The Antiquities Act and National Parks Tours
The Antiquities Act was a piece of legislation that was put forth by Theodore Roosevelt in order to protect areas within the United States from development. Roosevelt believed that there were portions of the United States that were so beautiful or historically significant that they needed to be preserved forever, and the only way to ensure that these spaces remained unspoiled was to use the power of federal legislation to prevent their sale to private individuals or companies. Roosevelt knew that if land is privately held it will probably be developed sooner or later, changing the landscape from one of natural beauty to one of development for the purposes of either industry or for the sale of private residences. Either way the area would be lost in its natural form, and Roosevelt wanted to ensure this would not happen. The problem is that there is a difference in opinion as to what entails a space that should be preserved and what does not. Naturally, nobody specifically wants to destroy natural areas, but industry understands that in order to sustain a population of people a certain amount of loss has to occur. The debate is essentially about what land qualifies and what land does not.
The political climate in the United States has always been divided, and generally this resulted in legislation being put forth that takes both sides interests into consideration to a certain degree. In recent years however, the climate has become so polarized that both sides are no longer attempting to negotiate for the well being of both, and instead are simply forcing through legislation that will appease their own side when they gain enough power to do so. Executive orders are being used to completely reverse decades of standing legislation, and although it has never been seriously under threat in the past, the Antiquities Act is now in danger of losing its ability to protect these areas from development. The issue is that in a typical situation the legislative process is slow enough to ensure that there would be little damage if a mistake is made, however in today’s climate legislation can be changed with the stroke of a pen and development can begin almost immediately if given the ability to move forward. In the case of development of National Parks and protected spaces, there is no ability to undo the damage that could occur almost immediately if given the opportunity, and once the areas are destroyed they cannot be recovered.
An example to consider is the Grand Canyon, an area that has been taken for granted for most adult citizen’s lives. We assume that we will always be able to visit the Grand Canyon and that it will always be the unspoiled and beautiful space that we have seen in pictures. Development interests have arisen over the past decade that would move forward with utilizing the area to harvest natural resources like natural gas and oil, and if a path to the sale of portions of the Grand Canyon to private industry was presented, it could be in danger of changing quite quickly. No matter what side of the issues you stand on, it may be a good idea to book your National Parks tours sooner rather than later, as you cannot be assured that they will always be there for you.