John,
Do you want to see our national parks filled with trophy homes and garish hotels?
I didn’t think so — which is why I’m asking for your help to keep that from happening.
You see, within the boundaries of our National Park System are roughly 2.6 million acres that are privately owned — and many of these properties are highly desirable to developers and investors who can build whatever they want on it at any time or open it up for exploitation at any time.
For example, there are nearly 3,300 acres of land inside Zion National Park’s boundaries that are private property. These properties can block access to popular trails and other sites, and they impede wildfire management, views, water quality, and wildlife habitats.
The Trust for Public Land has been addressing this issue in two ways: purchasing properties and turning them over to the park, forest, wetland, recreation area, etc. that they’re in, and purchasing easements that keep the properties open and accessible to the public forever.
At The Trust for Public Land, we protect land for people. Thanks to our selfless members, we have recently protected and preserved:
- the 836-acre Forni Ranch inside Eldorado National Forest in California;
- 19 acres inside Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area near Atlanta, Georgia;
- two properties, totaling 296 acres, that were added to DeSoto National Forest in Mississippi.
Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. A recent report found that more than 9 million acres of public land across the West are unavailable to the public because access to them is cut off by private land.
If you care about public land, if you don’t want to see reckless development inside our national parks,
I need you to take the next step and become a member of The Trust for Public Land. Your membership will be a tremendous help in our fight to protect and preserve the public lands we both cherish.
Sincerely,
Kim Elliot
Director of Membership
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