Republicans and Democrats take sharply different positions on managing US public lands, but there’s solid consensus on some issues.
John James Audubon relied on African Americans and Native Americans to collect some specimens for his ‘Birds of America’ prints (shown: Florida cormorant), but never credited them.
National Audubon Society
US ideas about conservation center on walling off land from use. That approach often means expelling Indigenous and other poor people who may be its most effective caretakers.
To some Americans, the figures on Mount Rushmore are patriotic leaders; to others, they’re colonizers.
AP Photo/Stephen Groves
Border wall construction through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona is encroaching on a site where people from many cultures have interacted for thousands of years.
A cyclist in San Bernadino National Forest, where e-bikes were previously banned.
AP/Brian Melley
The Trump administration has moved to allow electric bikes on all federally owned trails where normal bikes are allowed. A public lands scholar weighs in on the issues this could cause.
What can your vacation pix tell scientists?
Try Media/Shutterstock.com
To untangle the relationship between climate change, fall foliage and national park visitors, researchers are asking tourists to check their old photo albums for snapshots that could hold valuable data.
Grazing from kangaroos affects vulnerable native species.
Tom Hunt
Patriotism means pride in country, but what are we proud of? A former national park ranger suggests that visiting historic sites can remind Americans of the heritage, good and bad, that they share.
The endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby is one of Victoria’s threatened species.
TARONGA ZOO/AAP
Victoria’s environment is taking a pounding, but an ambitious report offers a way forward – not just for that state, but for the whole of Australia.
The Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island. Each new luxury ecotourism development becomes a precedent to allow future incursions.
Southern Ocean Lodge/AAP
The Grand Canyon, which marks 100 years as a national park on Feb. 26, 2019, is known today as an iconic natural wonder. But early European visitors weren’t impressed.
The world’s remaining wilderness. Dark blue = terrestrial. Light blue = marine.
Modified with permission from Protect the last of the wild, Watson et al, Nature (2018)
What is the best way to conserve US national parks in a climate-altered future? One answer is connecting parks and other public lands, so plants and animals can shift their ranges.
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University