WAC - Is Ecotourism Helping Or Hurting Our National Parks?

Ecotourism - Environmental and Wildlife Impacts

Do you ever wonder what your impact on the environment is? Ecotourism is hurting our national parks for four important reasons. When animals are near humans, we are destroying their natural wild behavior. Humans also have many impacts on the environment such as pollution, the use of unnatural resources, and other physical impacts. Ecotourism contributes to the destroying of natural habitats, areas, and landscapes in various ways. Human’s poor choices and interactions with wildlife can have some serious damage on the environment. Even though ecotourism may sound like a great idea, here are some reasons otherwise.

When we humans are in national parks, we are physically destroying natural habitats and areas. “But let’s not fail to consider the drawbacks as well. To make an area accessible to visitors, infrastructure has to be built and transportation has to be arranged. The revenue generated for local economies is often seasonal. Areas may start to cater to more tourists, over time changing the landscape that we are trying so hard to protect,” states a source from KQED education. To make money and have more tourists, national parks are required to create hotels and cabins for living. They may also need to create roads and parking lots for transportation. Adding all of these extra necessities to natural areas can cause damage and have negative impacts on wildlife, nature, and more.

Humans also have many direct impacts on the environment such as pollution, the use of unnatural resources, and destroying natural habitats and areas in various ways. According to a source from the United Nations Environment Programme, “Tourism can cause the same forms of pollution as any other industry: air emissions, noise, solid waste and littering, releases of sewage, oil and chemicals, even architectural/visual pollution.” Pollution caused by buildings, transportation, and more in national parks can cause harm towards the animals and plants that are living there in various ways. For example, if an animal eats the trash left by humans, this can cause the animals to choke on trash and can get them hurt. Also, if humans leave food behind, the animals will get used to eating the leftover food, which can cause them to stop eating their natural-born food.

When animals are near humans, we are destroying their natural wild behavior. Professor and chair of the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at University of California Los Angeles Daniel Blumstein and his colleagues have been researching about human and animal interactions from around the world, and came to the conclusion that when animals become used to being near humans, they can lose some of their life-saving instincts. “Animals become tame around people, and this may increase their vulnerability to predators,” Blumstein said. This shows that when we are nearer and nearer to animals, we are taming them (almost like house dogs or cats.) When animals are tamed, they lose some of their instincts and the factors that help them live when they are in the wild. One life-saving instinct that could be destroyed by ecotourism is hunting for their own food. If animals get used to getting food from humans and leftover trash, they can forget how to get food on their own. If they do not get food from humans, this can cause them to starve because they got used to getting food from humans.

Bill Stiver, a wildlife biologist and head of the wildlife division at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, says that there are many bears getting used to having humans around in their territory. "Once that behavior gets ingrained, it's really, really hard to change," Stiver says. He is studying the ways that bears are interacting with humans and how this changes them. He classifies the bears based on whether they are habituated (used to humans) or not. “A food conditioned bear is one that is coming to humans and trying to get their food or trash. It identifies humans as sources of food and seeks them out - even if it takes a road to get across. This is not good for the human, the bear, and definitely not for the person with the task of protecting both.” As animals start to get used to having humans around, this can change their behavior and natural adaptations.

“Attractive landscape sites, such as sandy beaches, lakes, riversides, and mountain tops and slopes, are often transitional zones, characterized by species-rich ecosystems. Typical physical impacts include the degradation of such ecosystems,” states a source from the United Nations Environment Programme. This shows that this can change ecosystems and cause some natural areas to be destroyed. When these areas are destroyed, this means the natural habitats of various animals and plants to be destroyed, which can lead to extinction of that species, which can then mess up the food chain of other animals. As you can see, one problem or disturbance of nature can have a big impact on the environment.

On the other side of the argument, some scientists state that ecotourism can help tourists to learn more about the world we live in, inspiring tourists to become more sustainable. For example, founder and president of the nonprofit Manta Pacific Research Foundation Keller Laros is studying Hawaii's manta ray population and attempting to determine how ecotourism is affecting the manta rays. “People see a manta ray and they come away from it changed,” Laros said. “All of a sudden they're curious about marine ecology and they're passionate about marine conservation. These animals change people's' lives. They changed mine.” Even though these reasons positive effects towards humans, we cannot be selfish enough to ignore the impacts of ecotourism on the animals and plants that are in that environment.

When people are exploring in these natural areas, they can create shortcuts off trails without knowing the impacts. Shortcuts create new trails and increase trail erosion. This is bad for the animals and nature at national parks because it can destroy their habitat, which can eventually cause that species to get close to extinction. Also, when people are going off path, they can be stepping on precious plants and animals without realizing this. Those effects can have serious damage on the environment. 

Humans poor choices towards animals and nature can also have negative impacts towards our national parks. According to KQED education,“Visitors’ poor behavior has been a growing problem, too. In the past couple of years, the national parks have made headlines several times because of human misbehavior. In 2015, a family interfered with a bison calf in Yellowstone National Park, which they had presumed was in danger because it was alone in the snow. Bison are physiologically equipped to handle the harsh winters in the midwest. In the end, the family’s misjudgment cost the bison its life after attempts to reunite it with its herd failed.” This shows that humans’ poor choices can also have big effects on our national parks and has long-lasting impacts. Some other humans behavior that have had effects on the environment are by being too close to animals. This can scare the animals and put them in danger.

In conclusion, ecotourism is causing many negative impacts on the environment. Some important reasons why we are hurting the environment are that when animals are near humans, we are destroying their natural wild behavior. Humans also have many impacts on the environment such as pollution, the use of unnatural resources, and other various physical impacts. Destroying natural habitats, areas, and landscapes in various ways can also have impacts on animals, plants, and even humans. Human’s poor choices and interactions with wildlife can have some serious damage on the environment in different ways. Now that you know more about ecotourism and its effects on the environment, what do you think your effect on the environment is?