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Despite population diversity, U.S. park visitors are overwhelmingly white
Although the U.S. population continues to diversify, that trend has not been reflected in the demographics for visitors to U.S. parks. MSNBC reports that on Wednesday, the National Park Service (NPS) released a survey that shows that 78 percent of visitors to America's national parks between 2008 and 2009 where white non-Hispanic, while Hispanics accounted for nine percent and African-Americans only seven percent. In comparison, the most recent U.S. census revealed that only 64 percent of the population was non-Hispanic white.Why are people of color staying away from U.S. parks? Rob Lovitt, author of the MSNBC article, suggests fear of the unknown as well as the assumption that the parks are only for adventurous outings, such as hiking and camping. Helping minorities feel welcome once they are in the parks has also been a concern of the NPS.
Trying to make "America's Best Idea" a concept that all Americans can embrace is the only way that parks will continue to be part of the American experience. Shelton Johnson, an African-American park ranger that was interviewed for the MSNBC story, points out that some of the first men to serve as rangers in America's parks were the so-called "Buffalo Soldiers," members of the African-American regiments of the U.S. Army from 1899-1904.
"This puts African-Americans at the very beginning of national park history, yet African-Americans only constitute 1 percent of visitors to the park," said Johnson. "If you don't know you have cultural roots in the parks, then you're not going to feel a sense of ownership in them."
One way that the NPS is hoping that minorities feel ownership in the parks is by developing programs that introduce minority kids to the wonders of the national parks. Current programs include Wildlink, which introduces inner-city youth from Oakland and Stockton to the parks through five-day wilderness trips to Yosemite, and the Camp Moreno Project, which gives Colorado kids the opportunity to go camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. The hope is that the more visitors the parks can attract the more park supporters there will be, thus ensuring that all 394 national parks will be around for all Americans to enjoy.
Check out the full story on MSNBC.
[flickr image via compass points]
Filed under: North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
frank Aug 4th 2011 8:03PM
below article explains why better:
If you find yourself trapped in the middle of the woods without electricity, running water, or a car you would likely describe that situation as a “nightmare” or “a worse case scenario like after plane crash or something.” White people refer to it as “camping.”
When white people begin talking to you about camping they will do their best to tell you that it’s very easy and it allows them to escape the pressures and troubles of the urban lifestyle for a more natural, simplified, relaxing time. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In theory camping should be a very inexpensive activity since you are literally sleeping on the ground. But as with everything in white culture, the more simple it appears the more expensive it actually is.
Camping is a multi-day, multi-step, potentially lethal activity that will cost you a large amount of both time and money. Unless you are in some sort of position where you absolutely need the friendship of a white person, you should avoid camping at all costs.
The first stage of camping always involves a trip to an outdoor equipment store like REI (or in Canada, Mountain Equipment Co-Op). These stores are well known for their abundance of white customers and their extensive inventory of things for white people to buy and only use once. If you are ever tricked into going to one of these stores, you can make white people like you by saying things like “man, this Kayak is only $1200, if I use it 35 times I’ve already saved money over renting.” Note: do not actually buy the kayak.
Next, white people will then take this new equipment and load it into an SUV or Subaru Outback with a Thule or Yakima Roof Rack. Then they will drive for an extended period of time to a national park or campsite where they will pay an entrance fee and begin their journey. It is worth noting that white people are unaware of the irony of using a gas burning car to bring them closer to nature and it is not recommended that you point this out. It will ruin their weekend.
Once in the camp area, white people will walk around for a while, set up a tent, have a horrible night of sleep, walk around some more. Then get in the car and go home. This, of course, is a best case scenario. Worst case scenarios include: getting lost, poisoned, killed by an animal, and encountering an RV. Of these outcomes, the latter is seen by white people as the worst since it involves an encounter with the wrong kind of white people.
Conversely, any camping trip that ends in death at the hands of nature or requires the use of valuable government resources for a rescue is seen as relatively positive in white culture. This is because both situations might eventually lead to a book deal or documentary film about the experience.
