Page Two

There is a worldwide love affair with parks. Millions flock to them each year. Since Yellowstone (seen here) became the world’s first national park in 1872, over a hundred countries have established some 2,000 protected areas, for example, Glacier National Park in the United States (seen on the cover).

Why are people so enamored with parks? Could the earth ever become one worldwide park? What dangers are there in many parks, and how can you enjoy them in safety? This issue of Awake! not only answers these questions but explains how the dangers certain animals now present will, in time, be eliminated.

We Were Made to Enjoy Parks

MOST of us experience a feeling of peace and contentment when we can get away from the hustle and bustle of city life to enjoy the beauties of some natural setting. John Muir, a well-known early conservationist, noted: “Mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”

So it should not surprise us that our Creator provided the first human pair a beautiful gardenlike park as a home. It occupied a portion of the region called Eden and so was called “the garden of Eden.” This gardenlike park was very large. This is shown by the fact that a river watering it separated and formed the headwaters of four major rivers and that “every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food” was found in the garden.​—Genesis 2:8-10, 15.

Until the present century, most of humankind lived where they could be refreshed by such “fountains of life.” But then people started cramming together into large cities, and wilderness areas began to be damaged and even ruined by man. The idea, therefore, to set aside areas as national parks has rightly been called “a grand and fabulous notion.” When and how did this notion originate?

The First National Parks

Its origin might be dated to 1870. After exploring the Yellowstone region of the United States, an expedition of men gathered around an evening campfire and reviewed the remarkable sights they had seen. One of them, Cornelius Hedges, later a governor of the Montana Territory, proposed that the region be preserved as a national park for the benefit of future generations. The others enthusiastically agreed. Two years later the idea won approval, and in 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill that made Yellowstone the world’s first national park.

Later, imitating the example of Yellowstone, a natural sanctuary in New South Wales, Australia, was created that is now known as the Royal National Park. Then just 13 years after Yellowstone was inaugurated, the world’s third national park was created in Alberta, Canada. It was interesting how this occurred.

Canada was then a new nation committed to a rail link through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. One day in November 1883, three railway workers exploring the wilderness near Fort Calgary came upon warm mineral water bubbling up from the earth. The value of these springs was realized, and legal battles to establish ownership rights followed.

Soon, however, the Canadian government stepped in. It could see that the area had the potential to draw tourists, and it was disinclined to give the rights to any private entrepreneurs. So, in 1885, the government passed an order-in-council decreeing that the area be set aside for “sanitary advantage to the public” and be “reserved from sale or settlement or squatting.” The original 10-square-mile [26 sq km] site has been enlarged to become part of a 2,564-square-mile [6,641 sq km] reserve known as Banff National Park.

Canada now has some 30 of such parks throughout the country, with a land area equal to that of England. The United States has more than 300 such areas in its National Park System, totaling well over twice the land area of England. Worldwide, the “grand and fabulous notion” of having national parks has caught on to such an extent that there are more than 2,000 protected areas in about 120 different countries.

A Change in Emphasis

Originally, the Banff area was, in effect, a spa for the privileged few. “Since we can’t export the scenery,” one early promoter stated, “we’ll have to import the tourists.” And tourists did come. In fact, tourists have so inundated some national parks that these are overcrowded and congested beyond belief. “The crowds,” said one family after visiting Yellowstone, “dismayed us​—it was like the streets of Manhattan [New York City].” Rangers in some parks have had to be trained in police techniques and narcotics control.

Recently, however, there have been greater efforts to preserve the natural state of the parks. For example, in Yosemite, a famous California park, removal of such facilities as the commercial garage, gift shops, ice rinks, golf courses, tennis courts, and swimming pools has been an issue. Park managers are trying to provide recreational facilities that are compatible with long-range protection of the natural resources.

This is certainly true in Canada, as evidenced by the Parks Canada Policy of 1979. It states that the national parks are designed ‘to protect for all time representative natural areas and leave them unimpaired for future generations.’

One of the main functions of many parks is to protect the animals. In Italy the Gran Paradiso National Park, created in 1922, protects the ibex, once hunted to the verge of extinction. And the Gir Wild Life Sanctuary created in 1965 in India protects the last of the Asian lions that once roamed the country. An estimated 60 million bison, or buffalo, once roamed North America, but by 1900 the bison faced extinction. Now, as a result of protective measures, many thousands of them are found in such places as the large Wood Buffalo National Park.

Indeed, visiting national parks, hiking in wilderness areas, and seeing animals in their natural settings is refreshing to the spirit. It is, as it were, a fountain of life. But there are dangers to be aware of.

Enjoy Them in Safety

By a warden in the Waterton Lakes National Park

WARDENS are often involved in search-and-rescue missions because tourists fail to use good judgment and get in trouble. To illustrate: Two young men were overdue from climbing a mountain near Banff National Park. Their parents contacted the warden service, shortly after which we located their car. Through our spotting scope, we sighted a climber perched on a ledge, unable to move.

