Biggest Public Lands Stories from the Decade
As we close out the 2010s, we’re counting down to #1 with some of the biggest stories from public lands from the decade! These include anniversaries and birthdays, incredible natural phenomena, and complicated political concerns that will continue to unfold in this next decade.
14) The 2017 Solar Eclipse
The 2017 total solar eclipse was a huge event in public lands, as many locations saw new record daily visitation numbers; some arrived days ahead of time, camping to get the best spots to view this rare event. The path of the totality zone crossed through many diverse public lands, national forests, BLM land, national parks, state parks, national wildlife refuges, including Grand Teton National Park, Craters of the Moon NM, and Pisgah National Forest. .
13) Delaware Gets Its First national Park Service Site!
The second smallest state in the nation for years was also the only state without any National Park Service units—no national parks, historic sites, seashores, battlefields, recreation areas. However, that changed in 2013, when President Obama, via the Antiquities Act, created what would ultimately become First State National Historical Park, a collection of 7 unique areas that interpret and protect colonial-era sites, some that were critical in the founding of America and American democracy.
12) Land and Water Conservation Fund is Made Permanent
Passage of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act in 2019 permanently enshrined the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This fund was established in the 1960s during the growth of the modern conservation movement and gains most revenue from oil and gas leases, along with sales of unwanted federal land. The fund distributes significant funds to competitively reviewed Congressional projects that support land and water. Without the 2019 legislation ensuring the fund’s longevity, the revenue from the leases could have been sent into the general treasury, instead of being used directly for conservation.
11) Sexual Harassment Scandal in the National Park Service
Major revelations of serious sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse allegations rocked the National Park Service during this decade. There’s a lot to unpack here and this long read in the Atlantic (with reportage from High Country News) from 2016 is a critical read.
10) Record Visitation and Deferred Maintenance
The National Parks found itself with a bit of a happy yet growing concern this decade. People love the National Parks and are visiting in record numbers. From the start of the decade to the end, visitation grew by an astounding 15%, with 318 million guests in the centennial year and peaking the next at over 330 million. With surging visitation, challenges were presented that have not yet fully been met. The fiscal backlog referred to as “deferred maintenance,” in which the parks are not fully maintained and many long-standing maintenance and repair projects necessitate funding, leads to periodic trail, museum and historic site closures. As of publication, Pew Charitable Trusts pegs the NPS maintenance deficit at nearly $12 billion dollars—money that is sorely needed to keep up with the volume of visitors enjoying our public lands.
9) Southern Border Wall disrupts public lands
One of the Trump administration’s top priorities is building a southern border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Due to funding issues and legal challenges, much of this wall is currently being built on land the federal government already owns, which happens to be near wildlife refuges in Texas, California, and Arizona. Rob Jordan of Stanford University’s Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment writes, “Physical barriers prevent or discourage animals from accessing food, water, mates and other critical resources by disrupting annual or seasonal migration and dispersal routes. Work on border walls, fences and related infrastructure, such as roads, fragments habitat, erodes soil, changes fire regimes and alters hydrological processes by causing floods.” Stanford University biologists Paul Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo speak with Jordan about the potential disruption to specific ecosystems and wildlife communities here. A public uproar occurred when construction began very late in the decade within Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a UNESCO Biosphere area and National Park Service unit that covers roughly 50 miles on the U.S.-Mexico border, and near Coronado National Memorial, a small park also in the borderlands. Throughout the decade, the NPS and USFWS have engaged with trafficking and border crossings, leading to closures of some sections of Organ Pipe after the murder of a park ranger by drug traffickers.
8) Occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge
January 2016 saw one of the most radical actions to take place on public lands, the armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Oregon. The militants, led by Ammon Bundy, had previous run-ins with federal public lands agencies in Nevada, with regards to their views on the constitutionality of public lands and grazing fees. The weeks-long standoff ended with one of the militants killed during the occupation. The remainder surrendered and were sentenced to either prison time or probation. The refuge headquarters reopened over a year later and remains a great place for birding and wildlife viewing. We appreciated Leah Sottile’s deep dive reportage on this in Bundyville, a podcast produced by Longreads and Oregon Public Broadcasting.
