Nevertheless, the concept of sustainability is complex, and there are multiple factors setting different expectations for tourism and the parks. This means that reaching a compromise between the park and tourism development and the limits of sustainability is more or less debatable.
... For protected areas, the Booming West is a threat due to congestion, spread of air pollution, the loss of starry skies, and perceptions of crime (as in Keiter 2013). It also represents the origin of many tourists, their dollars, and political support that parks need, however. ...
... They could be used as a buffer area against the Booming West and, conversely, they could be viewed as potential expansion zones for protected areas. Among wildlife specialists there has been a considerable body of work calling for national parks to expand (Keiter 2013), either into areas of the Protected West managed by different agencies or into the Bypassed West. ...
In the twenty-first century, there are three American Wests, which cut across cultural, political, physical, and economic boundaries. Parts of the West are booming, building homes, and adding population; others are legally off limits to such development; and much of the West has been bypassed by such development and growth. These are called here the Booming West, Protected West, and Bypassed West. Maps of climate, political boundaries, ethnic and racial identities, or presidential voting patterns do not match these three Wests. Each West has a different relationship to the others and might see them as threats or opportunities, and each West can be expected to grow in different areas at the expense of other Wests. The boundaries between the three Wests could be important locations; sharp transitions can exist between Wests, perhaps nowhere more so than where a fast growing metro area abuts a national park or forest boundary. Finally, the effects of climate change cut across the three Wests and have different implications for their future. Continued population growth will further emphasize the boundaries between each of the three Wests and raise the stakes for their control.
... As an unusual system with a compelling purpose, the National Park System has drawn consistent attention and research since its inception. An enormous literature about the National Park System includes recent overviews of the system by Keiter (2013), Helman (2017); Runte (2021), Soukup and Machlis (2021), and Weber and Sultana (2023). These add new perspectives to classic works by Ise (1961), Foresta (1985), Rothman (1994), and Sellars (2009). ...
... Often coinciding with biodiversity hotspots, PAs also support rigorous scientific research, providing insights into ecological dynamics, evolutionary processes, and species interactions Mittermeier & Rylands, 2017). Among various categories of PAs, National Parks (NPs) are perhaps the most iconic, hosting some of the world's most spectacular landscapes and natural phenomena (Keiter, 2013). ...
National Parks (NPs) and other protected areas in sub‐Saharan Africa are crucial in attracting international tourists interested in wildlife tourism, contributing to national economies. Despite their cultural, economic, and conservation significance, these areas face diverse development threats, leading to pressures for protected area downgrading, downsizing, or degazettement (known as PADDD).
We comprehensively analyse the geographical, historical, and structural aspects of 322 NPs in sub‐Saharan Africa and assess their political vulnerability by exploring the interplay of development pressures and public interest (as measured through Wikipedia page views).
Fewer than 30% of these NPs possess or report information regarding management plans, even among the five most frequently viewed areas on Wikipedia. This is particularly concerning, since among those who underwent a PADDD event (51 NPs), almost 90% of them also had no information about the existence of management plans.
Although we did not identify a statistically significant association between tourism and public interest online, tourism emerges as a potential mitigating factor against PADDD, along with high levels of peace.
NPs that garner significant public interest online do not share the same socio‐geographic profile as parks that are most resilient to PADDD events. While digital metrics of public interest have potential as indicators of political resilience in NP, our research has shown that these metrics need refinement to fully understand which biophysical and cultural aspects of parks attract more public attention. Overall, effective conservation strategies in sub‐Saharan Africa require a more holistic understanding of historical, socio‐economic, and cultural factors.
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... 00-00 2010, 228-229). Tänä päivänä ilmastonmuutosta ja muita ihmisen aiheuttamia ympäristömuutoksia pidetään yhtä lailla kansallispuistojen kuin muiden ympäristöjen uhkana (NPS 2012, 4-5;Keiter 2013;Stohlgren ym. 2014;Hansen ym. ...
Natural environments have long been protected because of their beauty and wonders. The flagships of aesthetics-based nature conservation are national parks, whose recreational purpose has been understood in different ways at different times and in different places. The article explores the kinds of aesthetic experiences associated with national parks and hiking in Finnish newspaper articles. The studied cases are i) Hossa, which was established as a hiking area in 1979 and transformed and expanded into a national park in 2017, and ii) Evo, which was established as a hiking area in 1993 and proposed as a science national park in 2021 by a working group appointed by the Ministry of the Environment. The primary research material consists of articles, reportages, editorials, and columns of provincial and local newspapers published in 2016–2022, especially in Kainuu and Häme regions.
... As ecological approaches to public lands management gained favor, American recreational habits also started to shift. After World War II, Congress introduced new federal public land and NPS designations, such as national recreation areas and national seashores, to satisfy the diverse recreational needs of a growing number of park visitors (Keiter 2013). In the mid-1950s Wirth launched Mission 66, a ten-year construction and upgrade program scheduled for completion in 1966 (Carr 2007;Youngs et al. 2008;Watt 2017). ...
... Ever since their establishment, national parks have been inextricably bound with what Louter labels windshield tourism. Originally founded as "pleasuring grounds," 5 America's most spectacular landscapes were preserved for the benefit of the general public by the National Park Service's (NPS's) leaders who embraced automobile tourism to boost park visitation and accommodate a rising flow of motoring travellers. Indeed, the advent of the motor vehicle has significantly contributed not only to the rise of self-drive tourism, characterized by independence, ...
Although film tourism is a well-established activity, tourism that stems from the growing interest in filming locations featuring the U.S. national parks is still a niche. This makes a striking contrast with the unprecedented role of national parks, known for their cinematic appeal on the big screen, in creating iconic backdrops for films like Star Wars (Death Valley and Redwood National Park), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Arches National Park), The Shining (Glacier National Park) and Thelma and Louise (Canyonlands). To fill this gap, the chapter discusses how the evolution of film-induced drive tourism to virtual windshield tourism has affected tourists’ embodied experiences of affective landscapes under the post-digital conditions, as evident in the recent proliferation of YouTube scenic drive videos of U.S. national parks.
... Historically, U.S. national p ark m anagement h as em phasized en vironmental r esource p rotection a nd preservation within park boundaries. However, views of park sustainability are now beginning t o in clude s ocio-economic a nd c ultural dim ensions (B ushell et a l., 2007;Keiter, 2013;S locum, 2017). E vidence of this shift includes increased engagement in initiatives such as the "Every Kid in a Park" program first implemented by the Obama Administration in 2015 (NPS, 2019a). ...
The proliferation of tourism to U.S. national parks yields increasing demands for service and conservation programs that are well-matched with the broadening view of sustainability management in and around PPAs. As such, there is a critical need for research regarding holistic perspectives on planning and monitoring sustainable development. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is a non-profit, independent organization that develops and manages global baseline standards for sustainable travel and tourism, known as the GSTC Criteria. The GSTC Destination Criteria have not been widely applied to PPAs, yet these criteria may offer a useful guiding framework for sustainable tourism development in PPAs. Therefore, this study explores the utility of the GSTC Destination Criteria as a tool for assisting managers at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) in developing a destination-level sustainability plan. In August 2018, we conducted a sustainability evaluation using the GSTC Destination Criteria. Specific areas of success and improvement were identified, and park managers are using this information to improve the park’s strategic plan. The results of this evaluation are reviewed and critiqued within our broader assessment of the utility of the GSTC Destination Criteria in national park planning.
