Tomorrow’s
Planet
A newsletter for kids who want to make our world a better place
Explore, enjoy and protect the planet
Our National Parks
Issue #15
Preserving America’s Legacy
What contains 17,000 miles
of trails, provides habitat for
almost 400 threatened or
endangered species, and has
about 275 million visitors a
year? The answer is the National Park System. From the
highest point in North America
to the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, the Park System contains some of the most
amazing sights on the planet.
If you visit Yellowstone
National Park, you’ll have the
chance to see otters playing in
a mountain lake. You can stand
at the very edge of a waterfall
and watch it crash down more
than 300 feet into the canyon
The National Park Service
Caring for the
American Legacy
The National Park Service was created
in 1916 “to conserve the scenery and
the natural and historic objects and
the wildlife therein and to provide for
the enjoyment of the same in such
manner and by such means as will
leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
below. You can watch geysers
like Old Faithful shoot steaming water more than 100 feet
in the air. You might even see a
wolf coming down to the water’s edge for a drink or a grizzly bear and her cubs snacking
on huckleberries!
Yellowstone was the first
national park in history. It
contains more than 300 geysers — almost two thirds of all
the geysers on the planet! Congress decided to set aside this
unique place “for the benefit
and enjoyment of the people”
on March 1, 1872.
The Park Service itself was
created in 1916 to protect and
preserve the parks. Before that
time, the Army watched over
the parks.
The Park Service cares for
many of America’s treasures.
Some of these places are well
known, like the Statute of Liberty and Yellowstone. Others
are less familiar, such as
the 365 miles of caves in
Mammoth Cave National Park.
National parks preserve
historic areas and natural areas.
Today, more than half of the
national park areas have been
set aside as symbols of American history. These places keep
a record of our past and culture.
The founding of Yellowstone
also began a worldwide national park movement. Roughly
1,200 national parks now exist
around the globe.
Our national parks protect
the wildlife, landscapes, buildings, and artifacts of American
history. Ask your parents to
take you to a national park on
your next vacation!
John Muir
Words to Know
Father of
Our National
Park System
John Muir was one of America’s most famous naturalists.
He has often been called the
“Father of Our National Parks.”
He was also an inventor, a
rancher, a writer, and explorer.
Muir was born in Scotland
in 1838 and came to the U.S. at
the age of 11. As a boy in Wisconsin, he roamed the woods
whenever he could find time. As
an adult, Muir would explore
much of the country on foot.
In 1867, Muir walked one
thousand miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1868, he walked across the
San Joaquin Valley and into the
Sierra Nevada mountains for the
first time.
Over the years, Muir
would travel to Alaska, Australia, South America, Africa,
and Europe.
President Theodore Roosevelt with John Muir at
Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park
In 1890, largely because
of John Muir’s efforts, an act
of Congress created Yosemite
National Park. Muir was also
personally involved in the creation of Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest and Grand
Canyon National Parks.
His writings convinced
many people of the need to
protect wilderness. He also
led trips into the wilderness
to show why it was worth
protecting. In 1903, he took
a famous trip with President
Teddy Roosevelt.
Muir founded the Sierra
Club in 1892 to protect the
wild places and the mountains
that he had grown to love.
Artifacts:
Objects produced or shaped
by humans, such as tools,
weapons, or ornaments of
archaeological or historical
interest.
Endangered Species:
A species of plant or animal
that is present in such small
numbers that it is at risk of
extinction.
Geysers:
Natural hot springs that
periodically eject columns of
water and steam into the air.
Habitat:
The place or environment
where a plant or animal
normally lives and grows.
Preserve:
Keep safe from injury, peril, or
harm; protect.
Unique:
Existing as the only one of
its kind.
Become a Junior Ranger or WebRanger
Interested in exploring?
Want to learn about animals,
sailing ships, dinosaurs or
trains? Would you like to learn
more about the national parks
that belong to you?
You can help protect national parks and the wildlife in them
— even if you can’t visit them
right now.
