National Parks Are America’s Greatest Idea—and Biggest Problem

Unpacked by Afar | Travel Smarter, More Responsibly · Aug 17, 2023 · 27m

When you think of America’s national parks, what comes to mind? For many of us—myself included—it’s the sense of openness, freedom, and awe that places like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite can spark. And yet, as we’ll learn in today’s episode, that’s not the whole story.

Hundreds of years ago, Indigenous communities throughout the United States lived on and cared for much of the land that makes up America’s 400-plus national parks and other protected lands under the National Park Service (NPS). Then settlers arrived and an ugly chapter in our national history unfolded, one that included the…