... ). Durch ein zunehmendes touristisches Interesse an zugänglichen Schutzgebieten, steigt jedoch auch der Druck auf das zu schützende Ökosystem, welches keineswegs als isolierte Schutzinsel zu betrachten ist(Keiter 2013). Wie eingangs erwähnt, kommt Gebirgsregionen hierbei eine besondere Rolle zu, da diese einerseits ein breites Spektrum an endemischer Flora und Fauna beheimaten, und anderseits seit jeher (Aufzeichnungsbeginn) Orte kultureller Praktiken sind(Price 2007;Parish 2002). ...
Durch die Forcierung des Schutzes von Ökosystemen bei deren gleichzeitiger
touristischer Nutzung nehmen Nationalparke eine scheinbar ambivalente Rolle im
Kontext des Naturschutzes ein. Aufgrund dieser unterschiedlichen Zielsetzungen
ergeben sich auch weitgreifende Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen, welche eine kontinuierliche Herausforderung an das Parkmanagement stellen. Besonders relevant
sind hierbei vor allem Gebirgsregionen, da diese Biodiversitäts-Hotspots sich eines
zunehmend touristischen Interesses erfreuen. Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert
dabei die Entwicklung einer GIS-gestützten Methode zur räumlich-quantitativen
Untersuchung von Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen in drei alpinen Nationalparken.
Die Analyse basiert dabei auf offiziellen Wanderwegen, welche hier als räumlich
ausgewiesener Berührungspunkt zwischen Mensch und Natur identifiziert werden
können.
... It is also pointed out that global conservation thinking has created a fortress mentality that has separated wilderness from culture and nature from people. In addition, the tourism industry has become an increasingly important user and socioeconomic factor in change in nature areas, which has created new kinds of utilization needs for the remaining wild environments (Keiter, 2013;Saarinen & Nepal, 2016). ...
Across the globe, conservation has been increasingly in conflict with other human activities. National parks are an important concept in nature protection and probably the most recognized institution in nature tourism worldwide. The concept of sustainable nature tourism became a part of the planning and management of Finnish national parks at the beginning of the new millennium. We analyze the environmental conflict and the idea and practices of sustainable nature tourism from a historical perspective in one Finnish national park: Koli. The main research question is how has the concept of sustainability been used to resolve the conflict between tourism and nature protection? Our perspective is based on the essence of sustainable nature tourism as humanity’s interaction with the environment. The main data of the study consists of interviews with park managers and planners and archival material from local newspapers. In Koli, the history of the founding of the park and tourism development were strongly affected by diverse nature relationships between different actors. In the human-nature relationship perspective, it was a matter of how the land was to be utilized, on an anthropocentric or eco-centric basis. From the park management point of view, sustainable nature tourism was a conceptual and practical tool to diffuse the conflict. Experiences in Koli show how eco-utilitarian perspectives toward nature conservation can help to resolve conflict. Today the idea of sustainability has been adapted by large-scale tourism developers and earlier failed vast plans for Koli are alive again, only reconceptualized with the idea of sustainability. This kind of economy-based sustainability in turn pushes the idea of sustainable nature tourism further from nature itself and eco-centric perspectives and provides foundations for a new conflict.
... Podstawą do rozpoczęcia prac nad systemem była tzw. Zielona Księga w sprawie handlu przydziałami emisji gazów cieplarnianych w Unii Europejskiej 96 . Dyrektywa 2003/87/WE umożliwiła uznanie kredytów wynikających z mechanizmów projektowych dla wykonania zobowiązań zwiększających opłacalność osiągania redukcji globalnych emisji gazów cieplarnianych. ...
... At first glance, it would be easy to miss how potentially subversive to NPS priorities this suggestion is. After all, the parks are witnessing record visitation and struggling to protect resources in the face of such onslaught (Keiter 2013;Flowers 2016). Yet, the authors are on solid ground when they question the agency's commitment, communication, and culture around the public enjoyment aspect of its mission. ...
At the dawn of its second century, the National Park Service (NPS) faces an incredible number of complex and difficult challenges. Some of these were highlighted by the authors of this special section, including: achieving both aspects of the NPS's dual mandate; protecting resources in the face of climate change, land development, and record visitation levels; securing sustainable funding; adapting to changing visitor use patterns and leisure preferences; and building relevancy with an urbanizing and diversifying population. How NPS responds to these and other challenges, as well as to those that will undoubtedly arise, will largely determine its future. The inaugural George Wright Student Summit provided the opportunity for the voices of a younger generation to express their own ideas and perspectives about what these challenges are and how to best address them, as well as a vision for NPS moving into the second century. Responding to critical challenges is not new to NPS. Throughout its history, NPS has fought for political relevancy, struggled for sufficient funding, adapted to changing leisure and travel patterns, addressed transboundary threats, and reimagined how it tells the story of America (Keiter 2013; Harmon and Conard 2016). Along the way, NPS has become a global leader in scientifically informed protected area management (Keiter 2013). The national park system has grown from a handful of mostly Western parks to having a presence in rural and urban areas in every state and territory. NPS is staffed by tens of thousands of highly dedicated and skilled personnel and enjoys broad public support (Pew 2015; NPS 2017a). We believe NPS is well positioned to navigate these challenges in a manner that energizes
... Historical background of elk management and policy in the GYE Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 as the world's first national park, influencing the creation of the U.S. National Park Service, over 400 additional park sites across the U.S., and hundreds more around the world, making it a global model for land and wildlife conservation (Yellowstone National Park 2005;Keiter 2013). In recent decades, decision makers, conservation practitioners, and other stakeholders have framed the park in the broader ecosystem context. ...
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA, is recognized globally as a model for land and wildlife conservation, management, and policy. A major policy problem in the region is the highly contentious winter feeding of elk (Cervus elaphus) on 23 government feed grounds in western Wyoming through cooperative management under several state and federal agencies. Numerous non-governmental groups and concerned citizens are also affected by elk management or seek to contribute to management policies. The long-term controversy shows that this issue centers on how management and policy should be made and who should be involved in decision-making—the constitutive policy process. This paper examines and appraises the constitutive process in this case, including how competency, authority, and control are allocated. It also looks at how institutions, analytic techniques, procedures, and people are structured, selected, and included or excluded in decision-making processes. Our data come from a multi-method approach over the past decade, including participant-observation, historical literature, interviews, media analysis, and technical reports. Our analysis shows that institutional dynamics severely constrain the scope of deliberations, the production of practical problem definitions, and the search for improvements in elk management. We recommend that participants focus on the constitutive level of policy making, i.e., the underlying structure and functioning of policy processes, learn how these elements function and affect processes and outcomes, and learn to configure them in ways that embody democratic principles, serve common interests, and resolve policy problems.
