AGENDA: External Development Affecting the National Parks: Preserving "The Best Idea We Ever Had"

• Main Author: University of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Colorado Law Scholarly Commons 1986
• Subjects: external development; national parks; Wallace Stegner; "the best idea we ever had"; increases in usage; popularity; preserve areas of scenic and cultural value; managing the parks; national parks management; public values; public purposes; law and policy; conflicts; activities outside park boundaries; impair values; external threats to national parks; legal issues; protecting park resources; institutional problems; jurisdictional problems; improving park protection; future of the national parks; alliance between commerce and conservation; threat of public ignorance; national park system; 315 units; places and symbols; nation's pride; governmental ignorance; 19th century; fragmentation among conservation and preservation groups; communities; cooperation; art; literature; appreciation; national park idea; misconceptions; ecological realities; historians; American culture; protection of the parks in perpetuity; mounting threats; internal; external; national park history; perspectives on external threats; case study; Everglades National Park; restoring biological diversity; Florida; Save Our Everglades Program; restore the natural flow of water; acquisition of private land around park boundaries; alteration of highways; levees; and canals; Greater Yellowstone National Park; Greater Yellowstone Coalition; boundaries; natural ecosystem; coordination; federal agencies; state and local governments; concerned private parties; air pollution; local sources; transboundary sources; pervasive problem; long distances; Clean Air Act; CAA; legal issues for park protection; water rights; adequate stream flows; National Park Service; NPS; mandates; acquisition of water rights; state and federal law; historic water rights policy; federal reserved rights; wildlife; public and private activities outside the parks; limited options; park partisans; reforms; role of science and research; resource management; protecting national park resources; jurisdictional and institutional issues; public land management agencies; management objectives; inter-agency conflict resolution mechanisms; effectiveness; study; Glacier National Park; private lands; adjacent to national parks; development; federal; state; local laws and decision-making processes; cooperation with nonprofit organizations; National Park Service staff; protect National Park System resources; international issues; customary international law; transboundary threats; U.S. parks; treaties; Canada; Mexico; negotiating framework; international treaty law; parks designated as international parks under the World Heritage or International Biosphere Programs; Congress; legislation; park protection; prospects; consideration of alternatives to park-threatening activities; unique values of a national park; feasible alternatives; case studies; proposals for park protection; summary; effectiveness for ensuring park protection; feasibility of implementation; Administrative Law; American Art and Architecture; Animal Law; Biodiversity; Dispute Resolution and Arbitration; Environmental Health and Protection; Environmental Law; Environmental Policy; Hydrology; International Law; Jurisdiction; Land Use Law; Legal History; Literature in English; North America; Natural Resources and Conservation; Natural Resources Law; Natural Resources Management and Policy; Property Law and Real Estate; Public Policy; Recreation; Parks and Tourism Administration; Science and Technology Policy; State and Local Government Law; Transnational Law; Water Law; Water Resource Management; glacier*
• Online Access: https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/external-development-affecting-national-parks/1; https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=external-development-affecting-national-parks

Conference organizers and/or faculty included University of Colorado School of Law professors Lawrence J. MacDonnell and Daniel Magraw. The conference will be held at the Aspen Lodge, adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, Colorado. It was Wallace Stegner who called the national parks "the best idea we ever had." The continuing increases in usage attest to their popularity. National parks are created to preserve areas of special scenic and cultural value for enjoyment and use. Managing the parks in a manner that protects the important values and purposes for which they were created presents important and difficult problems of law and policy (see the related article in this newsletter issue by David Mastbaum). The conference focuses on the conflicts which arise when activities outside park boundaries significantly impair the values for which the park was created. An expert group of speakers will look at current problems involving external threats to national parks, examine legal issues associated with protecting park resources, consider institutional and jurisdictional problems, and discuss possible approaches for improving park protection.