Impact: how ecotourism is harming our wild spaces

Abstract

The following thesis looks at how the U.S. National Parks Service has balanced (or at least attempted to balance) two competing goals: to preserve America's wild spaces and make those wild spaces accessible to the public. The thesis explains how the parks came to find themselves in this balancing act and how they have managed to tackle the conflict in the past. The main argument of the thesis is that much of this conflict appeared as the result of the park's implementation of transportation infrastructure. To effectively support this argument, the project broadly goes over how roadways took over much of the transportation infrastructure in the parks and how they negatively impact the environment. The thesis then discusses how the National Parks Service may more effectively combat those impacts. The remainder of the paper dedicates itself to constructing a travel film that effectively communicates the problems and solutions found and details of the film's production. The thesis found that travel films are uniquely suited to this goal and how their utilization may serve as a powerful advocacy device.