... Sheridan's recommendation languished for nearly a decade due to local opposition, but in 1891, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a 6-million-acre area east of the park as the Yellowstone Forest Reserve, what was to become the first national forest, followed six years later with the Teton Forest Reserve to the south of the park. 15 But like most national parks, Yellowstone was a political creation, not based on sound conservation science, and at least at first, inadequately staffed and funded. The first superintendent, Nathaniel Landford, did not even have a salary and had no staff. ...
THE IDEA OF SETTING ASIDE LANDS from most commercial development and settlement started almost as an afterthought in 1872 when the United States did something extraordinary. In an age of unbridled westward expansion in the post-Civil War, and at a time when Manifest Destiny was a widely held expression of American conviction in the morality and value of expansionism, the United States Congress withdrew the Upper Yellowstone River region from commercial and private development establishing Yellowstone National Park. Nothing like that had ever been done anywhere before on such a grand scale.
O presente artigo científico possui como objetivo discutir alguns aspectos dos postulados da transnacionalidade jurídica e de suas teorias e práticas avaliadas e descritas em suas trajetórias evolutivas, seus paradigmas estruturais e relações com a sociedade e a história. E também a partir do espargimento da sustentabilidade como possível novo paradigma das ciências no mundo globalizado e suas possíveis repercussões no direito e na ciência jurídica. Na metodologia foi utilizado o método indutivo na fase de investigação; na fase de tratamento de dados o método cartesiano e no relatório da pesquisa foi empregada a base indutiva. Foram ainda acionadas as técnicas do referente, da categoria, dos conceitos operacionais, da pesquisa bibliográfica e do fichamento.
Gateway communities that neighbour parks and protected areas are impacted by tourism, while facing unique circumstances related to protected area management. Economic dependency remains a serious challenge for these communities, especially in a climate of neoliberalism, top-down policy environments, and park closures related to environmental degradation or government budgets. The collection of works in this edited book provide bottom-up, informed, and nuanced approaches to tourism management using local experiences from gateway communities and protected areas management emerging from a decade of guidelines, rulemaking, and exclusive decision-making. Global perspectives are presented and contextualized at the local level of gateway communities in an attempt to balance nature, community, and commerce, while supporting the triple bottom line of sustainable tourism. The book has 11 chapters and a subject index.
National parks take on a crucial role within the realms of protected areas as they aim among others for both: nature protection and human recreation. The connection of those seemingly dichotomous objectives results in complex human-nature relationships, posing a constant challenge for park authorities. This is especially true for mountain regions, which have become central to the national park idea due to their biological and cultural relevance. The present thesis investigates the difference of human-nature relationships within three mountain national parks by providing an analysis of hiking trails, which function as the most essential meeting points for those two entities. With the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, general characteristics and ecological sensitivity of trails as well as intensity of use could be quantified and rendered visible for Yosemite, Torres del Paine and Hohe Tauern National Park. The results have confirmed that individual sites take different approaches on the spatial bringing together of humans and nature. On the one hand, trail design may promote visitation of potentially higher biodiverse forest areas while limiting overall accessibility. On the other hand, trails may lead through an entire park with no special distinction. Additionally, high intensity of trail use tends to concentrate on a few hot spots, which are also often areas of high ecological sensitivity. The standardization of methods and general use of open data within this study resulted in the development of a transferable model, which can be applied to other study areas
The establishment of national parks in Argentina – the first ones in Latin America – takes place in a transnational space of entanglements where ideas, imaginaries, people, biota and artefacts circulate. Park concepts in Argentina are influenced by a wide range of different approaches from U.S.-American Park politics through French landscape architecture and Prussian sustainable forestry to international debates on nature conservation. While national parks
are today regarded as hoards of wilderness, contemporary interpretation in the first half of the 20th century is quite more open. In Argentina, a position has prevailed that sees national parks as “real instruments of colonization”.
Agricultural colonization and the expulsion of indigenous peoples, broad programs of urbanization and touristification of landscape as well as the massive processes of biological colonization by salmon, roe deer and Douglas fir are integral elements of Argentine Park politics. Especially in the emblematic National Parks of Nahuel Huapi and Iguazú. In this context between conservation and colonization, the book explores the following question: How do National Parks operate?
For the first time worldwide, this collection brings together analyses of the last two centuries of historical change around the shores and drainage basin of Lake Ladoga, Europe’s largest lake. The main focus of the narrative is the Northern Ladoga region, which was a Finnish administrative area between 1812 and 1944. After the Second World War, the entire shoreline of Lake Ladoga was incorporated into the northeast part of Russia’s border region, the Autonomous Republic of Karelia and the Leningrad Province. The main theme uniting this collection is how the relationship between humans and nature is shaped by industrialization and modernization in society. Other key issues include protecting nature and perspectives on particular places and times, which are reflected in the methodological and thematic choices made in this volume. The research framework set by the editor, Professor Maria Lähteenmäki, is the new lakefront history (Finn. uusi rantahistoria), focusing on approaches to environmental, economic and sensory history of lakes. To draw broad conclusions, on the one hand, the multilevel changes on the lakefront cannot be understood without knowledge of the history of the wider drainage basin, and awareness of the geopolitics of the region and the climate changes. On the other hand, the human relationship to natural waters has changed significantly in 200 years. Thinking in terms of economic benefit has gradually given way to principles of sustainable development. Lake Ladoga is also being redefined from a spatial perspective, as nationalist ownership of the region is coupled with global concern about the state of Europe’s largest lake.
National parks have been called "America's best idea", but their creation and management never fail to stir controversy. On September 12, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill creating Canyonlands National Park (CANY). Instead of a preservation climax, however, the establishment of CANY simply opened a new chapter in the long-term effort to protect a much greater percentage of southeastern Utah's canyon country. Over the next several decades, park enthusiasts and wilderness advocates sought to expand the boundaries of CANY, while agricultural interests and extractive industries lobbied vigorously to limit the influence of the National Park Service. In this paper, we use archival data and methods to reconstruct the story of CANY's creation and review attempts since then to extend protections beyond the original park's borders, seeking to understand the different social, political, and economic forces that aligned to propose-as well as the forces that rallied to contest-these expansion efforts. While our findings indicate that the stakeholders involved and the issues that drive them have changed little over the past sixty years, we also cite several examples of successful collaboration that could serve as guideposts for future conservation efforts, both in the U.S. and elsewhere.
In Argentinien wurden die ersten Nationalparks in Lateinamerika etabliert. Zu denken sind an den Nahuel Huapi, die Iguazú Fälle oder den Perito Moreno-Gletscher. Die Einrichtung dieser Naturschutzgebiete findet in einem transnationalen Verflechtungsraum statt, in dem Ideen, Imaginationen, Menschen, Biota und Artefakte zirkulieren. Dabei wird die argentinische Nationalpark-Idee von unterschiedlichen Ansätzen beeinflusst, die von der US-amerikanischen Parkpolitik über die französische Landschaftsarchitektur und preußische nachhaltige Forstwirtschaft bis hin zu internationalen Debatten zum Naturschutz reichen. Während Nationalparks heute als Hort der Wildnis gelten, ist die zeitgenössische Interpretation in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts offener. In Argentinien hat sich eine Position durchgesetzt, die Nationalparks als "echte Instrumente der Kolonialisierung" ansieht. Agrarkolonisation und Vertreibung indigener Völker, umfassende Programme zur Verstädterung und Touristifizierung der Landschaft sowie die biologische Kolonisation durch Lachse, Hirsche und Douglasien sind integrale Bestandteile der argentinischen Parkpolitik. In diesem Buch wird deshalb der Zusammenhang zwischen Naturschutz und Kolonisation untersucht und folgende Frage gestellt: Wie funktionieren Nationalparks?
