Wanderlust :: CO
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed … We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.” -Wallace Stegner
Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado is a spectacular place. ❤
Although the idea of our national parks is deeply rooted in American culture, there was a time when preserving wild spaces was just the merest wisp of an idea. It was an idea, however, that resonated deeply with people like John Muir, whose prolific writings stressed that these natural spaces were necessary for the soul. His advocacy later became the driving force behind the creation of several national parks.
In response to growing pressure, Yosemite was placed under the protection of the state of California by Abraham Lincoln. In 1872, Ulysses S. Grant made Yellowstone the world’s first national park. In 1916, the National Park Service was created to oversee the growing network of national parks, refuges, forests, etc with a mandate to protect the parks “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations,” and to promote their use by all people.
So where does that leave us now?
Just like anything else, not everyone agrees with the idea of protecting and preserving the land and animals that live within the land set aside by the government. In particular, designated National Monuments – which come into being through the executive branch, under the Antiquities Act, for the purpose of preserving sites on federal lands with significant natural, cultural, or scientific features – have come under fire recently. The Antiquities Act, however, was specifically created to protect these spaces from OURSELVES. At the time, precious native american historic sites were defiled and artifacts were being stolen from the lands by treasure hunters to be placed into the hands of private collectors.
The arguments against many of the designated monument lands generally boil down to resources and money. It costs money to maintain the lands. The local towns are more and more overwhelmed and their resources are stretched thin to accommodate visitors. There are natural resources within those lands that someone wants to consume more of – lumber, grazing lands, fossil fuels, etc. Most recently, the American people have been “loving places to death” and there isn’t enough man-power to stop them…. The list goes on.
But in the end, there is only one argument needed to convince me that these lands need protection though…. Humans.
Now, let me clarify by saying that not all humans are short-sighted or greedy. And often times environmental damage is done because of limited choices, lack of options, the need to survive.
That being said, it can’t be denied that we only have one planet, and we haven’t always been good stewards. There are billions of pounds of garbage in the worlds oceans. We poison and acidify our drinking and recreational waters. We pollute our air, and then cry foul when our populations develop higher incidences of cancer, asthma and copd. We create environmental dead zones, with our waste killing off millions of birds and animals. We deforest huge swaths of land without re-planting trees, who are major players in the “you need oxygen to breathe” game. Most importantly, and humans ignore the fact that we live in a web, where every single thing on this planet is connected to the others. Food chains are delicate and small changes to environmental conditions can have far-reaching consequences which will likely affect your children.
So while I personally believe there is almost always room for compromise, I also strongly believe that our nationally designated spaces serve an important, long-term, survival-as-a-species function. They are pockets of hope for future generations. I hope with my whole heart that we continue to appreciate our wild spaces, and they function they serve not only as a safe haven for our weary souls, but as a space where the other important strands in the web of life can thrive. I hope we continue to think about the big picture, which is keeping this planet hospitable to our species for as long as possible.
Or at least until we figure out terra-forming and light speed. We comin’ atcha, Earth 2!
Tags: colorado, desert, landscape, nature, photo, photography, sunset, travel, wanderlust
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