Essay - Places We Must Save by Gordon

Places We Must Save

by Gordon

     Our world has many beautiful places to play with. Some of the most important places are being harmed! Places may be popular, but people can harm the environment without knowing! Boats can cause pollution and so can other vehicles. Native plants are kicked out because the plants fight for water with plants not native to the park! Insects may look cute and small like the insects won't do anything, but the insects can kill an entire plant in months!

     So many people go to beautiful places! Some parks don't want to count how many visitors went there! Yosemite national park is one of them, every year over three million people including brave crowds. Many people enjoy the majesty and the animals that live in Yosemite national park. The scenery of the outlook places and angles are just right to get the best possible way to enjoy Half Dome and Glacier Point. In 1916, 35 parks and monuments were already in US. 75% of the 3.4 million people who go to national parks use free passes. People like to use at all the national park! I feel people should take care of all the hard work in the parks!

     In Florida Bay, there are a lot of boats. Sea grass beds are being damaged because of oil spills. Boats often cross animals which are migrating in the water. Boats go in front of the animal's path. This stops their migrating route. Boat crossings may also make the sea dirty and are polluted at the sea bottom. 58 acres at the Florida Bay have already been wrecked! Luckily, only 58 acres out of 10,000 acres has been damaged. After the 58 acres have been destroyed, the news put a mini alert to everyone. People decided to save 6.8 acres by not having any boats cross. Isn't that fantastic? Still, that is very small compared to the total amount of acres left. People must work hard!

     Many not native plants have harmed native plants living at the park. Many insects are killing plants and trees! Insects kill an entire plant in not years but just months. Aphids can eat a lot of leaves. Some hemlock trees are native and being attacked by Asian adelgid which just arrived in 2002. In 2001, a hot spring pool in Yellowstone called the Morning Glory Pool turned from the regular turquoise color to a dull green shade because of a few traditions. It is said if you throw a coin in the pool and wish for something, it will be true. But legends do not mean to do it every time you are there! This problem cause a beautiful turquoise natural spring to become a dull green pool. It may be shocking to hear only two cleaners can clean 10,000 hot spring pools in a day! That would mean one would have to do 5,000 to make it an equal split! This is probably the reason why cleaners tell you to be clean. People often ask cleaners questions. The most common one is," Why do you try to clean all of those pools in one day?" Their response is to look at the hot spring pools. It looks like junk is on the floor.

     People visiting the park think it is fun to watch battling deer, but the visitors don't know roadside animals are not exactly too friendly. Here is one tip... Don't go to a meadow and pet a roadside animal. Just because the animals live near people doesn't mean roadside animals are always calm. This is a common mistake. Still, the scenery is good. People can choose many ways to get around. There is a bus which gives you a little less exercise but it lets people rest and enjoy the beauty, not rushing to get somewhere.

     Our national parks may be beautiful and fun to play. But still we must remember to respect them. No ordinary park can have over 3 million people! Many humans want to help, and don't want to harm the environment. But still some people harm nature. Our national parks are in peril!