Preserving America's National Parks

             Today less than 2% of the wilderness in the United States remains (Wright, W.S.B.,473). The majority of land that remains reserved is due to the National Parks System. In the American Antiquities Act of 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt claims the creation for the National Park System is in order to preserve the specific wilderness areas as national monuments for every generation to see (Roosevelt, n. pag.). .
             However, today we are allowing our National Parks System to fall commercialism and tourism, by cause of standards created throughout the parks and using them to sustain the economy. Barry Lopez reveals in his contemplative book Open Crossing Ground, the motivation for turmoil in American environmental politics is because as a country we are not positive, on how and if, we should manage the wilderness. With multiple philosophies: preservation, conservation, and reservation- the intention for a solution remains conjointly different.
             One origin of the issues in the national park system is due to visitor's expectancy of a park. The public has created a standard of witnessing wild animals in their natural habitat. This is a guilty pleasure I have endured as well, and it's due to the commercialism of the parks. When viewing a brochure of Yellowstone virtually every picture is a wildlife sighting. As a result when at the park .
             I expect to see animals. Unfortunately, the National Parks Service has ensured that the public's standards of wildlife are fulfilled with regulating populations; killing off predators, supplementing winter-feeding, and fighting off diseases and pathogens (Review of Relationships 472). This has not only created an unbalanced ecosystem, but other problems such as damaged to vegetation, and sped up natural occurrences such as erosion. The notion of assisting the animals with conditions, which are instinctive for survival, is contradicting the purpose of the parks. We cannot impose them in a state that is not natural, because in order to preserve the wildness we need to preserve wildlife in their natural habitat.