Ultimately the best way to escape a camping trip with white people is to say that you have allergies. Since white people and their children are allergic to almost everything, they will understand and ask no further questions. You should not say something like “looking at history, the instances of my people encountering white people in the woods have not worked out very well for us.”
-source: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/08/14/128-camping
xanix Aug 6th 2011 1:04AM
LOL!
charlie Aug 9th 2011 11:40AM
This whole experience as described in Franks story provides no ghetto connection!
Melanie Renzulli Aug 5th 2011 10:03PM
Frank,
I do agree that the money required to procure gear could be a factor in some minorities deciding to stay away from the parks. But visiting a national park doesn't have to be about camping and "roughing it." Hopefully, more minorities in the U.S. will be given more options to visit the parks through programs like Wildlink.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Best,
Melanie
xani Aug 6th 2011 1:04AM
I'm in Yosemite right now and the visitors are as white as water in Vernal falls. It feels strange, because this is California....What is saddening me is that I see a lot of European tourists instead of Americans, whose taxes had been supporting National Parks. In fact: why do coveted summer season camp reservations are not limited to American residents and Europeans are allowed to take them, while many Americans can't get them? There's a huge overcrowding in the park and A LOT OF PEOLE DON'T SPEAK ENGILISH, THEY SPEAK FRENCH, GERMAN, ETC--US taxpayers, who's been supporting this park are not allowed to enjoy it, because of overcrowding by Europeans.
No, it's NOT expensive to camp out at all. Entrance to Yosemite Park: $20 per car for one week, $5-$20 a night for campsite--this is less than room rental cost. Tent that I'm using cost $20. I use only firewood that I could find for free, and at some camps you can find a ton, especially if you bring an axe. That's it. You don't need any special equipment to camp. Just pack dry food, lemons, etc. Camping is way cheaper than backyard maintenance. And as to "minorities"--I see them buying expensive stuff they put into their backyards all the time, so it's not like they're devoid of funds for entertainment. I mean a movie ticket cost the same as entrance to the largest national park. It's all bull about camping being expensive.
As to kids from inner cities... here's a concern: if you bring them into parks, they're likely to do things like get into a river above the falls, be swept and fall. A lot of people die in parks already. You got to be careful about bringing people not familiar with nature to some places and best to start off with state parks and safer terrain.
Roy Aug 16th 2011 2:59PM
I agree. I have been camping with my family for 40 years. Early on it was as cheap as possible. Tent, sleeping bags and the rest we bring or catch/find. These are the best kinds, imo. Later we transitioned to motor homes, lodges or hotels, but found ourselves eventually going back to basics, because it is much more fun. All cultures need to spend more time seeing what this country has to offer by taking more nature-related vacations (most of ours are weekenders). Take advantage of the great outdoors- but please leave it looking cleaner than you found it.
Pam Smith Aug 9th 2011 12:11PM
I just watched the gossip girls last night and was so caught by the level of beauty and lack of content of their characters and then found myself watching scrubs fast action relationship snippets and I realized why I have turned to reality TV for entertainment and day dream of being on extreme expedition. May be they will make an episode of EE in a National Park instead of in a foreign country and bring attention to the beauty, recreation and wildlife that is our National Parks.
Denera Aug 13th 2011 6:40PM
Frank seems to have a pretty good handle on it.
I am sure that someone would be offended by the real reasons this seems to be a trend. Just use some common sense and I bet you could figure it out. I would venture to guess it has similiar roots to why there was only 3 white guys trying to hoist the flag at Ground Zero and some idiot thought it would be good to make a statue and turn 2 of the white guys into a black guy and a hispanic guy. Their cultures just dont allow for any of this. Its not a bad thing ... its just the way it is. No big deal... but are we now going to fund a commission to encourage minorities to enjoy our National Parks??? the same as we encourage the minorities to become fire fighters and police officers??? they dont want to... leave them alone and let them be. WHO CARES???