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U.S. national parks protect some of the nation’s most iconic places for the public to enjoy. But visitors are crowding the parks in such numbers that several popular sites, including Yellowstone and Yosemite, are requiring advance reservations.
Colorado State University historian Michael Childers sees the parks’ crowd woes as part of a pattern dating back to the 1920s, when Americans first took up long-distance travel en masse. In his view, many popular national parks need reservations systems to prevent tourists from destroying the places they’ve come to see.
Also today:
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Traffic at the south entrance to Yellowstone National Park on Aug. 20, 2015.
Neal Herbert, NPS/Flickr
Michael Childers, Colorado State University
It's hard to preserve national parks "unimpaired," as US law directs, when they're overrun with tourists who stray off paths, strew trash and harass wildlife. A parks scholar calls for crowd control.
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Health
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Maureen Miller, Columbia University
A more coordinated effort by scientists, stakeholders and community members will be required to stop the next deadly virus that's already circulating in our midst.
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Politics + Society
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Alexis Karteron, Rutgers University - Newark
While many in America are looking to Congress to pass police reform legislation, the federal government has almost no control over state and local police departments.
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Environment + Energy
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Athena Masson, University of Florida
The 2021 hurricane season is almost here, and it's forecast to be another busy one. Here's how heat, winds and the shape of the seafloor raise the risk for places like Miami and New Orleans.
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Amer Hamad Issa Abukhalaf, University of Florida; Jason von Meding, University of Florida
Misunderstanding disaster warnings can have catastrophic consequences for people who don't speak the language used for emergency communications.
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Ethics + Religion
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Susan M. Shaw, Oregon State University
Southern Baptists are calling for an investigation into the ordination of three women. A scholar explains why this continues to be a fraught issue, even though 2,500 women have been ordained to date.
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Arts + Culture
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Jules Gill-Peterson, University of Pittsburgh
Few trans kids in the early 20th century had access to information about trans life. That they still faced down the judgment of parents and doctors is a testament to the truth of their dysphoria.
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Education
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Nicholas Tampio, Fordham University
Under a proposal from a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative, the federal government would collect data on student economic outcomes.
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From our International Editions
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Paolo Papale, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
National governments need to wake up to the volcanic risks posed by tectonic rifting around Mount Nyiragongo.
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David Tindall, University of British Columbia
Environmental groups have protested logging of British Columbia's old-growth rainforest for three decades. But the Fairy Creek dispute could grow into another 'War in the Woods.'
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Sebastien Chastin, Glasgow Caledonian University; Keith Diaz, Columbia University Medical Center
Choosing the right "cocktail" of light activity, exercise and sitting, can improve health and decrease risk of premature death.
Today’s graphic
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