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National Parks Service
Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said the parks (such as Glacier National Park in Montana, pictured) are "not in the best of health." The NPCA released a report Tuesday that show the parks face serious threats to natural and cultural resources.
As president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Tom Kiernan is, not surprisingly, a fan of Ken Burns' documentary, "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea," but he'd like to add an addendum.
"The national parks are America’s best idea," he said, "but they’re not in the best of health." In fact, according to an NPCA report out Tuesday, many face serious threats to their natural and cultural resources.
Conducted by NPCA’s Center for Park Research, the report encompasses 10 years of research gathered at 80 of the 394 units in the national park system. Among the findings:
- Of 61 parks assessed for the condition of their natural resources, 95 percent showed the disappearance of at least one wildlife or plant species.
- Of 77 parks assessed for the condition of their cultural resources, 91 percent were found to be in "fair" or "poor" condition.
- More than half of the parks studied had overall air quality conditions that were rated "fair," "poor" or "critical." At parks such as the Grand Canyon and Great Smoky Mountains, the issue goes beyond diminished visibility of scenic vistas: "On some days, it’s unhealthy for visitors to hike in the parks according to federal air-quality standards," said Kiernan.
Despite the report’s dire findings, Kiernan also points out that there are success stories in which declines have been reversed due to collaborative conservation efforts. At Channel Islands National Park, for example, park staffers and volunteers have removed exotic plants and reintroduced native species in an effort to restore the park’s natural balance.
"The park is returning to its former health and becoming a wonderful destination," said Kiernan, who sees the project’s success as a model for future efforts. "When we give the Park Service and its partner organizations funding and leadership, we can restore and enhance our national parks."
One such effort is the National Parks Project, sponsored by Nature Valley, the granola-bar company, now in its second year. This year, the company has pledged $400,000 to support restoration projects surrounding six parks, plus up to another $100,000 based on retail sales.
The projects are indicative of both the diversity of America’s national parks and the myriad challenges they face. From trail construction in Acadia to restoring pronghorn migration routes in Yellowstone, "they’re a small way to make sure they’re still there for years to come," said Nature Valley marketing manager Scott Baldwin.
For Keirnan, such collaborative efforts serve a two-fold purpose: to counter the threats facing the national park system and to ensure the parks remain worthwhile destinations for travelers.
"The parks are here for one reason — because Americans stood up and said they wanted them protected," he said. "It’s like going to the doctor and being told you’ve got a serious illness but that there’s a proven cure.
"Now is the time to apply it."
More stories you might like
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- NPS seeks to curtail flights over the Grand Canyon
- Poll highlights health hazards of public swimming
Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.
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What fond memories of visiting both Glacier and Yellowstone while being stationed in Montana. Man I miss those times. What beautiful scenes! Elk in the high meadows, Bison roaming around. Fishing in the mountain lakes. If you haven't been there you need to go folks. I truly miss those times and hope to get back there one day.
I fully agree!! I haven't made it to Glacier yet but I have seen Yellowstone and Tetons. I wish I could go back too.
We need to make sure that these pristine areas that we have such beautiful memories of are there for our children and grandchildren. Take every opportunity to resist the exploitation and environmental degradation that comes with it. Support organizations that are working to preserve these places, and do whatever you can to let your congressional representatives know that you want them to fund the preservation of these places and that their value is in the conservation, not commercial extraction of their resources.
GNP is in pretty good shape the last 3 years. Above average snowfall and for several years low attendance because of the recession.
This year the snowfall was enormous and the Going To The Sun road may not be open until mid-July. I haven't heard but I would expect that the past years worth of snowfall has at least stabilized the glaciers.
I love these parks too. I took my family around America two summers ago for five weeks and visited many of America's National Parks and this was one of the greatest adventure you could every do for your kids. Mine still talk about it regularly and the great places we visited.
Its really hard to understand how America has so much to see and many travel abroad spending there money elsewhere never knowing what we have here in America the beautiful.
Go National Park Service and keep up the good work for future generations..... Lets spend our money preserving these parks instead of endless wars that accomplish nothing......
My visiting our National Parks always inspired me to do my part in preserving them. From Yosemite to Yellowstone, to The Great Smokey Mountain parks I just think of the wonders still held there. Today there are some that see only MONEY, not beautiful vistas meant for EVERYONE to see. We as a society are much greater than a few that would confiscate these treasures for their own greed. There are millions of us compared to hundreds of profiteers, we CAN STOP THEIR PILFERAGE OF OUR TREASURE. We just have to let our elected idiots know that we will not stand for their friends gutting our parks resources and pristine vistas. Instead of paying corporate farms subsidies to NOT plant crops, we should give that money to the park service to help improve the park system, not tear it apart by allowing corporate greed to profit from OUR TREASURES.
