.gif){kind=small}
Public Use of the
National Park System
MENU
Chapter 4
|
Public Use of the National Park System (1872-2000)
Chapter 4 |
|
CHAPTER 4
Bird's-eye View of the National Park System and
Public Use in 1967
(continued)
At this point, it seems desirable to take a bird's-eye view of the National Park System and some broad aspects of its public use in 1967.
a. Diversity of the National Park System and Consistency of Public Use. In any overall view, one is immediately struck by the diversity of the National Park System and the general consistency of its public use. The System is divided into three roughly equal segments--the natural, historical, and recreational areas. These three segments themselves represent considerable diversity, but there is also a further variety of areas within each category. Public uses cover a wide range, but one public use seems to predominate fairly consistently throughout all segments of the System. It is sightseeing.
The natural areas, oldest segment of the System, contain a tremendous range of superlative natural environments including mountains, rivers, canyons, lakes, caverns, deserts, glaciers, forests, volcanoes, and abundant fauna and flora. In 1966 these natural areas received 46,200,000 visits. Some of the national parks, for example, Yellowstone and Yosemite, contain a rich variety of natural features within a single reservation. In such areas, visitors engage in a wide range of outdoor activities, including sightseeing for scenic and nature appreciation, walking, camping, fishing, boating, hiking with pack, and mountain climbing. In many other national parks, such as Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Bryce Canyon and Crater Lake, although they also contain a richly varied natural environment, public use is principally drawn by their single superlative natural feature--the canyon, the cave, the formations, or the crater. Sightseeing for scenic and nature appreciation, walking and camping therefore tend to dominate public use in such areas more than in other parks. Most, though not all, of the nature monuments, such as Devils Tower, Muir Woods, and Rainbow Bridge, also emphasize a single dramatic natural feature, and in these areas, too, scenic appreciation, walking and camping are the principal public use. This is not to say there are not many other--and perhaps "higher"--uses. But it is necessary to recognize that because sightseeing use predominates, it presents extremely important management obligations and problems.
The historical areas, the second oldest segment of the System, and numerically the largest, include two out of every three units. These include a rich variety of cliff dwellings, mounds and caves; colonial houses and town-sites; historic churches, custom houses and capitol buildings; frontier trails, roads and forts; the birthplaces and homes of Presidents; and the great national memorials. These areas received 50,400,000 visits in 1966. Sightseeing for historical appreciation and walking was the predominant public use. There was some camping in archeological areas in the southwest, but it was incidental. Special events of all kinds from national holidays to special anniversaries were important activities in most historical areas. Taken as a whole, these areas present to the sightseeing public a vast panorama of the American historical heritage from prehistoric times to the site of the first airplane flight.
The recreational areas, the newest segment of the System, also include diverse units, ranging from major reservoir areas, like Lake Mead; national seashores and lakeshores, like Cape Cod and Indiana Dunes; to parkways such as the Blue Ridge and Natchez Trace. Because of their recreational character, public use, which totaled 36,400,000 visits in 1966, was more diverse in these areas than in other segments of the System. Of the 24 types of outdoor recreation activity identified and measured by the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, all were pursued in some degree in the recreational areas. Even here, however, it seems probable that sightseeing, walking and camping were numerically the most important activities in 1966, though this may change in some units as they are developed. Interesting special public uses in this group are parkway use, which involves both sightseeing and driving for pleasure, and the water-based recreation provided by seashores, lakeshores and reservoirs.
b. Geographical Distribution. In 1929 every unit of the National Park System except one was west of the Mississippi River. In 1967 there were 84 units east of the Mississippi. Furthermore, units of the System were to be found in every geographical region of the nation, in urban as well as rural areas, and in the Territories and Island Possessions as well as in the continental United States. Major units were located in historic New England, in the mid-Atlantic region, in the deep south, along the Appalachian Mountain chain, bordering the Great Lakes, along the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, in the southwest, in Alaska, and in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hawaii. Whether these units were natural, historic or recreational, each reflected the unique cultural and environmental characteristics of its region. The American West, although still highly important, is now only one among a growing number of major American regional environments and traditions whose strands are woven together into the broad fabric of the National Park System.
c. Breadth of Public Use. The National Park System was established by the Congress for the benefit and enjoyment of the people as a whole and not for any one geographic, economic, social, ethnic, religious, racial, or other group within the population. In 1956 this point of view was expressed again in two of the guidelines of MISSION 66: "Substantial and appropriate use of the National Park System is the best means by which its basic purpose is realized and is the best guarantee of perpetuating the System . . . All persons desiring to enter a park area may do so . . ." [11]
The 133,000,000 visitors who came to the National Park System in 1966 are believed, in fact, to have included all segments of the American people, as well as many visitors from abroad. Visitation is almost as widespread as car ownership. It is a little-noticed but remarkable fact that in 1966 the National Park System areas east of the Mississippi River received over 81 million visits, This figure represents more than 61 percent of the total of 133 million visits to the entire System that year. Areas west of the Mississippi River received less than 39 percent of the visits in 1966. These figures are somewhat deceptive, however, since a short sightseeing visit to the Lincoln Memorial is not commensurate with a trip to Yosemite National Park. It helps to preserve a balanced understanding to know that 70.7 percent of overnight stays were in areas west of the Mississippi River. Furthermore, we are often reminded that intangible values cannot be measured by statistics, and we would all agree that the large western parks provide the "image" for the entire National Park System. Nevertheless, the figures are significant.
