Good day! I just wanted to inform you that if you like reading what I have to say on the preservation of our National Parks, then I invite you to take a look at my new blog, Upon This Hour. The address is as follows: http://uponthishour.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
For What Good It Will Do
Since I have not posted for quite a while, I have many ideas in my head but not enough time to get them all on here so I am going to start with the following:
As much as this topic is severely over written about when it comes to thoughts on conservation or preservation of not only our National Parks, but also our national forests, monuments, etc, I feel the need to bring it up again. That is the issue of snow mobiles in Yellowstone National Park.
The average person, which the majority of you are, who come perusing through the blogs will probably bypass this article out of sheer boredom, but for those of you who care, I thank you.
Yellowstone, when left to its own ways is a dangerous place. Hot springs and pools that can deal out debilitating scalds, burns, or even death if someone happens to fall in or break through the thin crust that covers a good portion of the park.
Bison, who are a magnificent spectacle to behold on a first visit, and even many visits thereafter, can easily become hostile, or even the occasional bear going after trash or after the smell of food can lash out without notice if they or their young are threatened.
So why then do we need to add snowmobiles to the equation? Not only to they bring pollution into the atmosphere but they also ruin the tranquility that makes Yellowstone and many other parks a place to step away from reality.
Apart from that, their tracks are quite unsightly. The park's winters can land several feet of snow creating some of the most beautiful winter scenes present day North America has to offer. Tracks from a snowmobile simply ruin it. Imagine if a great artist such as Monet or Picasso, in one of their masterpieces, decided to add in gallows with nooses hanging at the ready. A beautiful painting of a beautiful place simply ruined by the human dark side.
In essence that is what we are doing but letting two or 300 snowmobiles plow through the park every day. Something needs to be done, and it is going to take more than a letter here, and an organization there to get it done.
Wake up America. This is your home and the National Parks are part of what separates us in a good way from the rest of the world. Why squander these places of beauty just for a momentary thrill of a snowmobile ride? The truth is my friends, snowmobiles will be here as long as they continue to produce them. The National Parks however, will only be here as long as we choose to keep them.
I ask you on behalf of the parks, and for the good for future generations to take action immediately. Individually our efforts may go unnoticed by the rich men and women in Washington, but together, we can and will be heard.
As much as this topic is severely over written about when it comes to thoughts on conservation or preservation of not only our National Parks, but also our national forests, monuments, etc, I feel the need to bring it up again. That is the issue of snow mobiles in Yellowstone National Park.
The average person, which the majority of you are, who come perusing through the blogs will probably bypass this article out of sheer boredom, but for those of you who care, I thank you.
Yellowstone, when left to its own ways is a dangerous place. Hot springs and pools that can deal out debilitating scalds, burns, or even death if someone happens to fall in or break through the thin crust that covers a good portion of the park.
Bison, who are a magnificent spectacle to behold on a first visit, and even many visits thereafter, can easily become hostile, or even the occasional bear going after trash or after the smell of food can lash out without notice if they or their young are threatened.
So why then do we need to add snowmobiles to the equation? Not only to they bring pollution into the atmosphere but they also ruin the tranquility that makes Yellowstone and many other parks a place to step away from reality.
Apart from that, their tracks are quite unsightly. The park's winters can land several feet of snow creating some of the most beautiful winter scenes present day North America has to offer. Tracks from a snowmobile simply ruin it. Imagine if a great artist such as Monet or Picasso, in one of their masterpieces, decided to add in gallows with nooses hanging at the ready. A beautiful painting of a beautiful place simply ruined by the human dark side.
In essence that is what we are doing but letting two or 300 snowmobiles plow through the park every day. Something needs to be done, and it is going to take more than a letter here, and an organization there to get it done.
Wake up America. This is your home and the National Parks are part of what separates us in a good way from the rest of the world. Why squander these places of beauty just for a momentary thrill of a snowmobile ride? The truth is my friends, snowmobiles will be here as long as they continue to produce them. The National Parks however, will only be here as long as we choose to keep them.
I ask you on behalf of the parks, and for the good for future generations to take action immediately. Individually our efforts may go unnoticed by the rich men and women in Washington, but together, we can and will be heard.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
An Interesting Quote
"The parks do not belong to one state or to one section... The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has a vested interest... " ~Stephen Mather
If modern society would simply look at our National Parks in this light, there would be no problems, and I would have to find something else to blog about. This light being that the parks belong to all of us, not just Congress, or the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, or America's rich and famous. No they belong to the country as a whole, so why should we not treat them as we would want our own property treated? After all, they are our property.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Wilderness and Wal-Mart
The following should go directly to the heart of Civil War buffs and American History lovers everywhere. Wal-Mart, over the last several months has been persistently trying to place a new store on the Wilderness Battlefield.
