It is no secret that our national parks, monuments, trails and other places of nature are being accessed at an increasing rate as many discover the beauty of these outdoor spaces, often to the detriment of the land they occupy. People who have been enjoying these spaces long before Instagram and Facebook are up in arms because not only have they lost the feeling of solitude they cherish, they are witnessing the misuse of these areas. Everyone, including many well known nature enthusiasts, seems to have their own idea as to what to do about it and can be quite hostile when giving their opinion.
The most common one is what I call the “Secret Club” theory. It says we need to keep information about “our” outdoor spaces to ourselves. Knowledge is like a closed society and only those we deem worthy are allowed access. We don’t share the location of trails or parks we love, or at the very least we keep them off social media. Let “those” other people keep going to the same overused places we avoid because we and our close friends know better.
But what if there was a different way to look at this problem? A problem that is never going to go away. What if we want everyone to have access to this knowledge because that is how we spread ourselves out and avoid overuse in the first place? Maybe the key to preserving wilderness, trails and national areas is education such as the Leave No Trace Seven Principles and trail maintenance experiences.
There are some good hearted folks purposing that an “8th” principle be added to limit posting of these areas to social media. But what if we spend less time worrying about how many people are being exposed to these areas and more time focusing on teaching people the best way to use our outdoors spaces? If we did more to educate, facilitate responsibility and share our love of nature, possibly we would have less destruction of these areas?
What if learning about wilderness areas and taking care of them was a part of the learning at schools? What if we worked to teach the general public about their role in its preservation, bringing them into the community? This report from the National Park Service highlights this:
The Park Service has always considered education to be a part of its mission, but has focused on it only intermittently. As the demographics of America have changed, so too must the Park Service’s educational efforts. Programs, exhibits, and audiovisual presentations must be developed for different ages and in multiple languages. New methods are needed to reach audiences from disparate cultures. New technologies, such as the Internet, are creating different and exciting ways of teaching and learning in and about parks. Through the Internet and other forms of distance learning, the public can share the wonder and excitement of a park visit. The Park Service should embrace the educational possibilities of the World Wide Web in a more systematic fashion.
How are we as outdoor enthusiasts supporting this if we believe in secrecy? We are more likely to respect, support and protect something we believe we are a part of. I, for one, feel called to share where I go because I know what it has meant to me to be out in these places and I want others to have those same experiences. This article, Why Are Our Parks So White?, addresses just a few of the ways the feeling of exclusivity is passed on:
The park service should use its resources and partnerships to execute an all-out effort to promote diversity within its ranks and its parks. Its outreach should be tailored to minorities and delivered where they log in, follow, Tweet, view or listen. The park service needs to shout to minorities from its iconic mountaintops, “We want you here!”
Such a campaign could include educational programs about the importance of the outdoors to a healthy lifestyle, transportation solutions for carless urban dwellers, and advice on easy and safe ways to enjoy the parks.
I just had a conversation with my 20 year old son who wanted to know if I had heard about this past week’s reduction of the Bears Ears National Monument. I explained to that yes, I had heard of it but that I understood both sides. Yes, both sides. Not that I agree with both, but that I understand. I feel that if more people understood the need for federal protection versus state protection, there wouldn’t be two sides. That’s where education plays such a vital role.
State managed lands (or any program) simply do not have the same level of protection as federally managed lands. Don’t even get me started on why the program I work for, Head Start, should not be turned over to the states, a threat that has been on going since the Bush administration. But the main concern for me is that the agencies that preserve and protect our natural environments aren’t funded to keep up the growth in exposure that our national treasures are experiencing. To what degree does limiting their use to a few select folks help everyone feel connected to those agencies and thus want to support them? It doesn’t.
The current proposal to raise the fee for entering a national park has people in an outcry. “That will limit their use by the average person!” “The poor won’t be able to access them!” “Only the rich will be able to afford that!” Excuse me? Are these the same people you are worried are overrunning our outdoor spaces so you won’t share about them online? The truth is, the daily fee is basically raising to the same cost as the annual fee. In my mind, this only encourages folks to use it MORE than just the one visit. For most families, regardless of ability to pay, visiting a national park is more than a one day event.
Also, as someone who has worked with the low income population for 18 years and watched some families every year fund their way to Disneyland, I wonder what it would be like if we made our nation’s natural spaces just as appealing. They both have the same long lines but one is SO much more rewarding. Shouldn’t we be happy that that such places are an Instagram sensation? Just imagine what the parks could do with that money…oh, maybe something like Every Kid In A Park?
Saying we want to preserve our wilderness areas for everyone, for generations to come, and yet at the same time keep them to ourselves or a select few is hypocritical. And it alienates the very people we say we want to protect them for.
Sharing less may be the very thing that is killing what we want to safeguard.
What do you think? What do we need to do to preserve the wild spaces we love? What responsibility do we have?
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