This review article examines the development of ecotourism in national parks in the Republic of Karelia over the last 30 years. In Russia, the term “ecotourism” has appeared in newspapers and scholarly articles since the 1990s and its popularity is still increasing. The authorities in the Republic of Karelia have argued that tourism and especially ecotourism have the potential to become a major sector of the Republic’s economy. This article focuses on the meaning of this term internationally, and especially in the context of Russia and Karelia, and considers this definition through the lens of conventional historiography. The key issue of this research is the triangular relationship between ecotourists, local communities and wildlife conservation areas or national parks, where ecotourism functions as a major tool, connecting all these points. This paper applies comparative historical research methods as part of a qualitative approach, analysing a variety of primary sources including archive materials, interviews and forum discussions. The article concludes that the slow growth of ecotourism, despite the attempts of regional authorities and the assistance of the European Union, is due to several reasons including remote locations, poor infrastructure and the lack of symbolic meaning for national parks.
The importance of protecting battlefield landscapes has been recognized by the National Park Service for over a century. As we seek strategies to protect these lands, a look to their fraught histories offers insight into how these lands came to be seen as valuable. Specifically, we argue that the rationale for their preservation conceals conservation opportunities for battlefields. Assessing the language used in the enabling legislation of battlefield parks as a subset of all national parks reveals how the value of cultural and natural resources differs among the units. The rationale for creating battlefield parks also has changed through time. While terms like “landscape” have appeared in the earliest of these founding documents, there was a shift to highlighting the unique historical importance of these sites. More recent designations have been more likely to include terms indicating the importance of natural resource values as justification for park establishment. These urban greenspaces provide crucial habitat for wildlife while serving as outdoor enjoyment and recreational opportunities. Recognizing the significance of the natural resources alongside the cultural and historical importance of battlefield parks results in missed opportunities for these parks to provide ecosystem services. This is important considering that most national battlefields lie within urban environments and are in close proximity to some of the most populated metropolitan areas of the United States. Explicit consideration of the ecosystem value of battlefield parks could also benefit future discussions of the political and cultural functions of these sites.
Poor air quality has long been one of the dominant transboundary issues facing protected areas worldwide. In 1977, the United States Congress amended the Clean Air Act to address federally-managed lands containing valued air resources (i.e. scenic views). Forty years later, we interviewed professionals from the U.S. National Park Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management (n=38) regarding their perceptions of the legacy of the Clean Air Act and other federal policies relevant to air resources, as well as their perceptions of the future of air resource management on U.S federal lands. Results were analyzed using a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis supported by in vivo, thematic, and salience coding. Our findings illustrate national progress in air resource management, potential policy directions, and highlight the influence of emerging technologies and governance in air resource management within protected areas.
Whereas in Mexico the state owns almost no land, in the United States it owns more than a quarter of the country. This text tries to understand this apparent paradox. In Mexico, thanks to Article 27 of the Constitution, in principle, the state had enormous power to define property rights, but was left almost landless, while in the United States, private property is a foundation of the social pact, and yet its state managed to acquired a quarter of the land in the country.
This paper a) gives an historical view of national parks and other protected areas since the 19th century, b) gives a history of national parks and nature reserves in NSW, c) shows how recent has been the recognition that fauna conservation depends upon protected areas, d) reflects how much has been achieved in the last 50 years, and e) considers what must be done to stop an ever-increasing list of our fauna becoming extinct, including identifying the crucial role of scientific study in this endeavour. The evolving debate of what burden protected areas should carry in conserving the nation's fauna is a central theme of this paper. The First World Congress on National Parks in 1962 produced ideals that are inspiring, connected and ecological. What was not apparent in 1962 was the scale of the problem of conserving the flora and fauna of the world. I present the case that the principles of protecting areas, fauna conservation and scientific research for nature conservation have been slow to take hold and uneasy in their political relationships as a land use option, but are now beginning to be seen as a key element in conserving a nation's wildlife. Protected areas, whether for wildlife, game, plants, ecosystems or scenery for public enjoyment, are a late competitor for large tracts of land. The historical account shows how distinct African, American, British and Australian protected area development has been, with common threads being how the ideal of protected areas is contested territory, and the linking over time of the concepts of fauna conservation and protected areas. The British story differs markedly from that in the USA and Africa. In 1943, a Nature Reserves Committee was appointed to draw up a rationale and list of National Habitat Reserves and Scientific Areas. Its report led directly to the appointment of the Nature Conservancy in 1949 charged with the establishment of National Nature Reserves, disseminating advice on nature conservation generally, and carrying out the research relevant to those responsibilities. These are crucial dates for the origin of nature reserves in Britain, the important role of research, and the central position of an ecological outlook on nature conservation, rather than the more limited label of preservation. Protected areas in Australia are often under-estimated, both for wildlife research and as havens for fauna populations, and for the research value of protected areas to conserve biodiversity in NSW. The published articulation of these values, and specifically the value of National Parks and Nature Reserves for research, is hard to find except in the recent literature. A review of the last four decades of published papers shows how much has changed in this short time. Given the long history of resistance to establishing protected areas, Australia's fauna is at an ever-increasing risk of extinction as natural habitats are relentlessly lost to economic growth and a rising human population. The problem, as I read the historical record, is that although we are learning fast, the loss of species, landscapes and ecosystems is happening even faster. From the First World Parks Congress in 1962 to today, the interpretation of the value of the national parks for fauna conservation remains contested, but the weight of historical and scientific opinion is ever stronger on the need for protected areas for conserving fauna.
Demand for Protected Area (PA) tourism continues to grow, raising concerns for its environmental sustainability. Numerous sustainable tourism guidelines and best practice examples exist for separate aspects of PA regulation and management. However, such efforts are insufficient to reliably and holistically understand how regulation can mediate the relationship between tourism development and PA environmental sustainability. This paper proposes a theory development project, to map the compatibility and interplays among various regulatory approaches, and their consequences for sustainable PA tourism. The project is initiated here by taking the first steps toward a concession-related theory of regulation. The focus on concessions has been chosen because concessions are the most under-researched aspects of PA tourism regulation. Four regulatory aspects are selected and conceptualized in this paper: the approaches to PA planning, the types of monitoring undertaken, the methods of concession allocation and the design of environmental requirements in concession contracts. Methodologically, grounded theory is used, with data collection relying on written sources. The paper develops two sets of narrative statements regarding the prospects for PA environmental sustainability, under particular examples of concession-related regulation. The conclusion articulates several research questions, as an immediate research agenda, and calls for an international research group to be formed. download at http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/7aH94rGUScxuDPREEmuh/full
Both the conservation and preservation movements represented an important shift in the relationship between the federal government and the nation's public lands. Prior to the Progressive Era, the government's primary objective had been putting public lands into private hands through massive incentive programs such as the Homestead Act and the 1872 Mining Law. Now, however, the federal government aggressively set aside lands in the public domain with the specific goal of preventing their conversion into private property. By doing so, the government, through its various land-management agencies, ensured that it would continue to be a dominant presence in the West. In the end, the twin Progressive Era reform impulses of conservation and preservation sought to remedy open-access exploitation through federal oversight and regulation and avoid the “tragedy of the commons” dilemma.
