Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8-6
Natural capital:
national forests, national parks, and wildlife refuges managed by the U.S. federal
government. U.S. citizens jointly own these and other public lands. (Data from U.S. Geological Survey)
the National Park Service (NPS). It includes 58 major
parks (mostly in the West, Figure 5-21, p. 94) and 331
national recreation areas, monuments, memorials, bat-
tlefields, historic sites, parkways, trails, rivers, sea-
shores, and lakeshores. Only camping, hiking, sport
fishing, and boating can take place in the national
parks, whereas sport hunting, mining, and oil and gas
drilling are allowed in national recreation areas.
The most restricted public lands are 660 roadless
areas that make up the
National Wilderness Preservation
System.
These areas lie within the national parks, na-
tional wildlife refuges, national forests, and national
resource lands and are managed by the agencies in
charge of those lands. Most of these areas are open
only for recreational activities such as hiking, sport
fishing, camping, and nonmotorized boating.
