3 ms·
There's a great book called Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey where he talks about the old national parks that were free, and where driving was banned. You had t
by djsumdog 6y ago
There's a great book called Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey where he talks about the old national parks that were free, and where driving was banned. You had to hike/bike/horse your way in, and people came to spend long periods traveling through the parks.
He watched as the park services started building roads through national parks, and more parking lots, and how that changed absolutely everything. It also has a lot of old stories about the area. It's an amazing book.
- Gibbon1 6y agoFriend of mine mentioned one place that used to be protected BLM land. To get there you needed to drive down a 10 mile dirt road. Usually there would be 0 to 2 cars/trucks parked there. It was handed over to the park service to 'protect it' now there is a paved road, a parking lot with pit toilets and two dozen cars and trucks. This sort of thing is why I'm totally opposed to giving the park service more stuff. Park Service should stick to managing Public monuments and the half dozen national parks that serve as sacrifice areas that draw tourists way from everything else.
- wetmore 6y agoThis is complicated. Certain areas see too much traffic in their primitive state and need infrastructure like a bathroom. In this case causation may be going the other way.
- Gibbon1 6y agoThe problem is the park service actively advertises places which brings in more people. More people requires infrastructure. Which brings in more people. Better is to not advertise and if there are too many people require permits. It may be beneficial to remove infrastructure. For instance blocking of roads that allow access. Because most things that aren't heavily advertised and are more than a mile from a road see very little traffic.