As an RV'er, 5 years fulltime, we visit and spend as much time as we can in our national parks and campgrounds. There are several reasons for the problems our national parks are facing, which this article didn't come close to dealing with.
1. Lack of financial support from the national government. The national parks budgets have been consistently reduced and cut for the past 10-20 years. I guess the money for wars has to come from someplace! Sorry, couldn't resist that.
2. Park personnel has been reduced during this time as well, which has an impact on protecting the species of all kinds as well as repair and maintenance work. The park rangers do an incredible job with the diminishing resources that they have been faced with during this difficult period.
3. Sometimes we are the parks worst enemies - we love them to death and and overrun them. We then complain we individual car travel is restricted and we can't all drive our individual vehicles throughout the parks. We have used the shuttle services in a number of the parks and find them very user friendly.
4. Yes, there is an overflow of our pollution into our national park systems. Yet, we still have people resisting pollution standards. Oh well!
One of the great things is the large numbers of volunteers that have picked up the slack and carrying on much of the work load that wouldn't get done. If it wasn't for this volunteer pool, I would hate to see what our parks would look like. Just thankful for Teddy Roosevelt and his foresight for expanding our national park and wilderness areas, even with the fierce opposition that he faced!
RovinRon
I live in the Ocala Nat'l. forest, which is full of natural springs, rivers and Lake George. Most of the parks have been taken over by private company's, to run them for the government. Fees have been raised, so high in some cases that many families can no longer afford to go to them. The whole idea of the Nat'l. system was lands and treasures to be protected for us and future generations, not to limit use and make a profit for private co.s. Many of the cabins and features were built by the WPA, providing jobs for youth, and scholarships for college with public service to maintain the parks. In this age of low employment, we should restore programs that benefits the youth, and keep the parks beautiful for our grandchildren.
Two thumbs up for Rovin Ron's astute observations. As an avid visitor, supporter and volunteer at many national parks and battlefields around the country since the 70's, I can attest to the growing severity of the problems he listed.
I also empathize with Michelle's remarks, but only as they relate to the state she lives in. The Florida state government is proposing to allow privately run campgrounds inside four state park areas. One of the sites would be at Honeymoon Island State Recreation Area, which is both home and breeding ground for several protected marine species. Just how is intentional encroachment into fragile habitat supposed to help preserve it?
We all get that government budgets are under siege. The problem is, not enough of us seem to get that our parks need more than money to keep going. They need our understanding, our time and our individual donations of our time and/or private funding so they will survive and prosper for generations to come.
Just to be clear.... Our National parks are NOT run by private companies. They are run by the Park Service. The budgets for all the National Parks have been cut repeatedly throughout the years. Then there are the promises of funding for projects to furtherprotect plants and wildlife that are never kept. Unfortunately, it may get worse. As society becomes more of an indoor community, they will be less apt to agree to fund places they never plan to visit. I live in Florida and we have some of the most beautiful parks yet there is continued political turmoil on how to fund them. There are parks that have been faced with either closing one or two days a weeks OR raising the fee to get in the park. In response I have seen people take the time to pay ALL of the fee in pennies out of protest. As a nation we can not complain about the condition of parks that we are not funding enough.
I applaud the Park Service for all that they do. Protecting our greatest natural resources is a noble calling
Paddleboard, I hate to disagree with you, you make good points, however, Juniper Springs, Alexandar Springs, and Rainbow Springs parks are run by private corps. I, too applaud the Park Service and agree we need to protect our treasures. The three parks I mentioned are within 40 miles from where I live in Marion Co.
3.7 TRILLION dollars spent on wars since 9/11. What are the priorities of our country? Beware private companies going after the natural resources in our national parks. Remember too that at the time of their founding there was a huge argument as to whether we should have ANY national parks. There was a segment in congress that wanted all these lands to be privately owned and exploited. Sound familiar?
Interesting, the article points out that 91% of the cultural resources are in fair to poor condition. While the Nature Valley project is terrific, the article does not mention ANY projects to restore the cultural/historic resources in the parks. I used to live near the Smokys and visited several times a year. The historic village and farmsteads in Cades Cove are wonderful to visit, but they, like so many other historic places in the system, are suffering from decay. Yet Cades Cove is the most popular part of the park. I have spent hours sitting in traffic there just trying to get to a trailhead. The NPS is woefully underfunded and understaffed. State park systems around the country are in even worse shape and are under determined attack by the state legislatures. California and Arizona have either closed or are scheduled to close major segments of their park systems. Texas is laying off many, many staff to meet budget. Our outdoors are under attack because our priorities are in the wrong places. I agree with those who object to private entities taking over in parks or parts of them. Protections must be put in place to ensure the long term health of parks. And it could get worse in the NPS. If you recall when Newt Gingrich was speaker of the house he held a press conference at Mesa Verde (or one of the ancient sites in the NPS) and said he would "privatize" those kinds of sites. The NPS has them because they are irreplaceable and not intended to be "privatized" for profit. He's running to be our next president. . .
