Tilting at the “Best Idea” Windmill

Abstract

Abstract

In 1983, when Wallace Stegner proclaimed that national parks were America’s best idea, he was responding to two basic themes then running through American culture and politics. First, he wanted to capture in one phrase his immense pride in and gratitude for a nation that had made and sustained its commitment to protecting public lands in perpetuity for the benefit, enjoyment, and inspiration of the public. Second, it was Stegner as environmental advocate who wanted to put the legislative and the executive branches of government on notice about the bad budgets and policies emanating from both that threatened to undermine the well-being of these uniquely American places. For giving us that phrase, that energy at that time, we owe Wallace Stegner a tremendous debt of thanks. And it is with respect for the author’s words and his defense of national parks that I suggest it’s now high time to retire the “best idea” concept from the public lands lexicon. With national parks under existential threat the preservation and conservation communities need the broadest, most diverse, and most engaged constituency we can muster for the defense of our parks and public lands. The parks as "best idea" ideology makes assumptions about how much people should innately care about national parks, and those assumptions have created an affinity gap between traditional park users and advocates and the new audiences that should be much more engaged in park use and protection. That gap makes it harder for us to "win" on critical park issues such as budgeting, staffing, and policy development and implementation.