To Conserve Unimpaired The Evolution of the National Park Idea

When the national park system was first established in 1916, the goal "to conserve unimpaired" seemed straightforward. But Robert Keiter argues that parks have always served a variety of competing purposes, from wildlife protection and scientific discover

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ROBERT B. KEITER

To Conserve Unimpaired

To Conserve Unimpaired The Evolution of the National Park Idea

Robert B. Keiter

Washington

Covelo

London

Copyright © 2013 Robert B. Keiter All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 2000 M Street NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036 Island Press is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Keiter, Robert B., 1946To conserve unimpaired : the evolution of the national park idea / Robert B. Keiter. pages cm ISBN 978-1-59726-659-8 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 1-59726-659-0 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-59726-660-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 1-59726-660-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. National parks--United States--Philosophy. 2. Nature conservation--United States--Philosophy. 3. National parks--Government policy--United States. I. Title. SB481.6.K45 2013 363.6’8--dc23 2012041661 Printed on recycled, acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Note: Portions of chapter 10 previously appeared in the fiftieth anniversary issue of the Natural Resources Journal. The full citation is Robert B. Keiter, “The National Park System: Visions for Tomorrow,” Natural Resources Journal 50(2010): 71-110. Keywords: Island Press, national parks, National Park Service, national park system, National Park Service (System) Organic Act, the national park idea, nature conservation, wildlife management, Leopold Report, tourism and national parks, gateway communities, national park concessioners, national parks and Native Americans, science and national parks, recreation and national parks, wildlife and national parks, history of national parks, national parks and wilderness, new national park designations and proposals, external threats and national parks, education and national parks, natural regulation policy, climate change and national parks, ecosystem management, ecological restoration

To Linda, for everything over the years

Contents

Preface  xi

Acknowledgments  xvii 1 What

Is a National Park?  1

2 “Nature’s

Cathedrals”: A Wilderness Sanctuary  13

3 “A Pleasuring 4 “The

Ground”: Tourism in the Wild­  41

Nation’s Playground”: Recreating in Paradise  65

5 “A Commercial 6 “Ancestral

Commodity”: Putting Nature on Sale  91

Lands”: Nature, Culture, and Justice   121

7 “Nature’s Laboratory”: Experimentation and Education  8 “Fountains 9 “A Vital

143

of Life”: An (Imperfect) Wildlife Reserve  173

Core”: Ecosystem-Scale Conservation  203

10 “Growing the System”: New Parks and New Strategies  231 11 Nature Conservation

Notes  271 Index  331

About the Author  343

in a Changing World  261

Preface

Growing up in the midst of a national park controversy was, in retrospect, an extraordinary if sometimes painful experience, even though I had only vague notions about what a national park was or how one was created. The