The preservation of National Parks for future enjoyment is
crucial for recreation, local ecology, and historical significance. Balancing
the current use of public goods such as National Parks with their preservation
is no easy task and requires cooperation at many levels: government agencies,
surrounding communities, park employees, and park users. I have been looking at
the City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park to see how these
important public places are managed for current and future use, and have
analyzed them in the context of the Public Goods model and the Tragedy of the
Commons. Known for their trails, scenery, and climbing routes, these parks are
seasonally swarmed by runners, hikers, climbers, hikers, and more, and while
the potential for park deterioration may be high, the reality doesn’t look bad.
Before understanding the issue of preservation and use we must first establish
some basic information about the sites.
The
City of Rocks National Reserve is located next to Almo, Idaho approximately two
miles from the Utah border. The City of Rocks and Castle Rocks are neighboring
recreational parks maintained by the National Parks Service as well as the Idaho
Parks & Recreation. The key players in this area are the National Parks
Service, visitors, and surrounding communities. This state park offers many
recreational activities. It is a very popular rock-climbing destination,
hosting the Idaho Mountain Fest (a four day outdoor event). It used to have
many of the hardest climbs in the Unites States. There are many routes for
traditional climbing and sport (bolt-protected) climbing as well as bouldering.
Aside from rock-climbing the park is perfect for hiking, trail running, and
mountain biking. Though rock-climbing is the main activity during the Idaho
Mountain Fest, they offer many workshops in trail running, mountain biking, and
yoga. The most notable natural features in the City of Rocks are the large rock
formations scattered throughout the park. Some of these granite formations
contain some of the oldest rocks in the Western US. The large rock spires
attract rock-climbers while the well-kept trails cutting through rock
formations and miles of sagebrush attract hikers, trail runners, and mountain
bikers. I can also say from personal experience that the large numbers of
lizards sunning on rocks have created their own sport of lizard catching,
exemplified by people diving into sagebrush or jumping at rocks. The park was
also once a hunting ground for Shoshone and Bannock tribes, as well as part of
the California Trail.
These
parks are public goods, and using public goods as a framework for understanding
human-environmental interactions is all about one word, distribution. A public
good has low subtractability and difficult excludability, making it in danger
of the tragedy of the commons. In the book, Questioning Collapse, the tragedy of the commons is described as being
where “people do not solve an environmental problem because of selfishness,
clashes of interest, or the belief that if each doesn’t take a full share,
another will. The result is a general depletion of resources” (McAnany, p.340).
The risk to public parks is their overuse and deterioration for future
visitors, making both the park visitors and park employees responsible for its
preservation. While gathering qualitative and quantitative data about my site,
my worries regarding the tragedy of the commons were lessened, and in a rare
case, my views of humanity improved.
While
I was gathering qualitative data on-site in the City of Rocks, I interviewed
twenty visitors. All persons interviewed considered themselves
environmentalists and agreed that the most important challenge the parks faced
was balancing the preservation/protection of the area with maintaining
visitation/park use. Currently, access to the parks is free, the only cost is
for camping. Of the visitors interviewed, nearly all (except 3 out of 20) said
that a $5-10 admission fee to the park would not deter them from visiting the
park. All expressed gratitude that the only cost at the park was camping. The
openness of visitors to the idea of an admission fee shows their value of the
park and a possible way of gaining revenue for parks maintenance if the quality
or funding of the park were ever to diminish. While at the parks I saw no
litter and every visitor observed packed out their trash. The habits and values
of park visitors are very good indicators of the quality of a park as well as the
quality of its future. This environmentally conscious type of visitor is
important because it promises a healthy visitor-park relationship as well as a
long future of respectful use.
The
qualitative data I gathered was equally optimistic about the future of this
public good. In 2010 the City of Rocks Reserve brought in $6.5 million in
revenue for the surrounding area, “supporting 85 local jobs with a labor income
of $2 million” according to a National Parks Service study. An average visitor
group spent $53.76 on the day of their visit to the Reserve, with an average
per capita expenditure of about $20. This revenue generates local interest in
the parks so that they will want to preserve the parks as they become larger
economic assets to the surrounding communities. The revenue from park visitors
to surrounding communities is important because it makes more money available
for the preservation of those parks by their neighboring communities. The
federal government shutdown in October also provided a unique opportunity for
preservation as access to National Parks was against the law. 9,680 acres of
the reserve are federal lands, which were off-limits during the shutdown.
Public
goods can be regulated three ways: by the government, community, and social interactions
(formal or informal), the best way to regulate is usually a combination. Local
and federal government, nearby communities, and many formal and informal social
interactions, regulate the City of Rocks and Castle Rocks, making it a
beautiful combination of regulators. Many people who enjoy outdoor activities
have a philosophy of “leave no trace,” which means no littering and no
destruction of the public goods. LNT is a fantastic informal social regulation
parks users impose on one another and works well to self-regulate/preserve
park-use. This combination of regulators and social expectations works well to
prevent the tragedy of the commons, and offers an optimistic future for this
public good.
Protecting
our public parks is critical today as global population continues rising to
unsustainable levels and pollution threatens to irreparably damage the world we
live in and depend on. Public parks offer sanctuary from these threats, not
just for the environment, but for our mental well being as well. Parks offer us
space, quiet, calm, escape, adventure, and many more invaluable breaks from the
daily grind. They give us a chance to live simply and remind users of their
role and responsibility to the environment. Ensuring that we continue to have
spaces like the City of Rocks available and accessible in the future is
necessary to prevent further environmental destruction, and to maintain a space
that can serve as a reminder of the importance of our daily choices regarding
the environment. From observing visitors at these two parks, and being one
myself, I can say that the future for this park looks optimistic. So long as
visitors maintain a sense of responsibility for the parks quality, and
surrounding communities benefit from them, these parks face a healthy future
and we can continue to benefit from them. The tragedy of the commons is not
inevitable; preservation just has to be in the interests of all parties
involved.
Sources:
- Castle rocks state park master plan. (2006). Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved from http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/doc uments/Development/Castle Master Plan/02CRSP-Chp2.pdf
- Demps, K. (2013, September 26). [Boise State University]. Public goods: Environmental Anthropology. Lecture.
- McAnany, P., & Yoffee, N. (2010). Questioning collapse. (p. 341). New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Tornga, J. (2013). Site Memo, Quantitative Synopsis, Qualitative Synopsis. Environmental Anthropology, Boise State University.
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