Artikkelissa tutkitaan Itä-Suomen kansallispuistoihin liittyvän kirjoituskilpailun (2013) tuloksena saatuja Kolin kokemuskertomuksia. Kansallisromantiikan ajan taiteilijat esittivät Kolin erämaisen ja kalevalaisen maiseman symbolina, joka punoutui osaksi suomalaisuudesta rakennettua kertomusta. Artikkelin lähtökohtana on tarkastella Kolin menneisyyteen liittyvien hallitsevien kertomusten suhdetta nykypäivän luontokokemuksiin. Tutkimus osoittaa kirjoittajien ottavan voimakkaasti vaikutteita kansallisten maisemakuvastojen ja matkailumainonnan ylläpitämistä Koli-kuvastoista, joissa Koli esitetään suomalaisen taiteen kultakaudella luodulla tavalla. Nykypäivän Koli-kertomuksissa kirjoittajat rakentavat luontosuhdettaan ilmentävää identiteettiään tavalla, jossa kansallismaiseman symboliset merkitykset kietoutuvat osaksi luonnon ja maiseman henkilökohtaista kokemista. Kolin vaarojen päällä maisemakokemukset sävyttyvät alueen kulttuurisesta menneisyydestä kumpuavilla romanttisilla mielikuvilla. Vaarojen alapuolella taas luontokokemukset ovat arkisempia, joskin myös elämyksellisiä ja mieleenpainuvia, mutta ne eivät ole kansallisten konnotaatioiden värittämiä samalla tavoin kuin vaarojen yläpuolella.
Seven approaches to large-scale conservation can be distinguished by their different doctrines (basic assumptions or philosophy), formulas (standard operating principles and on-the-ground actions), and the symbols used to promote and legitimize them. (1) Single- and multiple-use resource management, which manages nature for sustained use or profit, is a historical cornerstone of conservation. This chapter examines its historical origins, philosophical bases, and the multiple criticisms that have led to development of a range of alternatives. These include (2) parks and protected areas approach, which focuses on geographically well-defined areas; (3) ecosystem management, which draws on modern ecology to conserve ecosystems while providing multiple resource values; (4) ecoregional conservation, which identifies the ecological attributes of a landscape and then selects a set of target elements to conserve; (5) integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs), which attempt to ensure the conservation of biological diversity while attending to the needs of local people; (6) transboundary conservation, which assumes that ecosystems and their attendant functions transcend political and administrative boundaries and thus require cross-boundary cooperation and coordination; and (7) adaptive governance, which holds that large-scale conservation should strive to secure people’s common interests, including a healthy present and sustainable future for both people and the environment. Adaptive governance, which this chapter promotes, offers a holistic, integrative, and fully contextual approach.
This chapter describes a rapid appraisal in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE)—a high-profile, large-scale ecosystem with unique biological and geological systems—conducted in March 2009 by a class at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The group’s methods and theoretical foundations are described. The assessment showed that conservation management and policy, as evidenced in the programs surveyed (e.g., grizzly bear and wolf management, snowmobile use, tourism, and others) and the people interviewed, are fraught with conflicting perspectives, contested problem definitions, symbol inflation, and politics. Particular problems in the GYE’s social process and decision process are examined. The team’s recommendations encourage common interest outcomes: learning from practice-based, prototyping experiences, creating new arenas for community-based participation, and adopting an adaptive governance framework in problem solving. Such a framework emphasizes ongoing adjustment of decision-making processes to actual, on-the-ground situations, and it provides a unique platform for creating a process that is more inclusive and capable of harnessing local knowledge and experience, bridges the divide between science and the practical measures needed for effective conservation, and fosters respect and pursuit of human dignity as overarching goals.
The controversial elk reduction program (elk hunt) in Grand Teton National Park, WY, has been a source of conflict since it was legislated in 1950. The hunt is jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. This forced organizational partnership and the conflicting mandates of these two agencies have led to persistent conflict that seems irresolvable under the current decision-making process. To better understand the decision-making process and participant perspectives, we reviewed management documents, technical literature, and newspaper articles, and interviewed 35 key participants in this case. We used these data to analyze and appraise the adequacy of the decision-making process for the park elk hunt and to ask whether it reflects the common interest. We found deficiencies in all functions of the decision-making process. Neither the decisions made nor the process itself include diverse perspectives, nor do they attend to valid and appropriate participant concerns. Agency officials focus their attention on technical rather than procedural concerns, which largely obfuscates the underlying tension in the joint inter-jurisdictional management arrangement and ultimately contributes to the hunt's annual implementation to the detriment of the common interest. We offer specific yet widely applicable recommendations to better approximate an inclusive and democratic decision-making process that serves the community's common interests.
The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are revising their local travel management plans. These plans govern much of the allocation of recreation experience opportunities, including the bal-ance between off-road vehicle and non-motorized opportunities. This article explores current and historic management of off-road vehicles by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as laws and regulations governing off-road vehicle management, in order to (1) explain how Forest Service and Bureau of Land Manage-ment travel management works; (2) evaluate current off-road vehicle and non-motorized allocations for multiple-use lands; and (3) pro-vide suggestions for improved agency management of off-road vehi-cles. Ultimately, concerns regarding appropriate allocations, the escalating conflicts between recreationists, increasing demand for outdoor recreation, the rising stakes associated with allocation deci-sions, and the plainly political nature of allocation decisions all point to a better, long-term solution: a new statutory recreation policy for multiple-use lands.
