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Description
National
parks, in conjunction with refuges, wilderness, monuments, recreational
areas, marine reserves and the like are the remains of the primitive
continent before industrialization took over many parts of the
world. They protect a part of the ecosystem in tact, so that we
can study them, and possibly encourage biodiversity to spread from them. These
few places are called public lands because we own them collectively as
citizens. It sounds a little socialist, but there are not many
people who could afford millions of acres of land, and fewer still who
would keep them pristine. So what better method is there? Our
public lands are constantly under pressures to degrade them. Air
pollution is a big problem. Some parks, such as the Great Smokey
Mountain National Park, have worse air than most major cities.
Drilling and mining can be done on National Monuments, National Wildlife
Refuges, and in some parks, but not wilderness. Unfortunately,
logging and most resource extraction from these lands cost more than
they are worth. Subsidies from the government are usually the only
means to make them profitable, thus taxes goes directly into the pockets
of companies that work on our public lands. It makes financial and
ecological sense to give these companies the Boot!
Helpful
Websites
- National
Park Service
- National Parks Conservation Association
- Americans for National Parks
- Sequoia National Park in California | Delaware North Parks Services
- American Park
Network
- NRDC: Parks, Forests & Wildlands
- Peace Parks Foundation
- National Parks of the American Southwest
- World
Heritage Center (UN)
- National
Wildlife Refuge System
- The
Forest Council on resource extraction on public lands
- American
Lands Alliance
- Soil
Water Conservation Society
- The
Land Trust Alliance
- Public
Lands (Earthjustice)
- The
Nature Conservancy
- U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Home
- Welcome
to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
- Wild
Wilderness Homepage
- Wilderness
Society
- Yellowstone
to Yukon Conservation Initiative
- UNEP
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
- The
Disneyfication of Nature (article)
- UNESCO
World Heritage Centre - Official Site
- Forest
Guardians (Southwest US)
- Privatizing
Public Lands (Article)
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- Helpful
Reports
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- Helpful
Books and Magazines
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- "Resource
Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict" by Klare
- "Why
Governments Waste Natural Resources : Policy Failures in Developing
Countries" by Ascher
- "Natural
Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions" by Collier
- "National
Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States, Fourth
Edition"
- "The
National Parks of America" by Brett
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Copy and Paste these book
titles into the Search Box below for available new and used copies.
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