Thursday, August 4, 2011

America's National Parks-For ALL Americans

Since I've started blogging about national parks, it recently occurred to me that I need to expand my repertoire of what I blog about, so I can blog on at least a weekly basis. I can only visit so many national parks and other natural places so quickly, with obligations of work and school always looming. Trust me, if I could get a full time job traveling to each park, hiking each trail, and describing it to you, I would do it in a heartbeat. But right now, I have to work on getting this PhD!!  So, I thought it would be good to mix in blogs on news articles, scientific articles, and programs that relate to the national parks. Luckily, my dear friend and co-worker Dr. Reade Roberts shared a link to a news article today in that vein of thought, so here we go.

The link to the story I will be commenting on can be found here (click here). This article talks about the serious lack of racial ethnicity in the national parks. A study by the University of Wyoming has found that African American and Hispanics are underrepresented in visits to the national park system. It found that 78% of park visitors were non-Hispanic white, while Hispanics were 9% of visitors, and African-Americans were 7% of visitors. This is an interesting contrast considering the population of these two ethnic groups continue to rise each year in the United States.

So the questions arises, why aren't African-Americans and Hispanics visiting the national parks? One thought is that parks are considered "white". The Peterman's, and African-American couple cited in the article, didn't realize the beauty of the national park system or really realize there was a National Park system until embarking on a cross-country road trip. They wrote a book about their experiences called "Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care". This unfamiliarity that the Peterman's experienced is thought to be a factor in causing hesitation to visit the parks, on top of some other things the article cites.

So, what is being done about it? One thing is letting people of different ethnicities know they too have history with the national parks. One such example is that Buffalo Soldiers, members of the African-American regiments of the U.S. army, served as some of the first park rangers. Other efforts are focused on getting inner-city school children into the parks through such organizations as the Yosemite Institute.

This article brought up an interesting problem that I never really thought about until now. Now that I am reflecting on it, I can't recall seeing many people of different ethnicities in the parks. I mostly saw elderly, white people in RVs, and visiting Asian families. This is unfortunate because national parks are meant to be enjoyed by all. And I do wonder where the disconnect comes from. Back from my student teaching days, I observed an environmental science class in a school where most of the student's were African-American. When I mentioned a cow pasture to them, they didn't know what I was talking about. They knew little of life beyond the streets of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For students entrenched in a city, do they know what the outside world has to offer in terms of natural places? I am excited to read that there are organizations involved in getting inner city kids outdoors. Those are the types of organizations that I love to support and hopefully can get involved with one day. If you would like to get involved, you can visit the Yosemite Institutes website and donate to this amazing cause.

While people take it upon themselves to judge others based on the color of their skin, how old they are, what religion they practice, or what sexual orientation they are, the mountains, the streams, the lakes, the wildflowers, all found in our national parks and other natural places in our country, don't judge. They are simply a warm invitation to everyone to enjoy the beauty of the great outdoors.

If you are someone of a different ethnicity, I would love to hear your thoughts on this article.

Until next time folks.

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