Natural Parks

No nation had ever done anything like that, the very idea of the Federal Government’s setting aside a portion of the public domain in the Rocky Mountains for use as a national ‘pleasuring ground’ instead of for private exploitation by farmers, ranchers, or miners had a faintly improper ring, particularly in the ‘robber baron’ era of unbridled private enterprise following the Civil War.

Nevertheless, depictions by artists and photographers, and the reports of official survey teams all pointed to one inevitable conclusion: that the Yellowstone region of the Rockies was of such exceptional beauty, such awe-aspiring dimensions, that this sublime gift of nature was a natural treasure, far too valuable for private development, and that it must belong in perpetuity to the entire American people.

Accordingly, Congress passed and President Grant signed legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park, which over the years has been extended to take in 2.2 million acres of breathtakingly beautiful country in Idaho, Montana, and – mainly – Wyoming. Yellowstone became the first reserve of its kind in the world and the model for US national park system.

Almost two decades passed before new national parks were created, and then, in 1890, Sequoia and Yosemite were both established in California. Subsequently, the pace quickened, particularly during Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation-minded administration, when eight new national parks were established.

Today there are 38 national parks, most of them in the West, covering more than 14 million acres. Additional millions of acres have been set aside as national monuments, national recreation areas, national forests and national seashores. Within those sanctuaries millions of vacationing Americans each year enjoy days or weeks of relaxation amid nature’s most impressive splendors – preserved by man for posterity.

Control Questions:

1.Name 50 states of the United States of America.

2.What are the main natural resources of each state of the USA?

3. What are the biggest rivers of the United States?

4. Name the trees which prevail in the United States.

5. What kind of birds live in the United States?

6. Why were the national perks established?

7. Name the most popular and the biggest national parks.

8. Where is the USA situated?

9. What countries does the USA boder on?

10. What are the highest mountains of the country?

11. What can you say about the climate of the country?

Lecture 7

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