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Constructing Wilderness: a Series of Speculative Parks Page 5 CONSTRUCTING WILDERNESS: A SERIES OF SPECULATIVE PARKS PAGE 5 SPECULATE The tourist is one of the last increasing sectors of human occupation in the coun- tryside. There are few places of respite from the efficiencies and automatization of both the city and the rural. “Wilderness” offers the last pockets of refuge from the fast pace dependencies of the metropolis. Park reserves have therefore become culturally-linked nostalgia—land as a mechanism of escapism. But the idea of a “reserve” is fundamentally a forward thinking process. With the discovery of the Americas signalling the end of global exploration, the landscape of the western United States was the last frontier to be cultivated. For early settlers, the moment they realized something was limited was the moment they began to manage. Tak- ing the U.S. National Park System as a case study on natural park management, the debate of wilderness unfolds over this precedented model. The doctrine of the National Park Service (NPS)is inherently filled with con- tradictory goals: ideas of use and recreation versus selective preservation. Parks are still being created today as canonized commodities, but the criteria remains subjective for why one space is chosen over another. The Department of Interior handles the selection process, along with the leases for mining, extraction, and grazing. The separate landscapes are defined in legislation through the care- ful wording and construction of what nature’s relationship is to man. But the definition of “wilderness” is changing, and different agendas continue to make their own interpretation of what it means. These reinterpretations are what will determine the fate of the parks. Are the parks exempt from the increased efficiency and hyper managment be- cause their subject matter seems like it’s moving at a romantic/nostalgic speed? If visitor exhaustion and a crumbling infrastructure continue, the parks will get to a point where they cannot meet the demands of society’s expectations. STEPHANIE CONALN Management must diversify to have proper investors for different purposes. The GSD / AMO SPRING 2016 following five speculative parks have distinct agendas. They attempt to clarify and understand the br PAGE 7 MUSEUM PARK “As a primary goal, we would recommend that the biotic associations within each park be maintained, or where necessary recreated, as nearly as possible in the condition that prevailed when the area was first visited by the white man. A national park should represent a vignette of primitive America.” - A. Starker Leopold,” The Leopold Report” 1968 Scenery has the potential to establish a symbolic identity[1] for burgeoning socie- ties[2]. Allowing citizens access to high elevations[3] with views of the horizon[4] instills an unmatched mystic[5] empathy towards the land[6]. When wilderness is historically and archivally maintained,[7] it inspires while educating on the natural[8] pastime of a place. Thus, visitation produces both cultural[9] and cor- porate capital[10], supporting infrastructures[11] for future generations’ pleasure grounds.[12] The coming age of hyper-tourism[13] will produce an efficient and high capacity setting for future park tourists. The careful curation of vistas will allow guests to romanticize wilderness without risk of destroying or impeding on the pictur- esque land.[14] Beginning with monitored entries, a picturesque route will build a panoramic climax, sprinkled with vignettes along the way.[15] In order for land-staring[16] to compete with urban settings in the demanding tourist mar- ket,[17] enhancements should be made to ensure user relatability. By altering pristine views with virtual intensifications, visitors can connect to highly saturated and animated landscapes. NOTES [1] All of the Department of Interior agencies (the Bureau of Land Man- [9] As a nation, the parks have had a high standing collectively. In 2013 a na- agement, Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service) have scenic tional poll, 68% of people polled were satisfied with how the government was moments in their official state seals, despite the wide range of managerial topics. handling the park system. (Gallop Poll, June 20-24, http://www.gallup.com/ (Handbook, 75.) poll/163487) [2] 19/23 United States UNESCO World Heritage Sites are managed by the [10] A 2014 National Resource Report found that for every dollar invested in the National Park Service as parks or monuments. However, UNESCO was estab- national park system, there was an average of 10 dollars generated in the com- lished in 1945 and the first US site to be acknowledged was in 1979. munity. (NPS.