Air Pollution and Your National Park
The National Parks Conservation Association’s (NPCA) new report, Turning Point, describes how air pollution harms what American’s value most about our national parks: park habitat for wildlife, visitor health, the symbols of our nation’s heritage, and the stunning scenic horizons in the parks.
Below is an index to the national parks highlighted in Turning Point. For more information about air pollution impacts on the national parks, contact National Parks Conservation Association Clean Air Director Mark Wenzler at 202-223-6722 ext. 101.
Alaska, District of Columbia, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wyoming
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, p. 48
The stunning vistas visitors expect to see in the Appalachian parks—Great Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah, Blue Ridge Parkway—are marred by unsightly haze. Air pollution cuts 100-mile views from these parks to an average of only 40 miles in the summer, and views can drop to less than a mile on the most polluted days.
Contact: NPCA Southeast Regional Program Coordinator Ann Froschauer at 865-329-2424 ext. 27 or NPCA Senior Southeast Regional Director Don Barger at 865-329-2424 ext. 23 for more information.
Mammoth Cave National Park, p. 16
Mammoth Cave National Park is surrounded by coal-burning power plants, which emit large quantities of toxic mercury into the air, which makes its way into the food chain of park animals—a particular habitat hazard for the park’s endangered Indiana bat. Researchers have found two to three times the Environmental Protection Agency recommended limit of mercury in the hair of the bats; and with the world’s largest coal company planning to build a new 1,500-megawatt coal burning power plant, Thoroughbred, just 50 miles west of Mammoth Cave another estimated 200 to 300 pounds of mercury a year will be emitted into the air.
Contact: NPCA Southeast Regional Program Coordinator Ann Froschauer at 865-329-2424 ext. 27 or NPCA Senior Southeast Regional Director Don Barger at 865-329-2424 ext. 23 for more information.
Joshua Tree National Park, p. 18, 28
Unless current trends change, within 150 years of its creation, Joshua Tree National Park might need to be renamed because Joshua Trees may no longer grow within the parks boundaries. Within this century, global warming could eliminate more than 90 percent of the Joshua Trees and contribute to the parks being overrun by invasive grasses and weeds, which are much more susceptible to wildfires.
Joshua Tree has experienced the highest ozone pollution level of any park in the National Park System. For the first time at any of California’s desert parks—Joshua Tree, Death Valley, and Mojave National Preserve—Joshua Tree has installed signs at three of the park’s entrances to alert visitors to and staff about the severity of health threats from poor air quality.
Contact: NPCA California Desert Field Representative Deborah DeMeo at 760-366-7785 for more information.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, p. 26
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are destinations for some of the nation’s dirtiest air. In the past six years, Sequoia and Kings Canyon has had the most days exceeding the national health standard for ozone of any unit in the National Park System. Because the threats from ozone and fine particulate matter is hazardous to the health of visitors and employees, since 2000 Sequoia and Kings Canyon has been issuing daily air advisories to warn of unhealthful air.
Contact: NPCA Central Valley Program Manager Laura Whitehouse at 559-229-9343 for more information.
Rocky Mountain National Park, p. 20
At Rocky Mountain National Park, nitrogen is damaging native plants and fish in the park. National Park Service data released this year indicates that Rocky Mountain is one of a handful of parks where nitrogen and ammonium pollution are getting worse.
Contact: NPCA Senior Vice President Ron Tipton at 202-223-6722 ext. 266 for more information.
Shenandoah National Park, p. 30
Shenandoah National Park lies downwind of several coal-fired power plants, and is sandwiched by major population centers and highways. As a result, the park has some of the least healthy air of any park within the National Park System.
Contact: NPCA Virginia Program Manager Catharine Gilliam at 540-460-5105 or NPCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Joy Oakes at 202-223-6722 ext. 260 for more information.
Gulf Islands National Seashore, p. 36
Hurricanes have always battered the Gulf Coast, but global warming is likely making storms stronger and more frequent. In the path of hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, to name but two, was Gulf Islands National Seashore. Gulf Islands’ already beleaguered budget took a beating it could little afford with hurricane Ivan in 2004, costing the park $30 million in damages to the Florida portion, washing out miles of road, flooding historic buildings, a visitor center, and parking lots. The storms of 2005, including Katrina, damaged 400-year old Fort Massachusetts at Gulf Islands and destroyed the only road to the park’s Fort Pickens. The National Park Service is forced to move many of the priceless historic artifacts out of the parks along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts because of the increase in strength and frequency of storms—a prudent step but one that also unfortunately denies park visitors a full experience of our national heritage.
Contact: NPCA Suncoast Regional Director Shannon Estenoz at 954-961-1280 for more information.
Glacier National Park, p. 40
At Glacier National Park our nation’s heritage is virtually meting away because of global warming. Individual glaciers in the park have decreased by up to 77 percent and scientists predict the glaciers will be totally gone within the next 25 years.
Contact: NPCA Glacier Senior Program Manager Steve Thompson at 406-862-6722 for more information.
Alaska’s Northern Parks, p. 42
National parks in Northern Alaska—Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, and Noatak National Preserve—are collecting airborne toxic pollutants, which are showing up in the food chain. This jeopardizes the heritage of the Alaskan native way of life. Global warming is causing a rapid warming of the Arctic region, releasing pollutants stored in snow, ice, and frozen soil into the meat, fish, and plants in the subsistence foods in the region.
Contact: NPCA Alaska Program Coordinator Claire LeClair at 907-277-6722 ext. 21 for more information.
National Mall & Memorial Parks, p. 44
Air pollution in the form of acid rain is literally eating away at our nation’s heritage on the National Mall. Metal statues, such as bronze war memorials, stones, such as limestone and marble, must be cleaned and repaired each year to keep them from crumbling under the effect of air pollution.
Contact: NPCA Clean Air Director Mark Wenzler at 202-223-6722 ext. 101 for more information.
Blue Ridge Parkway, p. 48
Visitors to Blue Ridge rank the scenic views as the most important reason for visiting. The vistas are what draw visitors to take “America’s Favorite Drive.” Although the parkway has been reopened, unfortunately the horizons remain hazy.
Contact: NPCA Southeast Regional Program Coordinator Ann Froschauer at 865-329-2424 ext. 27 or NPCA Senior Southeast Regional Director Don Barger at 865-329-2424 ext. 23 for more information.
Contact: NPCA Virginia Program Manager Catharine Gilliam at 540-460-5105 or NPCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Joy Oakes at 202-223-6722 ext. 260 for more information.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, p. 50
At Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks some of the cleanest air and best visibility in the country is at risk from air pollution from nearby power plants and oil and gas drilling. In Wyoming, up to 8,700 new oil and gas wells maybe proposed and the planned construction of dozens of new coal-fired power plants near Yellowstone and Grand Teton threaten to dim the scenic views in the park. Already, nearly 100 outdated coal-fired power plants operate in the Western United States without modern pollutions control.
Contact: NPCA Yellowstone Program Manager Tim Stevens at 406-222-1576 and NPCA Grand Teton Associate Director Tim Young at 307-733-4680 for more information.
