from July/August 2005
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features_global.html
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Destination Scorecard: National Parks
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Waterton Lakes National Park
ALBERTA, CANADA (Score: 72)
Bordering Montana's Glacier National Park, Waterton rates high for nature and management. "A nice mix of front-country and backcountry opportunities. Visitor services are in harmony with the character of the park." Nearby lands, though, are threatened by subdivisions, logging, mining, and drilling.
6. Denali National Park & Preserve
ALASKA (Score: 71)
You take a shuttle bus to enter this huge, "awesome expanse of unbridled nature" centered on Mount McKinley (Denali), highest peak on the continent. "Denali does it right: forces people out of their cars to see the park and view wildlife in its natural setting." Panelists praise the natural attractions, not the human ones. The visitor center "resembles Grand Central Station." Gateway towns are "sprawling, unplanned, unattractive, and unsafe."
Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve
ALASKA (Score: 71)
This "unspoiled paradise" has now limited cruise ships. Park land "is ecologically intact since most use is water-based." But "the native Tlingit story of 9,000 years of adaptation is not being told."
Jasper National Park
ALBERTA, CANADA (Score: 71)
"Wide-open vistas, with sweeping landscapes" characterize the biggest of the Canadian Rockies parks—"a gorgeous treasure." "The town is authentic, tourist-tack at a minimum." Panelists differ on the park's ecological health. Several criticize Alberta's forestry, drilling, and mining activities next door.
7. Kenai Fjords National Park
ALASKA (Score: 70)
Visit by water: "an incredible place to see marine wildlife and seabirds." The gateway town, Seward, "has embraced the park." But: "Cruise traffic needs to be checked."
Still Doing OK
These 23 parks cope with a few challenges, some of them in gateway areas.
8. Big Bend National Park
TEXAS (Score: 69)
Far from almost everywhere, Big Bend suffers from both U.S. and Mexican air pollution as well as sharply lower levels in the Rio Grande. Otherwise, a winner: "Not overused by hordes of visitors. The most natural park I've visited." "Authentic, unspoiled." "The gateways of Terlingua and Lajitas tend toward a Western movie set, but not excessively."
Olympic National Park
WASHINGTON (Score: 69)
Soggy but wonderful, a "beautiful park with a less than beautiful gateway." Panelists like the park but disagree about nearby logging. "Gateway towns are laid-back; Forks once claimed to be the 'Logging Capital of the World.'"
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
NORTH DAKOTA (Score: 69)
"If you like big skies, prairie, wildlife, and a feel for the Old West, this site is worth the drive." Medora, the gateway town, is not conducive to a "contemplative visit," but "its Pitchfork Fondue and Medora Musical is an experience."
9. Fundy National Park
NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA (Score: 68)
This "beautiful little park" on the tide-famous Bay of Fundy earns praise for aesthetics, few crowds, and "a strong program of ecological restoration to bring back American martens and peregrine falcons" despite disruptive logging on the border.
Redwood National and State Parks
CALIFORNIA (Score: 68)
"Sleepy, foggy fishing villages, bays, and coves; remote, unspoiled, charming, and attractive." "The magnificence of the redwoods is unparalleled, but logging and now tourism have created a degraded mosaic of landscapes."
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