Times do persist in changing, moreover, in spite of our desires. It is another little-noticed but remarkable fact that in 1966 urban units of the National Park System received over 34 million visits or 25.5 percent of the total visits to the System. By urban unit, this study means areas within cities with over 100,000 population, or within their immediate area of influence. Units of the System are to be found in or near at least 15 such cities, including Boston, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Jacksonville, San Juan, New Orleans, St. Louis, Portland and San Diego. Further more, over six million visits were made to units in 15 other smaller but sizable cities or towns, including Charleston, South Carolina; St. Augustine, Florida; Fort Smith and Hot Springs, Arkansas; Macon, Georgia; Chillicothe, Ohio; and Walla Walla, Washington. It has been noted that some people like occasionally to vacation in the city. There may be a hard core of "city-lovers," just as there is a core of "wilderness-lovers" among the American people.
Because of heavy eastern as well as urban travel, it is probably safe to conclude that at least some visitors to the System come from every geographic region, every ethnic, religious, and racial group, and every social and economic class, except the most deprived. In the National Park System, these diverse social groups have a common meeting ground and a common heritage.
The "travel pool" from which visitors to the National Park System are drawn, has steadily widened over the years for many reasons, of which three are particularly important. As leisure, mobility, affluence, and education have spread through the population, there has been a corresponding widening of the socio-economic spectrum from which visitors come. With the increasing diversity of the areas included in the National Park System, and with their wider geographic distribution throughout the nation, potential visitors find more areas to choose among, including some nearer home. Last of all, the National Park System as a showcase for the United States, has also experienced growing impact from international travel which has multiplied five times since 1950. Visitors to the System from abroad come from almost every country in the world. It is believed these trends would have pleased Steve Mather, although their extent might have disturbed him. Mather wrote in 1921: "The parks are beginning to measure up to the great national use for which they were created. The people have learned to love these areas as their very own; national assets in which every individual of every State in the Union has an inalienable right of possession." [12]
d. Changing Character of Public Use. Although the above generalizations are believed sound, we need a much more accurate picture of present public use of the National Park System as a whole and of each individual park. Even superficial observation reveals considerable differences among the characteristics of travelers to the Adams House in Quincy, Massachusetts, the Statue of Liberty, George Washington's Birthplace, Yosemite, Arches, Fire Island, Mount McKinley, and Haleakala. Although visitation is large and diverse, and in total represents a broad cross-section of the American people, the composition of park users is evolving and changing with changes in our society. It changes, for example, with alterations in the age grouping of the population. In 1967 more older people and more young people were visiting the System than 20 years ago when their proportionate share of the total population was smaller. Similarly, changes in patterns of work and leisure, amount of education, income and many other factors, are bound to affect the composition of park travel. It would be very desirable to develop a careful statistical base for present travel to the National Park System and then revise it periodically, perhaps every five years.
e. Extent of Overnight Use. Almost every discussion of the impact of mounting travel on the national parks, at some point, reaches a discussion of overnight use. Without at this point considering pros and cons, in our bird's-eye view, it may be useful to note some broad aspects of overnight use of the System as a whole.
(1) Natural Areas. As noted above, travel to the natural areas totaled 46,200,000 visits in 1966. Overnight accommodations, either lodges, cabins, or campgrounds, were available in 56 of these parks. In these accommodations, there were 11,562,000 overnight stays. Since a person may stay several nights on one visit, this figure represents a smaller number of visits. Even if every overnight stay represented one visit, it is clear that overnight stays make up no more than one-fourth of the visits to the natural areas of the System. Three-fourths of our visitors are day-users.
The proportion of overnight stays to total visits varies widely among the natural areas. Visits to the Great Smokies totaled 6,466,100 in 1966, while overnight stays numbered 678,200. Completely eliminating overnight stays in the Smokies would at the most reduce visits ten percent and might in fact increase visits if the individuals involved camped outside and returned to the park each day on a separate visit. In Yosemite, on the other hand, visits totaled 1,817,000 in 1966, but overnight stays numbered 2,230,400, indicating many visitors stayed more than one night. These figures, however, present a completely misleading picture of travel to Yosemite. We know from other statistics the astonishing fact that in 1966 over 54 percent of Yosemite visitors were day-users; over 26 percent more stayed three nights or less; and only 18 percent stayed longer than three nights.
(2) Historical Areas. In 1966, as we have noted, there were 50,400,000 visits to historical areas. Fifteen historical areas (principally archeological units in the Southwest) offer overnight accommodations which were used for 349,500 overnight stays in 1966. Overnight use in historical areas is an insignificant part of total use.
(3) Recreational Areas. In 1966 there were 36,400,000 visits to the recreational areas. Twelve recreational areas offered overnight accommodations, which were used for 2,382,100 overnight stays. In other words, day-use is the clearly predominant use in recreational areas.
Taking the System as a whole, there were 133,081,000 visits in 1966, and 14,540,000 overnight stays. Day-use is the predominant use of the System.
Top
Last Modified: Thurs, Mar 14 2002 7:08 am PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/lee3/lee4a.htm
.gif){kind=small}