Yosemite's two-masters challenge: Preservation Vs. recreation
Skift Take
National parks already handled a variety of difficult operating tasks, including park preservation, before the sequestration came along and made just staying open a goal.
The brilliance of our national park system lies in its dual mission to preserve public lands and allow recreation in ways that leave those lands "unimpaired," as Congress declared in 1916. Yet that language also raises a dilemma: how to balance two opposing goals.
A new proposal to chart Yosemite National Park's future is generally good, but it takes away a few too many opportunities to have fun. The park service should tweak the plan. If it doesn't, Congress should get involved.
The 2,500-page Merced River Plan released in January is the result of a lawsuit charging the National Park Service with doin