“National Park visitor spending affects: Economic contributions to (whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/us/2016). local communities, states, and the nation” 2014.) [3] “So if there is any central and commanding hill-top, it should be reserved for [11]While concession fees and local economies support building and repairs the public use…That area should be left unappropriated for modesty and refer- within the park, many are still facing setbacks due a hesitation of congressional ence’s sake – if only to suggest that the traveller who climbs thither in a degree funding. Currently, the National Park’s infrastructure is facing setbacks from rises above himself, as well as his native valley, and leaves some of his groveling deferred maintenance cases that continually build out of the budget. Despite the habits behind.” (Thoreau. “Huckleberries.” The Great New Wilderness Debate. monetary limitations, parks are still being added to the national registry. (NPS. 43.) “NPS Asset Inventory Summary” Sept 30, 2015) [4] “But none of them owns the landscape. There is property in the horizon [12] “...the wildest health and pleasure grounds accessible and available to which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts.”(Emerson. “Na- tourists seeking escape from care and suta and early death are the parks and ture.” The Great New Wilderness Debate. 29.) reservations of the West.” (Muir. John. “Our National Parks.” 1901. The Great [5] Scholars debate on the “mythopoetic argument” to reason for the protection New Wilderness Debate. 54.) of pristine views of wilderness. “Those places they view as wilderness serve as [13] Of the 292,800,082 visitors of 2014, the average tourist rate of 5,978,804 is the optimum location for the viewing of the history of myth and are absolutely competitive with other metropolis culture institutions. The Vatican Museum just crucial for the building of the myth of the future.” (Nelson, Michael. Wilderness beat the average National Park, while the Tate Modern in London fell shortly Preservation Arguments. 1998. The Great New Wilderness Debate. 182.) behind. However, when looking at specific parks, The Great Smoky Mountains [6] The land in this case is that of the Euro-Americans. Wallace Stegner calls had 15,054,603 visitors in 2015 because of their free entry fee. This dramatically the wilderness idea “something that has helped shape our character and that has beats the Lourve’s at 9,260,000 annual visits (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ certainly shaped our history as a people.” In the wilderness debate, it is inter- most_visited_art_museums_in_the_world) (rma.nps.gov/Stats.) esting to ponder the exclusionary tendencies of ownership of the land. (Nelson, [14]Activities prohibited in Yellowstone National Park (as a representative guide- Michael. “Wilderness Preservation Arguments..” The Great New Wilderness line: “Willfully remaining near or approaching wildlife,” “Traveling off board- Debate. 177.) walks or designated trails,“ “Removing or possessing natural or cultural resources [7] The Leopold Report by A. Starker in 1963 states “As a primary goal, we (such as wildflowers, antlers, rocks, and arrowheads),” “Traveling off-road by would recommend that the biotic associations within each park be maintained, vehicle or bicycle.” “Camping outside of designated areas.” (https://www.nps. or where necessary recreated, as nearly as possible in the condition that prevailed gov/yell/planyourvisit/rules.htm) when the area was first visited by the white man. A national park should repre- [15] “These grand reservations should draw thousands of admiring visitors at sent a vignette of primitive America.”(Marris. Rambunctious Gardens, 36) least in summer...Most travelers here are content with what they can see from [8] National Park Service “still aims at protect parks’ “natural condition,” which car windows or the verandas of hotels, and in going from place to place cling to it defined in 2006 as “the condition of resources that would occur in the absence their precious trains and stages like wrecked sailors to rafts.” (Muir. John. “Our of human dominance over the landscape. (Marris. Rambunctious Gardens, 37) National Parks.” 1901. The Great New Wilderness Debate. 57.) NOTES [16]Land-staring is when the primary source of interaction with the land is just through looking at it, similar to that of a piece of art. Unlike art, which can be recreated, wilderness-dependent species cannot. “These places are both neces- sary and sufficient conditions for a true sense of beauty.” Think Yosemite Valley view. (Nelson, “The Preservation of Wilderness.” p167.) [17]The US National Parks had a total of 292.8 million visitors in 2014. (https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/) The average over 58 national parks is 5.04 million annual visitors. (NPS) Annual visitors to the Lourve were 9260000 in 2014 ] (http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr) compared with 56.5 million visitors (interna- tional and domestic) to New York City in 2014 (http://www.nycgo.com/articles/ nyc-statistics-page) 1All of the Department of Interior agencies (the Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service) have scenic moments in their official state seals, despite the wide range of managerial topics. (Handbook, 75.) 219/23 United States UNESCO World Heritage Sites are managed by the Na- tional Park Service as parks or monuments.
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