Michelle- The parks you mentioned are NOT National Parks. The only National Parks in Florida are Biscayne National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park and Everglades National Park. A national forest such as Ocala National forest is not owned by the governement but rather individuals, federal, state, county, and local governments, and investment groups and corporations. That is why there are differences. It would be nice if they were all national Parks. Florida is lucky to have 3 of the 51 National parks.
Great article! Boy, do I miss Glacier though!
The wildlife situation is becoming very sad up there. Pine beetles killing trees, warmer temperatures sending grizzlies and wolverines further north...
If you're a Glacier lover, be sure to learn more at my guide to Glacier National Park
I have lived in and visited National Parks in Wyoming, Texas, Alaska, Colorado and South Dakota. Part of the threat, well...most of the threat to the parks is from humans. What is the saying..."Take nothing and leave nothing behind but footprints"? It is something like that, and so true. We live in Wyoming and are going to Yellowstone again, this summer. A beautiful place to see, even during the summer months with lots of tourists.
Just got back from Great Smoky Mountains on the Tennessee side. What threatens this park includes:
What's ailing the National parks? Too many people, and setting careless fires. That was easy!
You neglected to mention greed.
I agree.
Comment # 6 deleted. Weird, racist derail from John D.-303905.
You are suspended for a day for violating rule # 5 of the Code of Honor.
it must be man's fault. I know,, tax it some more. I say lock 'em all up.
I don't do camping. I haven't been in the woods or slept on the ground intentionally since I returned from Vietnam in 1970.
Looks fine to me.
Glacier National Park has been losing glaciers since before it was a national park. Well before man could have possibly had any impact.
I don't know if that's true, but I do know that the rate of loss has gotten a lot faster in recent decades. Wonder why that is...? 97% of climate scientists agree on the answer.
Look at you Rhea....honestly expecting it to stay EXACTLY the same ....literally forever! hee hee
PS.....by the way - some reading for ya.
Rhea - Couldn't be the typical tourist who believes its their right to remove rocks, plants, or whatever they deem attractive to take, or the exotic foreign weeds, flowers, plants in general that may be brought in, not to mention imported and transported non native pests brought in hidden in fire wood, or in the ballast dumped by boaters. Additionally it couldn't be the visitors trampling delicate alpine plants on heavily used mountain trails, or their internal combustion engines spewing pollutants in the pristine air and water, nah must be climate change. Sometimes the most obvious cause is ignored so we can push our agenda.
I'll tell you what's ailing America's National Parks. Barack Obama is what's ailing America's National Parks. As president, Obama has his priorities all wrong; in fact I'm not sure Obama has any priorities, just a mish mash of do nothing actions all trying to win voters. In today's economic chaos, Obama figures most Americans will forego trips to our National Parks in favor of not having to look for permanent work. So he ignores the Parks. Obama has failed us, in many ways, and if he is re-elected in 2012 then we are totally doomed. ANYBODY BUT OBAMA IN 2012.
Agreed, but off target for the topic
I am not an Obama supporter. BUT... That has to be the most retarded, out of context, comment ever. Do you also blame Obama when your bread lands "butter side down"? You do not make yourself seem anything near intelligent with comments like that. Sorry, but the problems the parks are having did not happen overnight, or in even in the last 4 years. These are issues that have taken a lot time to fully manifest.
True, our Parks have been in decline for decades. My point is they will not begin to be fixed under the Obama administration. I doubt he has ever visited one, except possibly to garner votes. He cares nothing about American's natural resources, and his administration controls the National Park Service. So, if you want to get started and not just pontificate, then vote Obama out of office.
mikeljhn-You post republican Tbagger garbage. Your post says basically, Oh yeah its not Obamas fault but vote him out of office. Take your republican crap over to some Fux website, Troll...
Bluelake--You know what. I am glad to get under your skin. I am an independent, but I am not so damn stupid that I have bought into the Obama "change" mantra. All he changed is the money in his pockets by taking it out of ours. You are a fool, a deceived moron who can't see failure for what it is, the total destruction of America and the downfall of decency and order. And along with this destruction include all of our national parks.
What a tragedy it would be if we were to let our national parks continue in their decline. As a young boy I was fortunate enough to have terrific parents who, at the end of each school year, would take my oldest sister and I on vacations to various national parks and historical sites throughout the country. God what a great time I remember them to be. Those vacations left an impression of awe and wonder with me. As I grew older I often wondered why so many people from this country felt that in order to see magnificent scenery they had to travel abroad. This country has some of the world's most beautiful images, with some that you can't see anywhere else in the world but here. To think that we would allow some of our greatest spaces to slip into a decline would truly be a tragedy.
