UnEarth Magazine.

Words by Margret Chingos, Art by Lucrezia Belpietro.

The sun peaks out from under the ocean, sending cascading light over islands and mountains until finally reaching me. As I sit atop Cadillac Mountain for sunrise, I am stunned into a quiet peace by the nature around me, until HONK! a car screeches and the peace falls away. In front of me is a breathtaking wilderness, but behind is a teeming mass of cars and tourists descending upon the parking lot. This is the dichotomy that plagues our national parks, and I can’t help but think that this is the paved paradise we’ve been warned about.  

This summer I lived in Acadia National Park in Maine, home of iconic rolling mountains, plunging ocean cliffs, and a diverse community of wildlife. It was a privilege to share space with such natural beauty, but what I didn’t expect was that I would also be sharing this space with a seemingly ever-growing mob of tourists 

My observations have coincided with Acadia’s dramatic spike in popularity in the past few years. In 2017, the park reached 3.5 million visitors, a 60% increase from the average of the previous 10 years. And while newfound interest in the wild beauty of the park is great, the influx of visitors has also caused gridlock on access roads, which yields visitor conflicts, crowding, safety issues and, most concerningly, delays in emergency response.  

This trend is not unique to Acadia. Over the past decade, the national parks have received 34% more visitors than in previous decades. And much like in Acadia, the crowds flocking to the parks have placed increased pressure on the land, wildlife, and the communities that nourish these natural spaces. Due to this spike in simultaneous visitation and degradation, public debates have begun asking: should we be protecting national parks for the people? 

After living in a national park, myself, I feel passionately that we should be keeping national parks as free, open, and accessible to as many people as possible. Everyone has a right to nature and its benefits. The national parks are meant to be enjoyed; they provide benefits to both physical and psychological health and are great educational resources. However, as we hold national parks to be the pinnacle of conservation, the damage done by flocks of tourists cannot be ignored.  

So, the question remains: how do we provide an inclusive environment in the national parks whilst still ensuring the protection of natural resources? For me, the answer lies not in how many people visit the parks, but rather in how they visit them.  

The issue of crowding in parks is not universal. Instead, it is highly concentrated, as 50% of park visits take place in only 6% of the park land. This results in extreme congestion in a few ‘it’ locations.  

This can partially be explained by the influence of social media that has changed our relationship with nature, driving us to capture nature rather than enjoy it. People crowd to famous places in parks, such as a Cadillac Mountain sunrise, to snap the perfect vacation photo. Cropping and editing can make the scene look serene, but it can’t change the crowded reality that it really reflects.  

Additionally, uneven crowding is further enabled by the establishment of parking lots in these ‘it’ locations. The Department of the Interior reports that crowding is at its worst at scenic viewpoints that are within a quarter mile of a parking lot.  

Together, these factors cause highly unsustainable congestion in select locations. Luckily, this is an issue that can be solved by changes in behavior. So, for the health of national parks, and for your own enjoyment, I urge you to take the road less traveled. Explore the other 94% of the parks. Reconsider how you enjoy nature and trade the famous vistas for the quieter beauties that nature has to offer. We, as visitors of the parks, have the power to make this change, so please, get off the beaten path.