One of my favorite places to visit over the summer has to be Devil’s lake here in Wisconsin. It is a gorgeous national park with several facilities in which to camp or do any recreational activities. On the other hand, it is a very popular destination for tourists of both Wisconsin and the surrounding states thus causing the issue of overuse in areas.
For the times that I have gone to Devil’s lake I really enjoyed the lush and beautiful scenery, it was also a very clean park with paved roads and campgrounds that are easily accessible and rather affordable. There are options to rent cabins and canoes to kayaks and so on. All in all there are several things to do and with the money the park generates all are offered and maintained. The way the park is layed out maximizes natural space with winding roads going through it and thousands of miles of twisting trails to hike and bike through. Thus the park designers had a good sense of expansion as the years went by as new elements were added, making the preservation and modern use of this natural environment a good example of successful park preservation.
On the other hand, over one million people visit this park a year making the park seem less of a natural space then a habited tourist destination. There are always groups of people spread out within the park making the illusion of going out into a natural space seem quaint. The park sure didn’t look the same as it did when the explorers first met the native Americans living in the area. Furthermore, I rock climbed at Devils Lake before. It is always a blast and loads of fun climbing around the rock formations. Unfortunately, many natural faces have been worn down and some even impossible to climb because of the hundreds of climbers that hack carabineers into the rock to clip into while lead climbing. As nice as it would seem that natural rock climbing is the thing to be doing at Devil’s Lake, the original condition of the rock faces has long gone. Devil’s Lake as well as other major national parks seem to be too well preserved at times being subject the millions of people that explore and inhabit the parks each year.
I would have to say it is a pretty awesome park. I've only been a few times, but the view is great. Hiking trails are great and the people there are nice. I've been to others in different states and some aren't kept up as well as Devil's Lake, not to mention the amount of people that go there every year.
ReplyDeleteI agree that devil's lake is a gorgeous place to visit. Its like people like the idea of being in nature but not fully being in it. The fact that people need camp locations with paved roads instead of backpacking in the wild and setting up camp. The moment it becomes slightly uncomfortable people modify the situation instead of roughing it. Same idea with the rock climbing. Instead of destroying the natural rock they should be visiting a rock climbing facility.
ReplyDeleteSo, how do we deal with the connections between natural landscapes and tourism? What are some opportunities and challenges for these sites? How can we experience these without damaging them for the future? What is the role of preservation/conservation in these cases?
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