What is ailing our national parks.... it is difficult to narrow down to just one things. Could it be that we have too many, or could it be that the white house has their hands in the money pot that is suppose to be for the up keep of the parks. or could it be that the house and senate has their hands in the pot too..... Hmmmm I am just thinking, but why don't we first elect some one that Does what the people of theses United States tells them to do, not some one that gets there just because the look pretty and then gets paid to do not what the people wants but what some one other than the people wants, because "its good for you" mentality......
Sire, just leave it to the republican house, they will take all funding for parks away. they will love that idea.
BOTH political parties have been underfunding national parks for as long as I can remember.
You don't pay much attention Joe to who has been cutting all funding for America, and It aint the Democraps, its the Repuks. Corporate America cares nothing for America anymore and they serve their masters well.....
They have no problem with tax cuts for gazillionares and corporations and their endless wars, but funding the Park service, well it's just not profitable unless their cutting the giant trees for the logging companies..
oh you mean like the wars that the republican and democrates voted against but the big man in the white house said so what. they are my troops and we are going to war no matter what?
Visiting a unit administered by the National Park Service, whether a national park, monument, historic site or other remains the best travel value there is. I have visited at least twenty five national parks, not counting the monuments and other sites. I hope to make it to all of them. At least in the lower forty-eight and Hawaii. The park rangers are usually very knowledgeble, enthusiastic and helpful. I don't mind seeing foreign visiters and am thrilled to see people of different ethnicities within our country enjoying these treasures. We need everyone on board to preserve them for the future enjoyment of all.
We can't spend money on our national parks, Obama spent it all on Acorn and stimulus and cash for clunkies. all of which FAILED.
Yeah, now the parks have concessions and entrance fees. Where does the money go? First I pay what I consider a steep entrance fee, then when I go to any concession there is a foreigner running
We buy a year park pass to Glacier. I think it is only $50. We bring our own food most of the time but Eddies in Apgar Village has killer Apple and Huckleberry pies.
The National Park System like the Country as a whole is suffering from republican ideological stupidity. Get rid of republicans and save the Parks and the County.
@Necky
Wake up and smell the roses. BOTH political parties are failures. I hope you pledge allegiance to the Flag and not a political party.
What ails ? Too many visitors, no respect for the environment.....ask them what "leave no trace" means.....they may answer: "don't take any food home, rather, feed it to the bears" "throw the trash on the ground", etc. I took a work associate camping once, he was a smoker. He smoked and threw his butts on the ground in our campsite. When we packed up Sunday to leave, I said, please pick up all your butts. He looked at me like I was joking. I had to educate him on "leave no trace" and the basis for the principal. Totally clueless.
We are poluting our enviroment.
Too many people.
Of course; it must be global warming!
Where does the money go? First I pay what I consider a large entrance fee. Then any concession I go to is run by a foreigner. Then I'm always hassled by a gun toting a#%hole park ranger. This is what we get now at OUR parks. And don't forget park ranger got his job through nepotism and he gets a truck.
I was raised 1/2 my young life around Death Valley, it used to be a Monument not a Nat'l Park. Just looked it up to see how much the Gov. expanded the it when it became a Nat'l Park, God how do they think they can control the area now. It must be 4 times the size it was when formed, what a waste. No Mining allowed no weapons, ( like to see some body to in in Greenwater Mt's with out a gun) the snakes would eat you alive. This is a perfect example of Gov. waste, cut it back to what it was and let Eastern Inyo Country start mining or what every people need to do to have work. This and the spotted Owl in Southern Oregon create large areas of unemployment, how does this help the country?????????
The constitution doesn't require this- lets burn it all down, raid it for oil, then pave over it.
Interesting, I am not sure where the Constitution granted a right to the federal government that they "owned" land. I'm going to need to do some reading.
Is it truly ownership or is it more of a case of holding the land in trust for all American Citizens.
I've have the fortune of visiting many National Parks (Best $72 ever spent was for an "America the Beatiful" annual pass) and hope we can restore them. The NPS is the one federal department that gets it right.
Nice pic of Bearhat Mountain. Glacier was beautiful when we visited in 2009 and I hope to still see some Glaciers there when I return in the future.
I noticed you wrote about poor air quality in the Grand Canyon but I would like to make a positive note and give props to their California Condor repopulation project.
The problem with the parks is the same as the rest of the country....GOVERNMENT! Everything they get involved in...EVERYTHING! turns to crap. They think they know whats best and they don't..they don't know jack!