http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/29/3774119/national-parks-diversity-push/A new coalition of civil rights, environmental justice, and conservation groups called on President Obama Thursday to further prioritize a vision of inclusion and increase the racial and ethnic diversity of visitors to America’s national parks and public lands in the next century of conservation.
“The president should use the [National Park Service] Centennial to call for a more inclusive approach to conservation of our public lands that reflects the faces of our country; respects different cultures and takes responsibility for actively engaging all people,” said Mark Masaoka, Policy Director of the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council, in a statement. The coalition’s calls and recommendations were announced Thursday at a joint press conference with House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA).
As America’s National Park System enters its second century, its viability and relevance will depend not only on the National Park Service’s (NPS) ability to combat challenges such as a changing climate, increased developmental pressures, attacks from the far right, and decreased federal funding, but also on how well Americans connect to their national parks. With U.S. demographics rapidly changing — the Census Bureau predicts that by 2043 the U.S. will have no racial or ethnic majority — the NPS hasn’t kept up in reflecting America’s diverse population or engaging new generations to visit and explore the historic, cultural, and environmental resources available through the national parks.
“The face of America is rapidly changing; yet our public lands do not reflect this demographic and ethnic diversity. We have a moral responsibility to fix this disconnect now,” said Carolyn Finney, author of Black Faces, White Spaces, and a coalition participant. “We must head into the next 100 years with a strong commitment to a more inclusive approach to public lands that puts a priority on engaging all Americans and protecting cultural and natural landscapes that tell our country’s complex history.”
In the most recent comprehensive study on visitation by the Park Service, only 22 percent of visitors identified as non-white. A 2015 study by the Outdoor Foundation also found that 73 percent of Americans who participated in outdoor activities are white. And an analysis by the Center for American Progress in 2014 found that less than a quarter of all national parks and monuments had a primary focus on communities of color, women, or other traditionally underrepresented groups.
Just more of the Left pouring gasoline onto sparks, and fanning the flames of dissent. Part of the plan to destroy what America is/was, and rebuild from the ashes that utopian society they have been trying to push off on the World.
They are getting way too close to achieving their goals.
