National Parks In American【1】, priority is given to the amusement of the public. But for the National Parks, the priority is【

National Parks
   In this lecture, I’d like to talk about America’s national parks.
   The national Park Service of the USA controls more than 77 million acres of land, divided up into 320 park sites of extraordinary variety, the latest covering huge areas of wilderness in Alaska.  There are urban or city parks, there are ancient buildings and historic sites, seashore parks, national rivers, anti more anti more reereation areas where priority is given to the amusement of the public. Finally there are the National Parks themselves, which are visited by millions, but where the priority is conservation.  In a country of free enterprise, where business interests are so powerful, these parks play an essential role. It was the conservationists who saved the remaining giant redwood trees and created the National Redwood Park, on the far side of the Golden Gate Bridge which spans the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The lumberjacks were so furious that they marched into the city to protest, shouting "No more parks!" But the environmentalists  and conservationists have always been allowed to have their say in the "Land of the Free", and their influence has been greater than in most countries.
   The first national park, founded in 1872, was Yellowstone in the State of Wyoming. Yellowstone has springs which shoot jets of boiling water 200 teet up into the air, a deep canyon where a rushing river pours over mighty waterfalls. There are snowy mountain peaks, tree-fringed lakes and vast forests, as well as broad water meadows, across which the Yellowstone River glides gently on its way to the canyon. On these meadows many animals come to graze in the evening.
   American national parks represent one of the finest examples of nature conservation in the world. All the parks are kept as "natural" as possible. In the Far West, lumbermen devastated whole forests. But no tree-felling is allowed in the parks. When a tree falls, it is left to rot and enrich the soil, and encourage young trees to grow. Even natural forest fires, those not started by man, are allowed, in many parks, to burn themselves out.
   The national parks are run by the National Park Ranger Service. The Rangers are men and women with special qualities, for they are not only conservationists. They also have to look after the visitors. They act as guides, and must be ready to answer quite learned questions on the plants, animals and geology of the parks. In addition they are trained policemen and policewomen qualified to use gun, though they keep these weapons out of sight in their cars, not wishing to spoil their friendly image with the public.
   Rangers must be ready to deal with emergencies of all kinds. They frequently have to rescue inexperienced climbers stuck half way up a mountain rock face. Then there are some hikers, who in midsummer walk with their packs on their backs to the bottom of the Grand Canyon without enough water, regardless of the warning that the temperature is many degrees higher on the floor of the canyon.
   In the mountains and forests of the northwestern states there is one animal that is especially to be feared, the brown bear or grizzly. It is the largest and most ferocious flesh eater in the world and will attack humans on sight. Grizzlies are now rare, but there are more than 250 of them in Yellowstone. There are warnings everywhere, about leaving food uncovered in tents at night, about what to do if you suddenly meet a grizzly on a lonely trail. The grizzly is a protected animal, and if the Rangers have to shoot one, they use tranquilizing darts instead of bullets whenever possible.  There are about 100 grizzly incidents a year, a few of which are fatal. Not many when one considers that 2.5 million people visit Yellowstone each year.