The decrease in national parks: what’s what

The decrease in national parks: what’s what

On Monday, Donald trump plans to visit salt lake city, where he’ll tell you in detail about reducing the area to a National Park Bears Ears, created by President Obama, and a National Park Grand Staircase-Escalante, established by President Clinton.

According to state documents, reserve Bears Ears will lose 85% of the 1.35 million acres of its area, and the reserve Grand Staircase Escalante (1.7 million acres) will be less than half.

The decrease in national parks: what’s what

The decrease in reserves is the culmination of a large-scale check of the Ministry of internal Affairs, which, in turn, became part of the global campaign trump aimed at the abolition of the state land policy. The recent decrees of the presidential administration opened new opportunities for oil and gas, while negatively affecting the protection of the environment and historical monuments located in protected lands.

It is obvious that such a step could not remain without attention of the public, and, quite naturally, he was met with fierce opposition from environmental groups, supporters of the tourism and Democrats that promise to challenge this decision in court.

The decrease in national parks: what’s what
flickr/cc/Bureau of Land ManagementУгрозы reserve Bears Ears

However, one should not expect global changes in the reserves, which will affect the reduction will happen immediately.

The main one will once again open the land for mineral extraction, however, in the near future rigs will hardly appear in the borders of the former protected territories. On the Northern and South-Eastern borders of the reserve Bears Ears really are rich oil and gas fields, but the area is not the best place to start industrial extraction of resources, as the surface of this territory is extremely uneven and, in addition, and rather more distant from civilization.

The biggest threat to the reserve Bears Ears in the near future is the flow of touriststhat invariably infest the land, which can lead to the loss of important archaeological sites such as ancient dwellings of Pueblo Indians created in the rocks and ancient roads, petroglyphs, remains of animals and people that once lived here. Tourists carry with them they found the shards of memory, hikers dismantled a century bathhouse potulny of Navajo Indians to kindle fires, and the most imprudent of visitors is written out of the rock graffiti, not to mention the fact that all-terrain vehicles often worn where the Indians in ancient times buried their ancestors.

The fact that the increase in the number of tourists is a significant problem, I agree, even supporters of the reduction of the reserve. To minimise the negative consequences of a non-profit organization Cedar Mesa has launched a campaign to raise funds to create a center that will work with visitors to encourage tourists to protect architectural monuments and historical places.

The decrease in national parks: what’s what
flickr/cc/Bureau of Land ManagementСитуация in Grand Staircase Escalante

The picture is slightly different in the Grand Staircase Escalante reserve, which was under the protection of the state for over 20 years and where tourism is one of the key items of income of the residents of all surrounding counties, bringing $ 78 million annually.

In addition, some local residents claim that the reserve has harmed the overall economy of the area. Since its inception in 1996, the government bought the property on the plateau of Kaiparowits, which the local authorities were planning to rent for the opening of the mine, which never opened. Wood processing plant nearby closed in 2009 during the financial crisis. Critics argue that environmental control, attached to the assignment of these territories the status of the reserve, impedes the normal development of business, and therefore young families are leaving the region in search of more promising places of residence.

On the other hand, the proponents of the reserve are confident that the reduction in jobs and a decrease in the number of children in schools reflects trends that are common to all small towns. It’s not the fact that the region is no work, just priorities have shifted, moving from mining to tourism.

Coal in the bowels of the plateau of Kaiparowits is deep, so it is extremely difficult and expensive to produce. In addition, the collapse of the coal market further complicates the local economy.

Overall, the reduction in area is not responsible for the surrounding regions of anything, except uncertainty, as many locals live at the expense of tourists coming to the Grand Staircase Escalante.

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