Imagine if your state didn’t pass its annual budget in time and as a result, all non-essential employees were sent home, including school teachers and staff. However, due to public outcry, they decided to keep schools open throughout the shutdown, even though there wasn’t any staff to teach, feed, protect, or discipline the students, and no one performing maintenance. You can probably guess what would happen...utter chaos. The students would run wild because there is no one to stop them. The bathrooms would be unusable within hours and the trash cans overflowing, leading many students to discard their waste on the floor. No one is learning and bullies are able to run around hurting anything they want. This is basically what happened to the National Parks Service in January of this year. Almost all of the workers were sent home and it was similar to the example I gave earlier - chaos and disarray. That is what inspired me to do this project. The parks were put in an impossible situation and I want to bring awareness to that and talk about some possible solutions in the likely case this happens again.
Throughout my teenage years, many of our family vacations involved visiting and camping in National Parks. I have been to 9 National Parks so far and tons of other places like National Monuments, Seashores, Conservation Areas, etc., and have loved all of them. After the government shutdown happened, I was devastated to see the reports of the damage caused to these special places. Later, when this project was assigned, I knew pretty quickly that this was something I wanted to learn more about and investigate. It also didn’t hurt that I knew I would be visiting several National Parks over the course of the project, giving me ample opportunity to learn and see things for myself. One thing I wanted to accomplish was creating a (hopefully) high quality blog every week, giving updates and sharing what I learned. I also wanted to go to parks and interview actual Rangers. That was easy since, as I said before, we were already planning a trip to California, and we also live fairly close to 3 National Parks. Finally, I wanted to make an Instagram account and attract a lot of followers to bring awareness to the issue. The result, however, was a bit different from what I expected. I was able to write an in depth blog every week, of which I’m super proud. My parents have helped me edit them and over time, I feel like I improved my writing ability significantly. The Instagram account did not end up being the success I had hoped for, as I didn’t realize the time and effort needed. The highest number of followers I ended up getting was only about 50, though that was probably because I only posted about once a week and didn’t market it heavily with hashtags. It also became a battle with bots trying to take over my account and people sending me creepy messages. On the other hand, my interviews were very successful and added a lot to my project. I only conducted a few sit down interviews, but there were many brief encounters where I was able to speak to Rangers at multiple parks. Those interviews were my favorite part of the project because everyone I spoke with was helpful and great. During these interviews, I learned so many new things. For instance, I never knew how differently each park is run. Also, I would have never guessed how much money some parks lost. For example, a Park Ranger at Death Valley stated that they lost well over $500,000 during the closure since it fell during their busy season. I also didn’t realize how massive the effects volunteers and charitable organizations had on each park. In each interview, Rangers made sure to mention how essential volunteers were to helping them keep their heads above water both during and after the shutdown. There is no one solution to the problems in the shutdown, though I think I’ve made a good argument that either parks need to have individualized plans in place, ranging from total closure to fully open, or they need to be reclassified as “essential” government operations and employees, allowing the parks to stay open and staffed, protecting both the land and the visitors. I can’t force anyone to do anything to solve the problem. All I can do is try to inform people that the problem exists. The rest of it is up to you, the people who have read my blogs. These parks were created because they need to be protected and shouldn’t be a tool of political grandstanding.
