m08.    How can our National Parks be sustainably managed?

The National Park Service has two conflicting goals: to preserve nature in parks and to make nature available to the public. Even John Muir debated between conservation and preservation. Do you let folks into the parks so that they will love them, or do you keep people out so they can’t love them to death? Management ranges from preservation to conservation. Ideas include keeping vulnerable parts of the park are free of development; controlling the numbers of people allowed into the park; and establishing buffer areas to separate logging and grazing from the parks. The Park Service must also educate the public on the urgent need to protect, repair and expand parks, particularly in threatened areas. They could also make buildings and vehicles in national and state parks educational showcases; and locate most of the commercial facilities outside or near the boarders of the park. However to do this, the government must greatly expand the Park Service budget for maintenance, science, and conservation. This could be done by raising fees charged to private concessionaires to 22% of their gross receipts. Another issue is the number and pay of park rangers, both of which could be increased significantly.

e05.    Where are National Parks located?

e11.    What types of old-growth forests are there?

e12.    Where are tropical forests?