The desires of cattle and sheep ranchers to eradicate wolves entirely. The wishes of hunters to hunt Grizzly Bears. An increasingly urbanized American human population alienated from the natural world. The natural fire cycle. Extractive industries that are constantly on the look-out for new locations to exploit for what is contained beneath their surfaces. Too many deer for the land to carry. Maintaining eco-regions at levels of sustainability. Global climate change. These are all challenges faced by America’s national parks in the twenty-first century.
When the idea for these parks was first implemented just over a century ago, some of these challenges existed – others are very new indeed. In Science, Conservation, and National Parks, an assembled group of scientists and scholars such as Edward O. Wilson, Jane Lubchenco, Thomas Dietz, and Monica Turner present ideas on how these and a number of other challenges facing the parks might be successfully approached to ensure the continuation of America’s national parks – as well as other protected natural areas around the world.
This was a very timely book when it was originally published in 2016 – and given the American (as well as international) political and social events of the past two years, it has become even much more so.
