All semester, I have talked about how the National Parks are in desperate need of receiving help–mostly financially. But this week, for my final post, I want to take time to talk about how the parks are giving back to America–to the country that has given them such amazing publicity and opportunity to share their beauty with Americans and visitors alike. And from there, I want to touch on just one last issue that they are going through–to leave you with a final thought about the fate of the National Parks.
There are so many animals and wildlife living in the National Parks. They give character to the parks and draw visitors in just as much as the land itself. That being said, the parks are trying this new thing where they donate the meat of deer to food shelters. Now, this could sound potentially bad–that the parks are trying to control the populations of animals themselves. It would make most sense environmentally speaking that survival of the fittest kicks in and the weakest links of the deer population die off. However, the deer population is beyond words over-abundant. That being said, the population is actually affecting and damaging both the land and other wildlife, such as vegetation. So in a way, the parks deciding to control the deer population is just another attempt at preservation.
The parks have taken it upon themselves to control this population. But don’t worry, they aren’t just letting the deer go to waste. Rather, they are donating the deer meat to food banks! This is absolutely awesome. The meat goes through testing to be sure that it is safe to eat before heading off to the food bank. According to the National Park Service, the deer meat that was donated will equate to 50,000 meals for people in need.
So it turns out that the decision for the National Parks to control the deer population in certain parks is a good thing. Not only is it maintaining the land and state of the parks, but it is also providing meals for people who are in serious need. The parks are literally giving back to America in a way that is simply remarkable. This new development could be something that other parks could adopt–this current situation was with National Parks in the Maryland/DC area.
Another new development occurring among the parks is that they are trying to adopt policies that will limit or remove cars on the premises entirely. Certain parks, like Zion National Park have already started adopting this policy. It is a great idea, but it definitely has roots in a past park system. With this development spreading throughout the nation, it may almost feel as though the National Parks are reverting into a more simplistic, slower pace of life–maybe like the way they were in previous centuries.
Personally, I think that this decision to remove cars from the premises is a wonderful idea. It will allow for the parks to start to repair and KEEP the repairs in tact–a lot of the reasons why parks are not being maintained is because they are not given the time to “recover” or “maintain” their repairs. And also because they are not getting repairs nearly enough–but that is a whole different story that I have already touched on.
Other people may not like the idea of removing cars from national parks because it is not in line with the current state of society. Society is very modern, with cafes on the premises of national parks. (Wow, I am really just channeling all of my previous posts and culminating the ideas into one.) People are very into a modern society and modern experiences, including transportation. The idea of people having to take trolleys or walking on dirt roads will be something that I could easily see new generations of children complaining about–with their iPad in hand of course. Or maybe their iPhone 10. Can you tell that I don’t agree with a lot of modern societal standards?! Nevertheless, people may want to bring this sense of modernism into the parks or ramp up the current modern trends that the parks are seeing. But that would conflict with their purpose…hm, pretty messy I must say.
Regardless of what people are feeling towards reverting the parks back to their simplistic, 20th century state of being, it is in the hands of the government, the National Parks Service, and advocacy groups alike. Whether or not people are going to be allowed to drive vehicles on the grounds of National Parks is something that must be addressed though.
If we want the parks to last for centuries to come, it is crucial that people put time, effort, and energy into making this happen.