Protecting National Parks
America loves protecting national parks, right? When protecting national parks interferes with a competing interest, the answer is not clear. There are constant threats to national parks that may or may not forever change the very essence of why they were created. For this reason, protecting national parks never ends because they are eternal. There are many laws, regulations, organizations, and people that join together to preserve America’s story as told through its national parks, and there are many sagas of victory and many of defeat.
Everglades Betrayal – The Issue that Defeated Al Gore describes one saga that began when Hurricane Andrew destroyed the Homestead Air Force Base. Redeveloping the base into an airport as proposed by Miami-Dade County would have forever changed two national parks: Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park. In record time, the Air Force produced an environmental impact statement that did not accurately identify or analyze the impacts to the two national parks. Organizations such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Parks and Conservation Association, and others united to carry out a complex and expensive campaign to protect the two national parks. Airport proponents mounted an equally impressive crusade.
Readers of Everglades Betrayal will learn about the tools and strategies each side used and how this issue gained national attention. Americans are serious about protecting national parks, and the outcome of the 2000 presidential election reflects this commitment. Everglades Betrayal reveals how Al Gore alienated his conservationist supporters by not taking a firm stance against the proposed airport, and how they may have used their votes to register their disapproval of his apparent neglect.
Yes, Americans love their national parks and understand that protecting national parks is necessary. Local, regional, and national support gets the job done. Protecting national parks is the right thing to do.
The Everglades Betrayal – The Issue that Defeated Al Gore is now available to you online.