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Modern Problems
Users of social media, like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, love getting a pretty outdoor picture for a post because they know that being seen in nature will usually result in a lot of likes. Social media “Influencers” often are paid by companies to promote their products. More likes and more visibility will earn those influencers more money and free products. What they may not know, is that the picture that is posted is hurting the environment. They may or may not have done anything to directly cause harm, but it happened anyway. How? When that picture is taken and posted tagging the location of where it was taken (known as geotagging), others will want to find that place. At places that were once hidden gems, now cars and crowds of visitors are lined up to get that “perfect” shot. And we’ve learned in other blog posts that too many visitors for a facility to handle means lots of trash, disturbance of wildlife, and often long term, irreparable damage to the environment. The sad thing is that many of these people claim to be nature-loving environmentalists, but when presented with the opportunity, decide that since others are doing it, they can too. “What harm can one more person do?” Geotagging is often described as a double-edged sword. Casey Schreiner from Modern Hiker stated in an interview that he likes how it gets people out into the National Parks. More visitors can mean more funding and entrance fees for some parks; however, certain popular locations will often experience over-visitation and suffer from “too much love,” sometimes known as the social media “hug of death.” Personally, I can see where he is coming from and agree. Since smartphones have become popular, people have cameras on them 24/7 and can quickly and instantly share their life with the world. It has made more people than ever aware of the beautiful world around them, but there is a tipping point where it becomes harmful. If people want to be seen as outdoorsy, they go out to a park and take pictures to share with their followers. The problem that arises is too many people doing it, hurting the land and ruining the experience for themselves and others. Much of social media is about portraying one’s life as an idealized version and more and more these iconic nature shots are reflecting that. What you don’t see, just out of frame, are crowds of people waiting in line, trash, graffiti, and trampled wildlife. What is the solution to the problem? One solution is to limit the visitors to certain locations by either charging higher entrance fees or requiring a permit. Antelope Canyon, Havasupai Falls, and Horseshoe Bend are doing this. Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park is likely coming up with a similar solution for their overcrowding problems. Unfortunately, this means that nature starts being only accessible to those who can pay more, hire guides, or have flexibility based on lottery permits. Another solution would be to allow social media photography to continue but limit its exposure. One method to accomplish that as a person posting is to stop geotagging the locations. Even difficult to get to locations are finding themselves visited by illegal drones, attempting to capture the best videos and pictures to post online. Find the ideal setting, get your picture, keep enjoying nature, but don’t lead others to the place you went. Consider how you got that picture, did you go off trail or do anything else to cause harm in that process? On the other end of that, don’t support others doing the same thing by liking their post. This gives them more opportunity and reasons to continue taking those pictures. Doing that is important because we want to preserve nature as much as possible and no one should want to be a factor in harming these priceless locations. Don’t be a part of the problem. No amount of social media “likes” is worth the harm. This week I was able to visit Congaree National Park in South Carolina. It is a mixture of rare, bottomland old-growth forest and flood plain that has the second highest biodiversity on the east coast, falling only slightly behind the Great Smoky Mountains, a park three times its size. It has more champion, record-sized trees than any park in North America - 25 species have their largest specimen here. Going in, I did not have high expectations because it’s a lesser known, lesser visited park in the middle of rural, “rust-belt” South Carolina, not usually thought of as a place of breathtaking beauty. However, once I got inside the park and went on one of the hikes, I changed my mind. Congaree turned out to be hauntingly gorgeous with all kinds of interesting critters roaming through towering bald cypress and meandering tea-colored streams.
While I was there I had my second sit down interview of the project. I spoke with Jon Manchester, the current Senior Park Ranger that has been at the park since 2013. He told me that luckily, Congaree was not largely affected by the government shutdown. It took place during their off-season and was flooded almost the entire time, which cut off almost all of the park from visitors. Luckily not many of them left trash around and volunteers quickly picked up after those who did. Nearly the entire staff was furloughed for the duration of the shutdown, with only one or two Rangers occasionally being able to check on things. My full interview with him is on the “Interviews” page of this website if you want to listen. Congaree was fortunate that the shutdown was so easy on them, with the notable exception of the employees going without paychecks for over a month. It is not one of the more visited parks and has only a few access points, so not many people showed up to possibly damage it. Most trails were impassable due to the floods, which served as additional deterrents to the shutdown visitors. Unfortunately, as we learned in my previous blogs, not every park had the same experience. Many, like Death Valley, had visitors roaming around and hurting the parks, costing them precious income during what is normally their busiest time of the year. It should go without saying, but whenever you are at a park, it is important to treat it with respect, especially during a shutdown. That is when they are most vulnerable because there is no one there to protect them and educate people unfamiliar with rules. One of the goals of our parks is to provide a place for us to learn about our lands, so we can protect them for the future. A park without their rangers is like a school full of students but no teachers - everyone loses. Since its beginning, the National Parks Service has existed to allow the public to enjoy the beauty this country offers. Believe it or not, this was originally a controversial decision. The “Father of the National Parks,” John Muir, was a big supporter of their creation, but did not think that they should be open to the public. He felt they were treasures to be kept safe from the general population. On the opposite side, Gifford Pinchot, another supporter of the creation of the National Parks, wanted to commercialize the land. He wanted businesses to turn the parks into a profitable venture. However, the man who would become the first Director of the National Parks Service, Stephen Mather, made the parks open to the public, but also allowed a small amount of commercialism. Was this the right decision?
