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America's national parks were created to preserve some of the most inspirational natural and cultural landmarks of the nation. John Muir described them as "a paradise that makes even the loss of Eden seem insignificant." Yet today these special places are plagued by some of the worst air pollution in the country.
Even though our national parks should be among the best places to experience clean, clear air, the findings in Code Red: America's Five Most Polluted National Parks,1 a report that examines the current state of air quality in our most affected national parks, illustrates that the pollution found in parks rivals that of polluted urban areas.
Air pollution is one of the most extensive threats to America's national parks and the quality of a visitor's experience. The law requires national parks to have clean air.2 But these strong air quality laws have not been fully enforced, and consequently pollution continues to ruin views as well as threaten the health of visitors, staff, wildlife, forests, and plants in national parks across the country. In fact, poor air quality plagues residents and resources across broad regions, as nearly all of the pollution harming the parks originates outside of them.
In April 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially designated hundreds of polluted cities and counties as unhealthful because of ozone, including the following national parks which monitor ozone pollution-Great Smoky Mountains, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Acadia, Shenandoah, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, and Joshua Tree along with Cape Cod National Seashore.3 These parks exceed EPA's ozone standard set to protect human health.
Code Red takes a closer look at the pervasive threat this and other forms of air pollution pose to national parks. It uses an air pollution index, originally developed by Appalachian Voices for earlier editions of this report, to rank the five most polluted national parks. The index is based on three air quality impacts-haze, ozone, and acid precipitation - and compares data from 1999 to 2003 from 13 national parks with extensive monitoring programs.
In addition, the report looks to see whether these three problems have improved or gotten worse since 1991. Congress last amended the Clean Air Act in 1990. Visibility is improving at Mammoth Cave, the haziest park, as well as Shenandoah, but seven of the 13 parks the report examines showed a significant worsening of ozone since 1990, and none has shown a significant trend for improvement.
This analysis reveals that the five most polluted parks are:
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC/TN
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Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
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Shenandoah National Park, VA
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Acadia National Park, ME
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Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, CA
The Air Pollution Index is based on haze, ozone, and acid precipitation, and compares data from 1999 to 2003 from 13 parks with extensive monitoring programs.
Details on the air pollution found in these parks, and the resources at risk, can be found in each case statement on the top five parks. The methodology, as well as charts showing trends and listing parks most affected by haze, ozone, and acid precipitation, can be found in the Appendix.
Although only a few dozen of 388 national parks monitor air quality, the effects of the pollution are evident across the National Park System. According to the Department of the Interior, poor visibility "is the most ubiquitous air pollution-related problem in our national parks and refuges…all areas monitored for visibility show frequent regional haze impairment."4 The agency also estimates that more than 100 parks are located in counties and cities with unhealthful levels of ozone pollution.5
Mercury, global warming, and airborne toxins also affect national parks but are not the subject of this report. National wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, which receive similar protections under the Clean Air Act, also face air quality threats, but this report does not focus on these lands.
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