Gray wolves (Canis lupus) were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995-1996. In August 2004 we measured plant architecture of Geyer willow (Salix geyeriana) stems along three 100-m reaches of Blacktail Deer Creek in Yellowstone's northern elk (Cervus elaphus) winter range to evaluate changes in patterns of browsing and height growth following wolf reintroduction. Average browsing intensities (n = 3 stream reaches) of 100% in 1997 decreased to 0%-55% by 2003, whereas average stem heights of 25-74 cm in 1997 increased to 149-268 cm by 2003, indicating that willow height growth was inversely related to browsing intensity. In addition, average willow canopy cover over the streams increased from
The establishment of a reproducing population of nonnative lake trout (Sal-velinus namaycush) poses a serious threat to the integrity of the Yellowstone Lake eco-system, particularly to the indigenous cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri). We used standard fisheries techniques to quantify the population-level impact resulting from this introduction, while the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) developed a program to control their numbers. Lake trout diets, thermal history, growth, and size structure were incorporated into a bioenergetics model to estimate the predatory impact of introduced lake trout and to evaluate the effectiveness of the NPS lake trout control program. Population size structures were estimated from catches of fish in gill nets that were corrected for mesh size selectivity. Lake trout abundance was estimated using virtual population (cohort) anal-ysis, and cutthroat trout abundance was estimated using hydroacoustics. Juvenile cutthroat trout were highly vulnerable to predation, and lake trout preyed on cutthroat trout that averaged 27–33% of their body length. Based on our model, an average piscivorous lake trout consumed 41 cutthroat trout each year. During 1996, the piscivorous lake trout pop-ulation consumed an estimated 15 metric tons of cutthroat trout (129 000 fish) composing 14% of the vulnerable cutthroat trout production. The NPS removed nearly 15 000 lake trout from 1995 to 1999. Had these predators remained in Yellowstone Lake they would have consumed an estimated 23 metric tons of cutthroat trout (200 000 fish) during 1999 alone. If left unchecked, lake trout would clearly pose a serious threat to the long-term existence of the indigenous cutthroat trout. This analysis demonstrates the negative impact of an introduced predator in an ecologically isolated aquatic ecosystem.
The Elwha River dams have disconnected the upper and lower Elwha watershed for over 94 years. This has disrupted salmon migration and reduced salmon habitat by 90%. Several historical salmonid populations have been extirpated, and remaining popu-lations are dramatically smaller than estimated historical population size. Dam removal will reconnect upstream habitats which will increase salmonid carrying capacity, and allow the downstream movement of sediment and wood leading to long-term aquatic habitat improvements. We hypothesize that salmonids will respond to the dam removal by establishing persistent, self-sustaining populations above the dams within one to two generations. We collected data on the impacts of the Elwha River dams on salmonid populations and developed predictions of species-specific response dam removal. Coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), Chinook (O. tshawytscha), and steelhead (O. mykiss) will exhibit the greatest spatial extent due to their initial population size, timing, ability to maneuver past natural barriers, and propensity to utilize the reopened alluvial valleys. Populations of pink (O. gorbuscha), chum (O. keta), and sockeye (O. nerka) salmon will follow in extent and timing because of smaller extant populations below the dams. The initially high sediment loads will increase stray rates from the Elwha and cause deleterious effects in the egg to outmigrant fry stage for all species. Dam removal impacts will likely cause a lag in recolonization and population rebuilding. These negative sediment effects will be locally buffered by the extent of functioning floodplain, and management attempts to minimize sediment impacts. Resident life forms of char (Salvelinus confluentus), rainbow trout (O. mykiss), and cutthroat (O. clarki) will positively interact with their anadromous counterparts resulting in a positive population level response.
The boundaries of a national park may be defined in terms of its legal and biotic boundaries. The legal boundaries are the boundaries established by the highest legislative authority of a country. The biotic boundaries are hypothetical boundaries which would be necessary to maintain existing ecological processes and a given assemblage of species within a national park. Practically, the biotic boundaries are defined as those hypothetical boundaries encompassing the entire watershed of a park and an area of sufficient size to maintain a minimum viable population (MVP) for the terrestrial non-volant species with the largest home range found within the current legal boundaries. The legal and biotic boundaries for eight of the largest continental national parks and park assemblages in western North America were examined for congruence. The legal boundaries for seven of the eight parks/park assemblages were found to be larger than the biotic boundaries by a factor of 1·2–9·6 for a MVP=50 and 6·0–96·0 for a MVP=500. One to seven percent of all the mammals, excluding chiropterans, found currently in seven of the eight national parks/park assemblages have an area requirement (MVP=50 × home range) exceeding the legal boundaries. It is urgent while an opportunity exists that an active effort be made to enhance the congruence of the legal and biotic boundaries of these parks and park assemblages through the cooperative management of adjacent public and private lands so as to minimize the potential loss of wildlife.
In 1977 the confrontation between timber interests and conservationists over expansion of the Redwood National park captured national attention. The author discusses the case in detail and points out that it illustrates the necessity of preserving wilderness areas in complete ecological units. The boundaries of the original Park did not fit with hydrological and ecological reality and the resulting damage had jeopardised the whole park. The case was resolved in favour of the conservationists on the basis of the public trust doctrine, namely the Department of the Interior had a duty to manage the Park properly. However, how this was to be done was not made clear by the Court. -T.O'Riordan
Yellowstone National Park may become the core of an integrated hybrid of developed and protected areas called the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). This new planning model is a response to the failure of past attempts to preserve scenic beauty and biodiversity while providing a secure foundation for local economic well-being. Existing management practices are being vigorously defended by the agencies charged with carrying them out, as well as private interests who think they also may have something to lose. The author explores the development of ecosystem-based management, examines obstacles that block its application to the GYE and proposes strategies that could help bring about change in the region. -from Author
During 1970-1980, resource managers at Gettysburg National Military Park (GNMP) and Eisenhower National Historic Site (ENHS), Pennsylvania became concerned about conflicts involving white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and other park resources. The authors describe the complex process, including a comprehensive research project, environmental compliance and population modelling, that were required to reduce the deer population on GNMP and ENHS.
This book examines the ideal of wilderness preservation in the United States from the antebellum era to the first half of the twentieth century, showing how the early conception of the wilderness as the place where Indians lived (or should live) gave way to the idealization of uninhabited wilderness. It focuses on specific policies of Indian removal developed at Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks from the early 1870s to the 1930s.
In this provocative walking meditation, writer and former park ranger William Tweed takes us to California's spectacular High Sierra to discover a new vision for our national parks as they approach their 100th anniversary. Tweed, who worked among the Sierra Nevada's big peaks and big trees for more than thirty years, has now hiked more than 200 miles along California's John Muir Trail in a personal search for answers: How do we address the climate change we are seeing even now-in melting glaciers in Glacier National Park, changing rainy seasons on Mt Rainer, and more fire in the West's iconic parks. Should we intervene where we can to preserve biodiversity? Should the parks merely become ecosystem museums that exhibit famous landscapes and species? Asking how we can make these magnificent parks relevant for the next generation, Tweed, through his journey, ultimately shows why we must do just that.
This is the story of water, a valley, and a city. The city was San Francisco, the valley was Hetch Hetchy, and the waters were from the Tuolumne River watershed, located within Yosemite National Park. In 1905, for the first time in American history, a significant national opposition led by John Muir and the Sierra Club sought to protect the valley from a dam, believing that its beauty should be enjoyed by the American people. On the other side, San Franciso mayor James Phelan believed it was his civic responsibility to provide his 750,000 constituents with a pure, abundant source of water. From 1905 until 1913, the two sides fought over the destiny of the Hetch Hetchy: Would the glacier-carved valley become a reservoir or remain an inviolate part of Yosemite National Park? Finally, Congress decided the issue by passage of the Raker Act, granting the valley to San Francisco's use. By 1923, San Francisco engineers completed the huge O'Shaughnessy Dam, submerging the valley under over 200 feet of water. However, the battle did not end. Who would control the vast watershed of the Tuolumne River: The City of San Francisco or the National Park Service? And would the hydro electric power provide for a city-owned system or would it be sold to a private company? For the first time, the full story of this epic battle is told in an evenhanded way. It is a story without end, however, and the final chapter discusses the idea of removing the dam and restoring the valley, an idea which is gaining currency throughout the US.
