Jordan Mattox

I am working on a podcast about Galen Clark, which has led me to think a lot about the national park situation. Like many of you, I read the amazing Atlantic piece which argued we should return the land to indigenous people. I like the idea from a justice perspective, but I do think there are so many variables in how to implement such a large proposal that it may be just too difficult. Perhaps, a better solution would be to combine the forces of the national park service and utilize the knowledge discussed in M. Kat Anderson’s wonderful book Tending the Wild Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources to create a new amalgamation of the best ideas from indigenous communities and ecological science. We often are pulled by bulldozer style progress and then those who want to return to some Edenic past that just can’t exist. Instead, we need to look forward and take the best ideas from both worlds.