“In Denali National Park you put down a fee to enter a lottery for the annual quota of cars allowed to drive to Wonder Lake; winners then pay another fee and take to the road, hoping to encounter grizzlys, mountain sheep, wolves. Almost any park offers an amazing array of extracurricular opportunities: video viewing of wild animals; chasing coyotes and buffalo by snowmobile; dioramas equipped with real live rangers to tell you what’s what; guided river floats; horseback riding led by a wrangler; fishing guide service; scenic turn-outs for photo ops … the original National Parks core curriculum, being on your own, is pretty much not there. The entertainment theme is appearing in other public domains too, the lands of Multiple Use and Fee-Demo. This is a huge topic, “well worth the watching,” as the turn-out signs say, in Wyoming, about Wyoming wildlife.”
To read more of Martin’s story, click the image below:
http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2013/06/02/losing-solitude-theme-parks-by-martin-murie/
Also, check out Jim Stiles’ tribute to Martin Murie in this issue’s Take it or Leave it.
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