Do National Parks Need the Feds?
If Yosemite became a California state park tomorrow, would it turn into a strip mall?My latest essay in The Wall Street Journal
My latest essay is in the Wall Street Journal today, arguing that federal and state technological and environmental progress since the establishment of the National Park Service question the need for the national park system. Beyond that progress, and perhaps more importantly, returning federal public lands to the states could help reverse a precedent of reflexive federalization. Where more and more aspects of American life are subjected to a micro-managerial federal process of warped incentives.
People have an emotional response when they think of the national park system being dissolved because of an entrenched premise that says that anything that isn’t designated “national” is somehow not welcome to everybody when that’s clearly not the case across a number of domains, including but not limited to state parks.
A paywall-free link to the essay can be found here. As ever, thanks to all of you for your support.
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Agreed that California state laws - alongside federal laws - help to protect Yosemite. However, most national parks aren’t located in California, so they don’t necessarily benefit from state laws to protect their wildlife and environment. Developers and state legislators may also want to nibble around the edges of national parks for housing, mining, and the like.
Not sure I agree. Feds are certainly a bloated problem but the State of California is unreliable. I recently visited the California state park on Mt. Palomar in San Diego County. No state ranger or other employee was there. They had an unmanned kiosk that required $15 stuffed in an envelope to proceed into the park. The park was in a deteriorating condition with no services or facilities other than a bathroom. California is spending its taxpayer funds on benefits, etc., not on its state parks. I appreciate your perspective but here is mine: I'd rather have Yosemite overstaffed than abandoned. Jeff Hudson jeffreidhudson@gmail.com