Many people, including myself, think there should not be excessive commercial business in parks. They should have a visitors center, gift shop, and maybe some limited hospitality services. When there is too much commercialism, it can take away from the experience of being in nature. Imagine the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, feeling one with nature, then looking around you and seeing a large resort and spa. Not everyone shares my opinion though, many enjoy being able to go somewhere like Death Valley and not having to camp. They can stay in a nice hotel, dine at a nice restaurant, and then go on a hike the next day. There are also some people who need additional accommodations, like the elderly or disabled. A large goal of the National Park Service, according to their website, is making the parks as easy as possible for disabled visitors. However, there is a difference between having basic amenities for people and a resort hotel with water-slides and a McDonald's. Each park has to make the best decision for itself based mostly on its general accessibility and popularity. That can be difficult because they want people to enjoy parks, but they also need to take conservation of the land into account Who truly knows what is best for the parks? It all depends on what the goal is: leave the land alone or allow anyone to enjoy it. Luckily for us that decision was made by Stephen Mather in 1917, when he became the first Director of National Parks, and has been maintained by each subsequent administration. I can’t say I disagree with his decision because it strikes a realistic balance between accessibility and preservation. Even though excessive visitation can hurt the land that the service works so hard to preserve, it is amazing that the average person has access to places like the Grand Canyon. National Parks are the most beautiful lands in our nation. Their situation intertwines with our government. Currently the status of our parks is poor because of the recent government shutdown that was the longest in history. Some presidents prioritize the parks system more than others, however, Congress determines the yearly National Parks budget. This is especially important because some parks do not require an entrance fee, so they rely on federal money more than others. The parks are struggling more and more over time with budget cuts, infrastructure, development, and repairs. The impacts of climate change are making it more difficult to manage parks, especially those in environmentally fragile areas like the hurricane-prone Everglades. In addition, visitors cause damage because they are uninformed about regulations.
In 2015, the parks department said they had to delay nearly $12 billion in necessary maintenance due to budget shortfalls in 2014. How can National Parks survive these issues? Luckily, since parks have never been more popular, those that charge fees will have an opportunity to increase their revenue. However, currently they do not make enough money from fees to fix all of the damage sustained. Some of those most popular have raised fees, but it is still not enough to solve the environmental problems. There is also the issue of low funding from the government. It is generally agreed that the parks department has nowhere near the money they need to properly run their department. Every tax dollar spent on a National Park generates $10 in tax revenue returned to the government. That shows that parks are a smart financial investment, as well as environmental investment. On a positive note, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which takes money from industries like oil and gas and redirects them to state and national parks, was recently made permanent. This fund generates about $900 million in royalties every year that should be going to our parks, but unfortunately much of this money never makes it to the parks and is unreliable for budgeting purposes. In some cases the parks have partnerships with charitable organizations who want to help out. I know that Great Smoky Mountains National Park has one that allowed them to stay open for part of the shutdown. There are also many visitors that contribute to the parks using donation boxes located in the visitors center, which is a way to target a gift to a specific park, rather than the system as a whole. Additionally, private companies also form partnerships to run things like concessions and hospitality centers inside some parks. Parks have a few pathways to help them survive, some of them we can help with. Even though one person usually cannot make a large impact, as a group we can combine our small contributions in a powerful way. We can stay educated and informed to lessen damage, leave no trace, preserving the park for others. We can donate our time or money to help with the small things. We can lobby those in higher positions to ensure the parks are better funded. Whenever you visit, we can do our part to help them survive. The lowest place in the US and hottest place in the entire world is in Death Valley National Park in California. While more famous for its barren deserts and extreme heat, the park also has a multitude of beautiful scenes that would surprise most people. From snow capped mountains, to volcanic craters, to fish swimming in salty desert creeks, the variety in this park is astounding. Recently I was able to spend a couple of days in the park hiking and seeing the beautiful landscape. At any park you visit there will be people breaking rules and mistreating the land, which is always disappointing to see. Most of these people don’t have bad intentions and simply don’t read the rules. However, during an event like the recent government shutdown, with no rangers to enforce rules, the combined effects from the simply ignorant guests to those with actual malicious intents can be significant and long-lasting.
