This book examines the evolution of the American national park idea, with the goal of defining a new vision for national parks in today’s world - a world in which adaptation to climate change presents a major challenge to park management.
Keiter’s thesis is that the national parks have changed as society has changed, that new ideas have emerged and been tested, and that changes in park policy must ultimately remain faithful to the Organic Act’s “conserve unimpaired” mandate.
Individual chapters address the idea or role of national parks as: wilderness areas; recreational playgrounds; tourist destinations; local economic engines; laboratories or classrooms; native or tribal homelands; wildlife reserves; and ecosystem
cores in a larger landscape.