Historical accounts, park records, and biologists' observations indicated that wintering elk in Yellowstone's northern range were present in low numbers prior to and at park establishment in 1872; increased to 20,000-35,000 by the early 1900s when they heavily impacted the northern-range ecosystem; and declined to 3,172 censused animals in 1968 due to park control efforts. In 1967, the park announced a politically coerced natural-regulation policy terminating park control; and in 1971 posed a natural-regulation ecological hypothesis stating that northern-range elk had been numerous prior to 1872, had not risen to 20,000-35,000 in the early 1900s, and would stabilize at moderate numbers following recovery from control efforts without significantly affecting the northern-range ecosystem. Archaeological and historic evidence, park records, and censuses begun in the 1920s indicate a northern herd of ~5,000-6,000 in 1872, increasing to ~20,000-35,000 in the early 1900s, declining to a censused number of 3,172 in 1968 in response to control efforts, increasing to a census-based number of 21,071-25,920 in the 1980s and 1990s, then declining somewhat after 2000. This book reviews critically the published and unpublished records to test the natural-regulation hypothesis and propose a conceptual model of the northern-range ecosystem with inferences from system changes associated with the four stages of elk abundance, inside-outside exclosure comparisons, and system comparisons inside and outside park boundaries.
This article focuses on the way in which the National Park Service (NPS) resisted demands for the consumptive use of park resources during World War II primarily through the use of carefully crafted arguments and powerful rhetoric, but also by enlisting the support of conservation groups and adopting compromise measures. These compromise measures allowed the military to use the parks for recreation, rehabilitation, training, and maneuvers, and in a few instances authorize some exploitive use of parks by timber, mining, and farming interests when necessary. Faced with wartime demands, the NPS was forced to articulate its purpose and mission as never before. As NPS leaders articulated their arguments, they developed and publicized several major themes: that park values were a valuable resource; that the NPS had a trust responsibility to protect the parks; and that the parks represented the restorative and inspirational power of nature. Its vigorous campaign in defense of park values and resources, along with the willingness to compromise, played an important role in ensuring the preservation of irreplaceable park resources.
National Wildlife Refuges are established with a range of management purposes as a result of a variety of acquisition authorities including legislative mandate, executive order, and establishing memorandum. The National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 mandates that each refuge shall be managed to fulfill the System mission and its establishing purposes, as well as to maintain the System's overall biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health. We offer the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge as a case study demonstrating the challenges a refuge staff faces when implementing management practices that achieve refuge purposes while also maintaining and, where appropriate, restoring biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health as well as complying with a multitude of other legislative mandates and policies.
The author examines the status of the National Parks system in the US and offers a strong critique of the forces that drive policy and the National Parks Service's priorities. Argues that increasing politicalisation and the propensity for resource exploitation on the part of the Department of the Interior who run the parks has destroyed their beauty and value as wilderness and led to an exaggerated emphasis on recreation and visitor access. This in turn has led to problems of overcrowding, overuse and increasing incidents of violent crime, particularly against women hikers. Proposes a plan for restoring the National Parks as models of respect for nature. -M.Dean
We used the theory of reasoned action to help understand attitudes and beliefs about lethal management of deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP), Ohio. We used a mail-back survey to collect data from Ohio residents in the surrounding 9-county area. Two strata were defined: residents <10 km from CVNP (near n = 369) and residents = 10 km from CVNP (far n = 312). Respondents indicated that lethal control of deer was acceptable (near 71% ± 4.7%, far 62% ± 5.5%) and taking no action to reduce deer populations was unacceptable (near 75% ± 4.5%, far 72% ± 5.1%). Beliefs about outcomes of lethal control and evaluation of those outcomes proved to be strong predictors of the acceptability of lethal control of deer in CVNP. Lethal control was more acceptable if it was done to prevent severe consequences for humans (e.g., spread of disease, car collisions) or the natural environment (e.g., maintain a healthy deer herd) than to prevent negative aesthetic impacts or personal property damage. Results from the study can be used to assist managers at CVNP as they make decisions regarding alternatives for deer management in the park and to inform others managing abundant deer populations of socially relevant impacts of management actions.
The 1997 Refuge Improvement Act mandates that National Wildlife Refuges develop Comprehensive Conservation Plans and that the Refuge System be administered in a manner that ensures the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the System are maintained. Refuges must determine their role in the landscape and decide if refuge lands will be managed for historic or non-historic conditions. This decision should be based on an understanding of the Refuge Purpose and supported by available science. Case studies for Sherburne NWR and Bosque del Apache NWR illustrate two possible approaches to determining future management.
The American national park system consists of more than 390 units scattered over 49 states and spread across 82 million acres. Although legally referred to as a system, our national parks are actually a diverse collection of natural, recreational, historical, cultural, archeological, and other sites that have been melded together under the aegis of the National Park Service without any overarching vision or much forethought. Since its origin over 130 years ago, the national park idea has steadily evolved, reflecting changes in our society and economy. Traditionally, the national park has been viewed as a wilderness, tourist destination, playground, laboratory, wildlife reserve, and an economic engine for nearby communities. But with advances in scientific knowledge and our maturing sense of social justice, national parks can also be conceived as the vital core of larger ecosystems, as essential biodiversity reserves, and as important civic educational entities. Given this evolution, how might we expand and strengthen the national park system to meet tomorrow’s challenges? Several options merit consideration: expanding individual parks to embrace entire ecosystems, creating new national restoration areas, promoting park-focused ecosystem management arrangements, and developing new urban-based parks to address the needs of an increasingly diverse populace. It may be necessary, however, to revisit the “national significance” standard that has long guided expansion of the national park system. The ultimate goal must be to address and meet the needs of the future generations to whom our national parks are dedicated.
This article reviews the Bush Administration's first three years in natural resource policy, focusing primarily on the federal lands. It concludes that the Administration has been remarkably and stridently pro-industry, acting mostly unilaterally, Congress accommodating by staying out of its way. It has also so far escaped serious resistance in the courts, although litigation unfolds slowly and it is too soon to tell whether the courts will be as compliant as the Congress. Meanwhile, the administration’s shrewd messaging and the lack of congressional resistance have avoided triggering a serious public backlash.
Excerpted from book jacket:As the twenty-first century dawns, public land policy is entering a new era. Alluring new ecological management ideas and collaborative conservation initiatives are taking hold, fostering a sea change in how we value and oversee our public lands. This timely book examines the historical, scientific, political, legal, and institutional developments that are changing management priorities developments that compel us to view the public lands as an integrated ecological entity and a key biodiversity stronghold.Once the background is set, each chapter opens with a specific natural resource controversy, ranging from the Pacific Northwest's spotted owl imbroglio and the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction showdown to the struggle over southern Utah's Colorado Plateau country and the Quincy Library Group's forest restoration initiative. Robert Keiter uses these case histories to analyze the ideas, forces, and institutions that re both fomenting and retarding change on the western landscape. Enhancements to the text include line drawings by Robert Seabeck and maps.Although Congress has the final say in how the public domain is managed, the public land agencies, federal courts, and western communities are each playing important roles in the transformation to an ecological management regime. At the same time, a newly emerging and homegrown collaborative process movement has given the diverse public land constituencies a greater role in administering these lands, helping to take the sharp edges off the changes afoot. Arguing that we must integrate the new imperatives of ecosystem science with our devolutionary political tendencies, the author outlines a coherent new approach to natural resource policy for this century.