At the Furnace Creek Visitors Center, I talked to a ranger that gave me a lot of details about the damages suffered during the shutdown. He stated that there was always a Ranger at the park and he went into work once every two weeks. The volunteers that usually work there every day were not allowed there the entirety of the shutdown. No money was collected during the shutdown resulting in one-eighth of the budget (over $570,000) for the year being lost. They lost so much because they were shut down in winter which is the most popular time of year for the park, due to the cool temperatures. The physical damages faced were somewhat similar to Joshua Tree. The main problem at Death Valley was off-road driving which destroyed desert crust which can take hundreds of years to form. The off-roading also killed many endemic plants, which means plants native to Death Valley and found nowhere else on earth. Finally, with facilities closed and not being maintained by the furloughed park staff, visitors did not have access to restrooms. The result of this was that rangers found thousands of locations of human waste littered across the park. After the shutdown ended and the park reopened and assessed the damage, they GPS mapped each spot and sent them to Congress to view. Based on what I have seen from each park, there is is no shutdown plan that would work for every single park. Some parks might sustain little damage due their location, but many, like Death Valley, would continue to be severely harmed. There were two things that the government could have done to keep the damages minimal or non-existent . The National Parks could have been deemed essential and stayed open and fully staffed. Alternately, each park could have had a customized shutdown plan in place. Unfortunately neither of those happened, so the damage was widespread and far-reaching . Seeing the damages in parks myself, it opened my eyes on the need for a good plan on the next shutdown. Joshua Tree National Park is named from the tree (actually a yucca) that is native to the land. The park has huge rock formations, mountainous terrain, and desert expanses. The park forms a boundary between the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. The two have quite different landscapes. I stayed in Indian Cove near the rock formations. I spent the entire day with my parents exploring the park, amazed at the trees and desert cactuses.
When researching damages that occurred during the government shutdown, the most frequently mentioned park is Joshua Tree. Being close to two of the largest cities in the US concentrated the damage in this small National Park. There were people climbing on the protected trees. Joshua Trees harbor countless animals, so naturally it is illegal to damage them. Unfortunately, during the shutdown there was no one to enforce the laws. People also cut down trees to clear space for off-road vehicles. Joshua Trees take 60 years to mature and have a life expectancy of up to 500 years. People brought their pets into the park and allowed them to use the bathroom everywhere. Even during my short stay, I saw people who had pets in places where they are not allowed. To endangered animals like the bighorn sheep the smell of dog is the same to them as a coyote or wolf and can stress them and cause them to abandon their homes. According to some reports the park could take 300 years to recover from damages. While in the park I asked a Ranger about the damages during the shutdown and how the recovery was progressing. She said the recovery was going well. The biggest problem was the off-road vehicles destroying the ground and illegally clearing paths. The park is doing what they can to repair the ground. An unexpected issue was campfires. There were a lot of campers who made fires in the back country portion of Joshua Tree. She said they had to break up thousands of campfire rings. I was encouraged to hear that the recovery from the damage is going well, but unfortunately will still take many years. The main inspiration for doing this project was Joshua Tree and reports of what happened there. Visiting there was dreamlike because the park has been all over the news. Joshua Tree represents why parks should stay staffed in a shutdown. That fact became even clearer to me when I visited there and talked to a Ranger about what happened. Off the coast of Los Angeles California sits a National Park that is a bit different than the others. Channel Islands National Park is made up of five separate islands and the surrounding ocean. I stayed on Santa Cruz island with my parents over spring break. Santa Cruz is known for its steep cliffs, mountainous terrain and some of the largest sea caves in the world. The islands were never attached to the mainland so they contain species found nowhere else in the world.
During my time on Santa Cruz I took a hike from Scorpions Cove, where I was staying, to Smugglers Cove three and a half miles away on the opposite side of the island. I also hiked to Cavern Point the next day. Both of these were spectacular, had great views and you rarely came across other people. I was also lucky enough to do a kayaking tour and go into sea caves on the coast. That part was scary at first but ultimately I loved it. As I was leaving the island I had the privilege of speaking with a Park Ranger. I only had about ten minutes to talk to him but he gave me some great information. However he did not answer everything and did not want me to use his name because he was not sure what he would be allowed to say. This was not a recorded interview so everything I have here was written down shortly after I talked to the Ranger. During the government shutdown there were four workers, two rangers and two maintenance workers. There were two shifts, so only two were ever on the island at a time. While they were there, they could not patrol the grounds to see if everything was OK. They were also not allowed to clean bathrooms and perform other basic maintenance tasks. All they could do was check the water supply to ensure it was not contaminated as well as perform emergency medical procedures if needed, which luckily it wasn’t. The rest of the time, they watched a lot of Netflix. They were not paid during this time. After the shutdown ended, they received back pay, however they still had a month of bills with no paycheck. Fortunately, people who worked on the Island Adventure shuttle boats and workers from the Channel Islands Adventure Company helped with some of the cleaning for that month. After the shutdown ended, the park was in a rough spot. They needed to prepare for spring break vacationers and they were unable to do that. The shutdown put them a month behind and they haven’t been able to catch up. This shows that parks can be hurt by a shutdown in more than one way. Channel Islands did not have many environmental issues, but they are struggling to catch up on needed upkeep. If they had been properly staffed the whole time and were allowed to work normally, then there would be no issues of unclean bathrooms or people wanting to illegally fly drones. This would have been a simple thing to do, but unfortunately it didn’t happen and Channel Islands has been damaged because of it. A National Park is created when there is land in the United States that the President thinks need protection. Lands can be set aside for a variety of reasons: rare and unique beauty, fragile ecosystems, and historical, military, or cultural significance, to name a few. In doing this, we conserve the land for the people, as a mutual benefit for the park and the visitors.
