Indirect Benefits of National Parks - Part 1

To understand the full benefits of National Parks, we also need to determine why people go there in the first place and what our visits mean in terms of environmental sustainability.

The Parks Studies Unit at the University of Idaho revealed that the most common activities at these parks were sightseeing and trail walking. So, what benefits do looking and being surrounded by nature bring?

Well, J. Baird Callicott, in The Land Aesthetic, argues that the aesthetic appeal of the environment fosters ethical values toward the environment and helps develop sound conservation policies.

“What kinds of country we consider to be exceptionally beautiful makes a huge difference when we come to decide which places to save, which to restore or enhance, and which to allocate to other uses. Therefore, a sound natural aesthetics is crucial to sound conservation policy and land management.”

“One of the main reasons that we have set aside certain natural areas as natural, state, and country parks is because they are considered beautiful. In the conservation and resource management arena, historically, natural aesthetic has, indeed, been much more important than environmental ethics. Many more of our conservation and management decisions have been motivated by aesthetic rather than ethical values, by beauty instead of duty.”

Now, from my own perspective, I must agree with Callicott. Those 2 trips were the best summer vacations I’ve had in my life. The natural wonders of the world are not visible in everyday Austin, TX nor in Providence, RI. They are urban cities filled with concrete buildings and cemented roads. It’s nice to escape and see a different view of the world; one that is much more aesthetically pleasing. It reaffirmed my love for nature and I would strongly support any well-written conservation policy proposed by our government. Take a look at some of these pictures taken from my 2 trips. How could anyone look at these photos and say they aren’t beautiful and not worth saving? And any pessimists who argue that these pictures are only pretty because they were taken with a really good camera, that's most definitely FALSE. The pictures from my Family Roadtrip were taken with a standard Samsung digital camera that can be purchased for ~$150. And while the pictures from the BL Roadtrip were taken with an SLR camera, all of these photos are nothing compared to what I actually saw.

Pictures from my Family Roadtrip

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Zion National Park

Grand Canyon National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Pictures from BL Roadtrip

Redwoods National Park

Redwoods National Park - NOT Jurassic Park (although it looks like it)

Oregon Sand Dunes National Recreation Center

But, I'm not the only one who feels this way. W.T. Borrie and J.R. Roggenbuck came to the same conclusion after an extensive park visitor survey. They found that visitors' cared more for the wilderness after their visit than when they first entered the park, suggesting that a prolonged interaction with nature raises individual attachment to the environment. And this place attachment has been found to stir pro-environmental behaviors, as Elizabeth Halpenny of the University of Alberta concluded in 2010. Thus, by spending time in National Parks, by exploring the wilderness, we will become more attached to nature and want to preserve it more. Additionally, Halpenny discovered that these place attachment feelings can impact individual's self identity, in which they begin to identify themselves as environmentalists.

Why does it matter that we define ourselves as environmentalists? David Brooks, opinions writer for the New York Times, states that empathy orients people toward moral action but doesn't help much when the moral action comes at a personal cost, unless the empathy we feel develops a sense of identity within us that cultivates a sense of duty. Thus, he argues that while we can be emotionally attached to National Parks and conservation efforts, unless we establish natural environments as something that defines who we are, we are going to prioritize other issues if they conflict with conservation efforts. So, we cannot just have place attachment because while it can foster pro-environmental behavior, the current situation is a consistent battle between economic development and environmental conservation. If environmentalism is not something that defines us, then our policies are always going to favor economic development over environmentalism when we are forced to decide between the two. As National Park visits have the ability to impact how we identify ourselves, then, we're less likely to prioritize other issues and more likely to make progress in conservation efforts by enacting conservation policies.

Not only does environmental aesthetics promote place attachment, but so do positive park experiences.  Bjørn P. Kaltenborn & Tore Bjerke of the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research found that individuals who had positive associations with a landscape were more likely to feel attached to it. 


Does these parks provide a positive experience to visitors? You bet they do. 

Look at Mama Lee. Even after a long strenuous hike up a hill, the surrounding beauty of the landscape and the endorphins rushing through your veins are a perfect set of ingredients for utter happiness. 

She works under florescent lighting in a lab with no windows 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and the exercise she does each day just consists of walking a quarter of a mile from her parking garage to her lab. But she’s happy and smiling because Colorado is beautiful and endorphins are probably being released at nanosecond speeds from her neurons in this picture.  

As Elle Woods from Legally Blonde would say,

“exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don’t shoot their husbands. They just don’t…”

And while my overall jubilee was not captured on camera, it's quite fair to say that emotions were on par with my mother's. I had such a great time and longed to return to the scenic environment so badly, that I asked to revisit the Rockies one more time before going to the Denver airport. Our second time around, I really wanted to be a part of the environment, not just surrounded by it and so we were more adventurous and hiked up several summits rather than merely looping around the base and staring at the mountains. Furthermore, my experience walking through the Redwoods was even more spectacular. I've never been a good meditator; I'm always thinking about something. However, during my time surrounded by Redwoods, the allure of the precious trees silenced all thoughts. There just were no words accurate enough to describe what I was seeing/experiencing. I was mentally flabbergasted by what my senses were capturing. There was definitely also a shock factor involved as the pictures I'd seen online and in books did not do the trees any justice.

Even though I cannot qualitatively say that other visitors had similar experiences, the NPS concluded after an extensive visitor survey that visitors tended to have a very positive experience at National Parks. Satisfaction of the National Parks (facilities, services, and recreational activities) was 97% in 2009. So, it's not just me and my nature loving personality that prompted these feelings for me; others felt it too!