Parks Canada comments on the “Revisiting Leopold: Resource Stewardship in the National Parks” Report

Revisiting extinction in national parks: mountain caribou in Banff.

On April 30, 2009 environmental groups released a na­ tional media story that said that the Banff Spring’s snail (Physella johnsonit), found solely in Banff National Park (BNP), Canada, was the only species out of 449 listed under the Canadian Species at Risk Act (Government of Canada 2002) to benefit from the full legally man­ dated conservation process. Ironically, on the same day in BNP’s ba...

Conservation Geographies in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Politics of National Parks, Community Conservation and Peace Parks

Sub-Saharan Africa has been the location of intense conservation planning since the colonial era. Under the auspices of wilderness protection, colonial authorities established national parks largely for the purpose of hunting and tourism while forcibly evicting indigenous populations. Concerns about the ethical and economic impacts of protected areas have generated interest in community conserv...

Exploitation of freshwater eels in National Parks

Mercury in Fish from National Parks

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic, global contaminant that threatens ecosystem and human health. Human activities have increased atmospheric concentrations 3-5 fold during the past 150 years. Airborne Hg enters environmental cycles in complex ways, resulting in the contamination of even remote places. The National Park Service (NPS) protects some of the most pristine and sensitive wilderness in North Ame...

Preserving Pristine Night Skies in National Parks and the Wilderness

n the American West throughout the latter part of the 19th century, the conquest of the frontier by American industrial culture led to a profound sense of loss among conservation-minded individuals. They mourned the passing of a way of life and of an unspoiled grand landscape that fostered individual freedoms, simple rewards for hard work, and an intimacy with the land that was required for mer...