While the first National Park was created in 1872, the National Park Service wasn't established until 1916 by an act of Congress and President Woodrow Wilson. It is generally accepted that Yellowstone was not just the first National Park in the United States, but in the entire world. Though the focus of this project is on US National Parks, there are National Parks all over the world as well as Wildlife Conservation Centers and UNESCO World Heritage sites (which include all US National Parks). When you ask a foreigner, what is their favorite thing about the US, the National Parks are always a favorite. It is often called “America's Best Idea” and has been redone by many countries. This is a great thing because the more land in the world that can be protected by their governments the better. When the Park System was being created, a lot of debate was had over the amount of development that should be allowed. Many wanted to take away from parks to obtain a profit, and others wanted to keep parks as they were, untouched. To make everyone happy the director of parks, Stephen Mather, created a solution falling somewhere in the middle. Some development is allowed, but no heavy industry. Also large parts of parks are reserved to be untouched. Even with the compromise debate still occurs often over the matter. If the story of the US National Parks is of interest to you, I highly suggest watching the 6 part Ken Burns documentary, “National Parks: America's Best Idea.” How a Bill Becomes a Lawwww.Scholastic.com 1. Bill is Drafted: Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and even outside groups can draft (write or draw up) bills. 2. Introduced in House: Representative introduces the bill in the House. Only members can introduce bills. 3. Sent to Committee: The Speaker of the House sends the bill to a committee. 4. Committee Action: Most bills die here. The committee may pigeonhole, table, amend, or vote on the bill. If bill passes, it goes to Rules Committee. 5, Rules Committee: It decides the rules for debate, and when the bill will come up for debate. 6. Floor Action: House debates the bill, and may add amendments. If a majority votes in favor of the bill, it goes to the Senate. 7. Introduced in Senate: A Senator introduces the bill, which is sent to a committee. 8. Committee Action: Same procedure as in the House. If the committee majority votes for the bill, it goes to the whole Senate. 9. Bill Called Up: Majority floor leader decides when the whole Senate will consider the bill. 10. Floor Action: The Bill is debated, and amendments may be added. If a majority votes in favor of the bill, it is returned to the House. 11. Conference Committee: If the House rejects any of the changes, the bill goes to a conference committee of members from both houses. It works out a compromise. 12. Vote on Compromise: Both houses must approve changes made by the conference committee. If approved, the bill goes to the president. 13. Presidential Action: The president may sign (approve) the bill or veto (reject) it. If approved, it becomes law. 14. Vote to Override: If the president vetoes the bill, it can still become law if two thirds of both houses vote to override the veto. That is the process required to make a National law, in this case one that applies to National Parks. When the shutdown occurred, many employees were considered nonessential and were sent home. Damage in certain parks ensued from people going into parks and got too close to sensitive structures such as trees harboring microorganisms or desert cryptobiotic crust that takes centuries to build up. Also pets entered some parks and freely walked all over land leaving biological waste and tracks. Bathrooms often overflowed in parks since no one was there to treat them. What this shows is that employees of parks are essential to the government because if they are absent, terrible things occur to places deemed irreplaceable national treasures. The law needs to be changed, the workers of parks must be kept at all times. When this does not happen, the environment suffers. Parks that reopened after the shutdown do not yet know the extent of the damage. They are so large that not everything can be found right away. A Ranger at Great Smoky Mountains National Park said that they are unsure of everything that happened to their park or how long it would take them to recover. The solution to these issues is to introduce National Parks Employees as essential workers in a bill to be presented. There is no other way. Parks are too big for a limited amount of people to look after during a shutdown, everyone must be there. The government had it’s longest shutdown ever this past January and usatoday.com stated that there could be more shutdowns if the President and Congress cannot agree on a budget. Action needs to be taken now so that the environment does not endure any more damage than what happened earlier this year. |
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AuthorMy name is Ethan Page, I am raising awareness about the environment and national parks specifically because I love going to the parks and I dislike the fact that they are often neglected during government shutdowns. These blogs will have updates on my progress on social media and also will have cool info that goes with my goal to help make sure that we can keep all workers at the national parks at ALL times. Archives
May 2019
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