7) The NPS surpasses 400 units
The National Park Service started the decade with just under 400 units in its stable house, and closes out the decade well over that marker, with 419 units as of publication, and several more that are in various stages of the designation and creation process, like Coltsville National Historic Park in Connecticut and Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Mississippi. At this pace, within the next two decades we might well see the NPS move to over 500 units!
6) Big Birthdays for Iconic Sites
The 2010s were also filled with big birthday celebrations for some of our most cherished iconic lands and monuments. Grand Canyon, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Lincoln Memorial, Acadia, Hawaii Volcanoes and Haleakala, Bandelier, Denali, Katmai among others celebrated 100 years of protection, recreation, and memories. Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, some of the oldest parks, also commemorated their 125th year.
5) Government Shutdowns in 2013 and 2018/2019, Increased State Park Visibility
Two federal government shutdowns (both the result of Congressional partisan infighting leading to lapsed bills to fund the government) had some very serious effects on public lands. The 2013 shutdown was the first in nearly two decades and lasted for 16 days. Photos of closed parks flooded the media and many fall plans were curtailed (we missed out on Independence National Historical Park). The shutdown, however, moved the needle for visitation on State Parks, including this witty piece on one of our favorite New York State Parks. Much like the rise of the mammals after the dinosaurs, state parks achieved new visibility, which would prove beneficial during the next major shutdown, from December of 2018 to January of 2019. Although the parks were not closed during this 35-day shutdown, services like bathrooms and ranger presence were unavailable. Leaving parks partially open was controversial, as this, in some instances, led to vandalism and the loss of revenue for the parks and their gift shop partners.
4) climate change crescendos: Hurricanes, volcanoes, Floods, and fires
Increasingly powerful hurricanes battered the East and Gulf Coasts, with Fort Pulaski National Monument, Cape Hatteras and Cumberland Island National Seashores, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Apalachicola and El Yunque National Forests, Virgin Islands National Park, seeing significant, and in some cases irreversible, destruction. In Hawaii, the volcanic eruption of Kilauea continues to re-write the map of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Record flooding overwhelmed many of the refuges along the Missouri River. Fires in the West burned through millions of acres of public lands, leading to the near deforestation of Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area and the tragic loss of Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park (read Rachel Attias’ heatbreaking essay) and most of Santa Monica Mountains NRA, including the beloved Paramount Ranch.
3) Bears Ears gains and loses new protection
Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah was designated public land under the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management before President Obama declared the land a national monument in 2016 via the Antiquities Act, establishing stronger environmental and economic protections for 1.35 million acres. A significant portion of work went into creating the process to reorganize these slightly disparate lands into a collective whole. Some local residents and politicians saw the 2016 designation as an overreach of the federal government. In 2018, President Trump also used the Antiquities Act to reverse the designation and reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument to 85% of its previous size. Litigation and strong opinions continue to this day and the story for Bears Ears doesn’t appear to be over anytime soon. Contributor Courtney Johnson has some great reportage in “A Case for Bears Ears” for Parks & Points.
2) The NPS welcomes Four New National Parks: Gateway Arch, Indiana Dunes, Pinnacles, White Sands
Four new national parks bring the new total to 62. None of the new parks are strangers to the public lands scene, each one was “upgraded” to national park status from their respective monument or lakeshore status. While we welcome these amazing parks units, there have been concerns that the elevation to the highest public lands status in the U.S. with some of these places may have more to do with local tourism dollars than true conservation and protection. Now it’s the race to National Park #63!
1) Centennials!
Many cherished institutions celebrated major birthdays! The National Park Service marked its 100th year in 2016, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (in its current incarnation) celebrated its 50th in 2010. The National Trails and National Wild & Scenic Rivers also celebrated 50 years, in 2018. The celebrations, in full swing, drove record attendance during the National Park Service Centennial in 2016. Our favorite might have been the National Trails celebration, as we were able to dive into this story here with Southwest: The Magazine
