This document discusses how climate change threatens natural beauty in national parks. It notes that while national parks aim to preserve natural landscapes, changing weather and a warming climate cannot be sheltered by laws or fences. The document explains that the National Park Service faces the challenge of preserving natural and cultural resources while making parks accessible, but this is difficult when the environment changes but park borders do not. It also states that while animals can migrate, trees that provide color, beauty, and shade to national parks are at risk from climate change as they cannot quickly relocate.

2. By
Kathryn Hansen ,design by Joshua
Stevens ,May 12, 2016

3. Natural Beauty at Risk:
Preparing for Climate Change
in National Parks
When most of us
think of National Parks, we think of
open spaces and healthy, abundant
vegetation. We think of forests and
woodlands and meadows and
wildflowers all preserved from
development. We think of scenic vistas
that inspire poets and artists and
millions of everyday citizens. These
lands are set aside, as Theodore
Roosevelt put it, to preserve "the value
of natural beauty as a national asset,"
and to promote "outdoor life and
recreation in the production of good
citizenship."

4. But no matter what laws you pass or fences you build,
you cannot shelter entire landscapes from the stresses of
changing weather and a warming climate. The National
Park Service (NPS) manages more than 400 parks,
monuments, and historic sites from north of the Arctic
Circle down to the Caribbean and the South Pacific. The
NPS challenge is to preserve natural and cultural
resources while making them accessible to the public. But
land managers and park rangers can only do so much
when the environment changes but the park borders do
not.
Ecologists know that the trees that add color, beauty, and
shade to America’s national parklands are at risk. Unlike
animals, trees cannot pull up their roots and quickly
migrate to another area. But figuring out which trees are
the most vulnerable is complicated.