Climbing close to him, we called out for the whereabouts of his partner. “Is he above you? Is he below?” We received only a grunt in reply. People in stressful situations sometimes detach their mind from reality. We found his partner below; he had fallen to his death. Human error is invariably involved in such incidents.

So when people come to us and inquire about a hike or a climb or a trip through bear country, the information we give is simple, clear, and specific. At times park visitors must feel that we talk to them as if they were children. Many just cannot comprehend what can happen to them in the wilderness or on the mountain. They seem impatient to get started but have no understanding of what’s ahead. Therefore, our message is repetitious and full of warnings.

In the case of the two youths, all they had for a climbing rope was a sash cord with a metal hook on one end. They got into a situation where they couldn’t go up and couldn’t go down. The youth on the ledge was overcome with fear. He sat down and couldn’t move. So his friend decided to climb down with the rope to the next ledge and go for help. Knowing he would be gone for a while, he left his jacket so that his companion could keep warm. On his descent, the hook to which the rope was attached came undone from a crack in the rock, and he fell to his death.

In Bear Country

In another incident, a couple were completing the last stages of a hike down Boundary Creek outside Waterton in southern Alberta. Suddenly they caught sight of a bear coming down the trail toward them. The woman, who had a pack on her back, threw herself down on the trail in a fetal position, hands behind the neck, knees up over her stomach. Her husband froze with fear, standing about 20 feet [6 m] from her, watching the approaching bear.

The bear immediately went toward the woman, scratching at the pack on her back in an effort to get food. It inflicted scratches on her back, hip, and buttocks. Finally, realizing he had to do something, her husband reached into his pack and threw some sandwiches on the ground. In doing so, a pot fell from his pack onto a rock, and the noise caused the bear to break off and scurry back into the woods. The couple then made a hasty retreat. We had to destroy the bear, as it had been involved in previous incidents with humans.

The lesson from this is: If you are wearing a pack and are approached by a bear, get rid of the pack. Bears will often approach people to get them to drop their packs for the food they contain; they very quickly learn to do this. The discarded pack or camera or whatever object you have can distract the bear, buying you time to escape.

Photographers must take care to avoid getting too close to bears in efforts to take pictures. In the spring of 1988, a man and his wife were camped at a site in Glacier National Park. They spotted a sow grizzly bear with three cubs. The husband left with a camera that featured automatic multiexposures. He took the first pictures from a safe position on the slope opposite the bears. Then he began to get overconfident, as the bears seemed to ignore his presence.

He cautiously crossed the slope until he was on the same avalanche path as the bears. The pictures, developed later from this multiexposure camera, showed the bears closer and closer. He wanted to get the shot of a lifetime and was far too close to the sow, violating her space, forcing her to make a decision either to run or to attack.

The final pictures in the camera showed signs that the bear had had enough​—and it charged! The photographer tried to climb a tree, but it was too late. The bear got to him first and inflicted fatal injuries.

In another incident in the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park, a man was bitten on the thigh and hand by a female grizzly. She had two cubs with her. The incident didn’t make sense. She had charged from a distance of about 500 feet [150 m], leaving her cubs unprotected. It is not likely a bear would run that distance away from her cubs to attack a person for no apparent reason.

We had a feeling that the hiker’s dog had gone up to the bear and that the bear had chased the dog back to its owner. When we suggested this to the dog’s owner, he denied it, citing the park regulations that a dog must be on a leash, under physical control at all times. I turned to the warden with me and said that we’d have to destroy the bear. Immediately, the hiker’s response was, “Why?”

“The bear attack appears to be unprovoked,” we answered, “so the animal has to be destroyed.”

He thought it over for a moment and then confessed: “OK. You’re right. What you said is exactly what happened. My dog on the loose provoked the bear.”

Some people, when hiking the backcountry, feel that a dog is a protection. It is exactly the opposite. An untrained dog will often run up to a bear, bark, and then bring the pursuing bear back to its defenseless master.

To give another incident involving a bear attack: A child was reported to have been bitten by a bear. We learned that two children had been playing on a gravel bar while the father was fishing not far away. The bear suddenly bolted out of the bush and grabbed one child and dragged it off. The father rushed after the bear and retrieved the child, whom he found abandoned by the bear.

It was our opinion that it was a case of mistaken identity. The children playing down on their hands and knees could have been mistaken by the bear for fawns, or perhaps elk calves. The bear had apparently abandoned the child of its own volition when it determined its prey was human. Unfortunately, the one bite was enough to injure the child fatally. So remember, bears are not tame just because they are in the park. They can attack children and sometimes do, as this experience shows. So keep your children with you.

