Parks and Recreation Month
Posted on July 03 2018
Summer is when families plan their vacations most; and where do they visit during their stay? National parks.
In 2017, the National Park Service received over 330 million visitors adding to a grand total of 1.5 billion visits in the last 5 years. National parks are great for trailblazing; mountain biking; and wildlife watching; and explorers make it their mission to visit some of the 59 U.S. national parks and over 10,000 state parks during a single vacation. While many visitors visit parks to snap pictures, and scout for wildlife, others go to take home rock formation keepsakes and end up vandalizing the landscape. (Trident Enterprises International)
To protect parks from landscape damage, tourists need to be mindful of the trash they toss on the ground and the campfires they start. This can lead to deforestation; but they aren't all to blame for land damage. In fact, most national park damage is caused by white-tailed deer rubbing their antlers on tree bark and ruining ecosystems while searching for food.
Park protection teams should consider putting deer fencing on the outside of trail systems, and major attractions, to keep wildlife away from further ruining the landscape.
This July, it's time for a call to action to protect national parks from wildlife damage. Spread the word using hashtag #DiscoverJuly courtesy of the NPRA, on Facebook.