The Park Service has Junior
Ranger Programs that let you
see and interact with the parks
at your own pace and in your
own time.
Junior Ranger Programs
www.nps.gov/learn/
juniorranger.htm
WebRangers
www.nps.gov/Webrangers
National Parks Parks as Arks
1890, the bison that
by the Numbers had Bycovered
the Great Plains
There are 58
national parks
and a total
of 391 areas
— including
monuments,
battlefields,
and seashores
— protected
by the Park
Service.
275 million
people visited national park
areas in 2008.
Every year, National Park Service
sites generate 246,000 jobs.
Crater Lake National Park
has the country’s deepest
lake — 1,932 feet to the
bottom.
Denali National Park is home to
Mt. McKinley, the highest peak
in North America at 20,320 feet
Badwater Basin in Death Valley
National Park is the lowest point
in the Western Hemisphere at
282 feet below sea level.
were almost gone. Tens of
millions had been killed. Less
than 100 wild bison survived
in newly created Yellowstone
National Park. This last free
herd ensured the survival of
bison in the wild.
The first national parks
were established for their scenery or history, but their role
in protecting wildlife is just
as important. The parks have
become arks carrying wildlife
into the 21st century. Bald
eagles, grizzlies, bison and
wolves all found homes in the
parks while they disappeared
from much of the rest of the
country. Today, the parks protect almost 400 threatened or
endangered species.
However, even the parks
aren’t safe from global warming. Glacier National Park
had 150 glaciers when it was
founded in 1910. Now it has
25. Pikas in Yosemite are
moving higher up the mountains to escape the heat. Half
the corals in Virgin Islands
National Park have suffered
bleaching and disease caused
by rising ocean temperatures.
In the Everglades, many animals and plants may find their
home drowned by rising sea
levels.
Protecting these arks in
the future will require a serious effort to control global
warming, and we’ll need
to protect the air and water
around them from pollution to
keep them strong.
National Park Resources
Sierra Club and the
National Parks
Learn about the Sierra Club’s work
to protect our national parks
through our interactive map. Get
tips for visiting the parks and more!
www.sierraclub.org/parks
National Park Service
Find detailed information on
each national park, learn about
upcoming events and more.
www.nps.gov
Animal & Bird Tracks
Knowledge Cards
Next time you’re in one of our
parks, learn how to tell a
badger track from porcupine
footprints with a set of
knowledge cards that fit easily
in your pocket or day pack.
www.sierraclub.org/store
The National Parks:
America’s Best Idea
Watch clips of Ken Burns documentary on the history of our national
parks and use additional online
resources on the PBS website.
www.pbs.org/nationalparks
Tell us what you’re thinking!
Draw us a picture of your favorite national park! If we print your drawing, you could get a FREE Sierra Club backpack, hat or children’s
book. Go ahead — tell the world what’s on your mind!
Name
Age/Grade
/
Submissions become property of the Sierra Club and may be used without limitation or restriction.
Wh at the S i e r r a C l ub i s D o i n g t o
Pr o t ect Our N ati onal P a rks
The Sierra Club is working to
protect and preserve our national
parks by:
C Working to ensure that the
giant sequoias of Giant Sequoia
National Monument are
managed by the National Park
Service and fully protected from
logging
C Fighting to stop uranium
mining in the public lands
surrounding Grand Canyon
National Park
C Working to prevent a large
building project near Acadia
National Park
C Developing a Climate Recovery
Agenda to curb global warming
and protect all of our national
parks from climate change.
To learn more go to:
www.sierraclub.org/parks
Tomorrow’s
Planet
By Ann Pinkerton and Eileen Weckerle
For additional copies please, contact:
Sierra Club Member Services
Attn: Printed Materials
85 Second Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: 415-977-5653
[email protected]
Visit our website at
www.sierraclub.org/education/
newsletter
Printed with soy-based ink on 30% post-consumer recycled paper/Fall 2009