Another thing to remember is to make noise while in bear country. This way you will not surprise the bears. There is safety in numbers; a group of seven or so will displace nearly any bear. On the other hand, if you have been relatively quiet and then see a bear and it hasn’t seen you, it may be best not to make any sudden, unexpected sound that may provoke an attack. At times a surprised bear will bluff an attack, huffing or growling and approaching in a threatening manner. You are too close and are being warned. It’s time to use discretion and back out quietly, leaving the area to the bear. This is one argument you cannot win.

So take the time to read park brochures about bears so as to know what to do and what to look for while in bear country.

Other Warden Duties

Besides managing the bears, we frequently patrol the park’s highways, lakes, campgrounds, and backcountry. We are also responsible for law enforcement, resource management, fire control, and public safety. While we protect and care for the park in many ways, we also protect people from themselves. To illustrate:

In Banff National Park, there is a popular area called Johnston Canyon. It’s a pleasant one-hour walk to the Upper Falls. Signs are posted and barriers erected so that hikers will stay on the trail. One woman ignored the signs, walked around the end of the fence, and climbed down to the water’s edge to wash her feet. Another woman coming up the trail decided that this was a good idea and did the same. The simple task finished, she stood up on the smooth rock slab, lost her footing, and slipped into the fast-flowing stream.

The first woman reached out and touched her hand but couldn’t hold her. She was swept to her death over the falls. The really sad thing was that she was on her honeymoon, married for just three days. What a needless waste of life​—if only she had not disregarded the signs and the barrier!

The life of a park warden is generally a rewarding life. We are very much immersed in nature, having a hand in the preservation and restoration of what is natural. But the human element is always there, and as I’ve recounted, some visits to parks end in tragedy. Most others, however, have a happy and sometimes even humorous ending.

For example, while driving down a busy park highway, a park warden noticed a motorist parked on the shoulder of the road. A passenger in the vehicle was feeding a bear through the passenger’s window. The warden walked over to the driver to discuss the matter, as the animal was being fed on the opposite side of the vehicle. On being informed that what they were doing was both unsafe and unlawful, the passenger quickly rolled up the window to the chagrin of the bear, which promptly ran around to the other side of the car, where the warden was still talking to the driver. The surprised bear came to an abrupt halt a scant three feet [1 m] from the warden and waited, looking for all the world as if to say, “I’ll wait my turn, warden, but hurry up, will you!”

Our duties in the park have changed considerably in the last two decades. The modern visitor is not as well-equipped to cope with the wilderness as were visitors in years gone by. So a bit of advice: If you are planning to hike into the backcountry, shorts, T-shirts, sandals, and a light lunch just won’t do. A beautiful summer’s day can change ever so quickly to wind and snow, causing you to suffer from exposure or hypothermia. Be prepared for the unexpected, and always carry extra food and clothing to complete your trip safely.

In addition, you should never climb or hike alone. Climb within your ability. Amateur mountaineers come from sea level and can’t perform the same at 4,500 to 8,000 feet [1,400 to 2,400 m]. So don’t overestimate your strength; the demands will always be greater than you imagine. Start early and turn back in adverse weather.

In conclusion, remember that in a wilderness park, you are a guest. Even rocks and small creatures are protected, as are also flowers and vegetation. So leave only footsteps. Take only pictures and fond memories back home with you.

[Picture on page 7]

Extreme caution is vital when in the territory of grizzlies

[Picture on page 8]

I serve as a warden here in Waterton Lakes National Park

Beautiful Parks of the World

NEW ZEALAND

Fiordland National Park, the largest in New Zealand, was created in 1904. It features a spectacular seacoast, high mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests, and glaciers. Discovered here in 1948 was the flightless takahe, which was thought to be extinct.

KENYA

Nairobi National Park is situated at the gate of the nation’s capital, only a few minutes’ drive from Nairobi’s city center. It offers views of buffalo, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, ostriches, rhinoceroses, and sleeping lions, which are undisturbed by the presence of visitors.

U.S.A./​CANADA

Waterton Lakes National Park, where prairies meet the mountains, was established in 1895, and Glacier National Park in 1910. Upon the urging of many, these two parks were united in 1932 as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the first of its type. The parks contain spectacular scenery, situated as they are astride the Continental Divide. Grizzly bears, black bears, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, and cougars make this frontier park their home, along with mule deer, white-tailed deer, and elks.

BRAZIL/​ARGENTINA

Iguaçú National Park is, in fact, two parks; the Argentinean park was created in 1909, and the adjoining Brazilian park in 1939. The world-famous Iguaçú Falls are higher than Niagara Falls and wider than Africa’s Victoria Falls. Here also is some of the most luxuriant, beautiful vegetation found anywhere in the world.

JAPAN

Nikko National Park embraces a large area of lakes, waterfalls, plateaus, and mountains and is typical of the Japanese landscape. It is the home of the protected Japanese serow, or goat antelope. Other animals in the park are the Japanese black bear and the Japanese macaque, or short-tailed monkey.