Wolves (Canis lupus) were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995–1996. We present data on a recent trophic cascade involving wolves, elk (Cervus elaphus), and aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Yellowstone’s northern winter range that documents the first significant growth of aspen in over half a century. Results indicate reduced browsing and increased heights of young aspen during the last 4–5 years, particularly at high predation risk sites (riparian areas with downed logs). In contrast, young aspen in upland settings generally showed continued suppression with only a slight decrease in browsing levels and only a slight increase in height. Our findings are consistent with the combined effects of a behaviorally-mediated and density-mediated trophic cascade. Results provide an improved perspective for understanding trophic dynamics and spatially variable plant community growth patterns in this recovering ecosystem.
The enormous growth of recreation in recent years, and the vastly increased range of mobility of large numbers of tourists, have brought to a head the long-standing question as to whether national parks in the United States should be treated primarily as recreational commodities or be reserved as temples of nature workship, admitting only the faithful. Having outlined the history of the national-parks movement, the author focusses on some of the most controversial disputes of recent years. Most conflict has centred not so much on the need for national parks but on the uses made of them. Tolerance is required on all sides, along with a certain modesty. -J.Sheail
In the early 1970s, Grand Canyon National Park intended to designate its land to "Wilderness," including the controversial Colorado River corridor. However, by the end of the 1970s the potential for Wilderness designation was off the table, and would never seriously return for genuine consideration. Using Schattschneider's model of conflict, we explain how the organization of this conflict privileges the "causal story" of Wilderness opponents, and therefore why the canyon is not designated. It is our contention that members of Congress will not stand forward to support Wilderness designations without simultaneously providing benefits for extractive land use because (1) congressional representatives are more penalized for supporting than opposing Wilderness designations, (2) Wilderness advocacy groups do not pressure congressional delegates as firmly as opposition groups, and (3) key local congressional members are not likely to see Wilderness as a salient issue worth the risk of negative exposure. If these findings hold, the implication is that we may have reached the end of significant Wilderness designations in highly visible areas, unless critical aspects in land use conflict change. Copyright 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.
Two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, i.e. indomethacin (INDO), an inhibitor of prostaglandin production, and esculetin (ESCUL), an inhibitor of leukotriene production, were tested for their ability to modify haematopoiesis in three experimental systems: (a) in vitro clonal proliferation of marrow GM-CFC from the irradiated mouse was found to be augmented by addition of INDO at a low concentration, and inhibited by ESCUL in a dose-dependent manner; (b) in the lethally irradiated and bone marrow-transplanted mice treated with the drugs in the postirradiation period, stimulatory effects of INDO on CFU-S and GM-CFC populations and an inhibitory effect of ESCUL on GM-CFC were observed; and (c) when the drugs were administered i.p. to mice 1 h before 5-Gy irradiation, INDO enhanced the postirradiation recovery of haematopoietic indices such the numbers of CFU-S, GM-CFC, peripheral blood granulocytes, and nucleated bone marrow cells, while ESCUL had no effect or even inhibited the recovery of these indices. Survival curves for CFU-S and GM-CFC showed that altered haematopoietic recovery in the INDO- and ESCUL-pretreated mice was not due to changes of intrinsic radiosensitivity of pluripotent (CFU-S) or committed (GM-CFC) stem cell populations. These results confirm earlier findings suggesting an inhibitory role of prostaglandins on haematopoiesis, and provide evidence that endogenous leukotrienes might play a positive role in the regulation of haematopoietic functions in an irradiated organism.
National parks and bioreserves are key conservation tools used to protect species and their habitats within the confines of fixed political boundaries. This inflexibility may be their "Achilles' heel" as conservation tools in the face of emerging global-scale environmental problems such as climate change. Global climate change, brought about by rising levels of greenhouse gases, threatens to alter the geographic distribution of many habitats and their component species. With these changes comes great uncertainty about the future ability of parks and protected areas to meet their conservation mandates. We report here on an analysis aimed at assessing the extent of mammalian species turnover that may be experienced in eight selected U.S. national parks if climate change causes mammalian species within the continental U.S. to relocate to new geographic locations. Due to species losses of up to 20% and drastic influxes of new species, national parks are not likely to meet their mandate of protecting current biodiversity within park boundaries. This approach represents a conservative prognosis. As species assemblages change, new interactions between species may lead to less predictable indirect effects of climate change, increasing the toll beyond that found in this study.
The preservation and maintenance of natural park ecosystems, with modern man's being restricted to generally nonconsumptive uses of the park, represents one end of a spectrum of land use that extends through exploitation of natural ecosystems to the development of simplified agricultural ecosystems. Criteria for management of a park ecosystem must, of necessity, differ from criteria for other uses of land, since park management involves preventing or compensating for the influence of man. The objectives for natural areas appear to be ecologically feasible if it is recognized that these areas have a finite capacity for absorbing man's consumptive and disruptive influences. The interpretation of ecosystems to park visitors provides an opportunity to contribute to an environmental ethic that extends beyond the park environment.
Food web theory predicts that the loss of large carnivores may contribute to elevated predation rates and, hence, declining prey populations, through the process of mesopredator release. However, opportunities to test predictions of the mesopredator release hypothesis are rare, and the extent to which changes in predation rates influence prey population dynamics may not be clear due to a lack of demographic information on the prey population of interest. We utilized spatial and seasonal heterogeneity in wolf distribution and abundance to evaluate whether mesopredator release of coyotes (Canis latrans), resulting from the extirpation of wolves (Canis lupus) throughout much of the United States, contributes to high rates of neonatal mortality in ungulates. To test this hypothesis, we contrasted causes of mortality and survival rates of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) neonates captured at wolf-free and wolf-abundant sites in western Wyoming, USA, between 2002 and 2004. We then used these data to parameterize stochastic population models to heuristically assess the impact of wolves on pronghorn population dynamics due to changes in neonatal survival. Coyote predation was the primary cause of mortality at all sites, but mortality due to coyotes was 34% lower in areas utilized by wolves (P < 0.001). Based on simulation modeling, the realized population growth rate was 0.92 based on fawn survival in the absence of wolves, and 1.06 at sites utilized by wolves. Thus, wolf restoration is predicted to shift the trajectory of the pronghorn population from a declining to an increasing trend. Our results suggest that reintroductions of large carnivores may influence biodiversity through effects on prey populations mediated by mesopredator suppression. In addition, our approach, which combines empirical data on the population of interest with information from other data sources, demonstrates the utility of using simulation modeling to more fully evaluate ecological theories by moving beyond estimating changes in vital rates to analyses of population-level impacts.