National Parks Forever: Fifty Years of Fighting and a Case for Independence

Two leaders of the National Park Service provide a front—row seat to the disastrous impact of partisan politics over the past fifty years—and offer a bold vision for the parks’ future.

The US National Parks, what environmentalist and historian Wallace Stegner called America’s “best idea,” are under siege. Since 1972, partisan political appointees in the Department of the Interior have offered two conflicting views of the National Park Service (NPS): one vision emphasizes preservation and s...