Now if you are reading this you are most likely in favor of park preservation. Upon reading a few articles and other blogs on the issue, all Civil War buffs seem to be in agreement that Wal-Mart needs to find an alternative location.
If you think about it, why does Wal-Mart need to build here? Yes, the unemployment rate may be high, but can Wal-Mart really help that? A 2005 documentary entitled Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices,employees complain that the wages Wal-Mart pays are not substantial. Former store managers admit they cannot pay their employees any more under company regulations, and are often forced to leave the store short-staffed for many shifts because the company simply will not let them bring any more people in. Is this really worth building on a site where men gave their lives to keep this country whole?
A series of maps have been posted on the web site of the Civil War Preservation Trust that show the close proximity the proposed Supercenter is to the battlefield. It is clear, when you look at these maps, that Wal-Mart is pushing their limits. They plan to build directly across route 3 from the land protected by the National Park Service. Now, I have been to most of the Civil War battlefields along the east coast and realize what happens when one business moves in.
The battlefield at Fredericksburg, Virginia is a great example where, over the years, the town has expanded right to the very edge of the historic fields and even consumed a good portion of it. We as Americans cannot let Wal-Mart have their way, for as the old saying goes; without a past, we have no future.
Now if you are reading this you are most likely in favor of park preservation. Upon reading a few articles and other blogs on the issue, all Civil War buffs seem to be in agreement that Wal-Mart needs to find an alternative location.
If you think about it, why does Wal-Mart need to build here? Yes, the unemployment rate may be high, but can Wal-Mart really help that? A 2005 documentary entitled Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices,employees complain that the wages Wal-Mart pays are not substantial. Former store managers admit they cannot pay their employees any more under company regulations, and are often forced to leave the store short-staffed for many shifts because the company simply will not let them bring any more people in. Is this really worth building on a site where men gave their lives to keep this country whole?
A series of maps have been posted on the web site of the Civil War Preservation Trust that show the close proximity the proposed Supercenter is to the battlefield. It is clear, when you look at these maps, that Wal-Mart is pushing their limits. They plan to build directly across route 3 from the land protected by the National Park Service. Now, I have been to most of the Civil War battlefields along the east coast and realize what happens when one business moves in.
The battlefield at Fredericksburg, Virginia is a great example where, over the years, the town has expanded right to the very edge of the historic fields and even consumed a good portion of it. We as Americans cannot let Wal-Mart have their way, for as the old saying goes; without a past, we have no future.
America's Best Idea: CPR for a dying issue
The recent debut of the new series by Ken Burns entitled The National Parks: America's Best Idea will no doubt help shed light on an issue that was slowly being pushed under the rug.
With bigger issues taking the national stage such as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy taking a roller coaster ride over the last several months, and other issues that arise from day to day, it is easy to see how people would lose site of our National Parks, and the fact they are in danger.
Yet, the series mentioned above brings to light that there has always been a struggle to keep the parks, well, natural; and to keep the historic sites and monuments from being consumed by residential and industrial expansion.
As new generations take offices of leadership and influence, it is their job to ensure we keep what people such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Stephen Mather, and many more helped make a reality. That reality is having places where we Americans can go and be reacquainted with how beautiful our country is and remember the many sacrifices it has taken to get us to this point.
With bigger issues taking the national stage such as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy taking a roller coaster ride over the last several months, and other issues that arise from day to day, it is easy to see how people would lose site of our National Parks, and the fact they are in danger.
Yet, the series mentioned above brings to light that there has always been a struggle to keep the parks, well, natural; and to keep the historic sites and monuments from being consumed by residential and industrial expansion.
As new generations take offices of leadership and influence, it is their job to ensure we keep what people such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Stephen Mather, and many more helped make a reality. That reality is having places where we Americans can go and be reacquainted with how beautiful our country is and remember the many sacrifices it has taken to get us to this point.
Why this topic?
There are many topics on which I could have chosen to blog about, and probably ones that would draw many more readers than this one ever will. I believe however, that this topic is largely ignored by the American population as a whole. If this continues, popular places such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite will slowly fade away and be consumed by multi-billion dollar business corporations such as Wal-Mart; or by huge restaurant franchises such as McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Burger King and so on. As this happens, the one thing Americans have that many other countries do not; and that is the beauty of the natural world will slowly die and resulting in the loss of not only many species of wildlife, but a source of peace, individuality, and inspiration.
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