Haven’t Been There? Don’t Go

Many of us have been lucky enough to have visited places and seen sites that will become less accessible in the future, or simply no longer there. In 1956, my parents took us across the United States by car and I had the opportunity to see this country before the Interstate Highway System bypassed the “real America.” Since then I have traveled around the country, by super-highway and local roads seven times, seeing places that I could never imagine. Now, though, many such locations are no longer accessible, generally due to the volume of visitors and the results of this human invasion.

The first, to my knowledge, popular tourist site to disappear was Mesa Verde, the Anasazi dwellings in Colorado. While it used to be totally opened to visitors, access has been restricted since the late 1960s. “Mesa Verde is first and foremost an archaeological preserve, which means that access to the park's natural resources is restricted out of consideration for its many ruins. All hiking within the park is restricted to six marked and paved trails.” (Mesa Verde National Park)

In 1962, my parents had the opportunity to see the Lascaux Caves in France. Although opened to the public since its discovery in 1940, damage caused by visitors caused the closure the year after my parents were there.

“The work carried out at Lascaux shortly after the Second World War made access to the cave easier. At that time, the entrance was considerably enlarged and the floors lowered to enable the constant flow of tourists (almost 1,200 people per day) to circulate more easily. But, in 1955 the first indications of deterioration of the paintings appeared. A thorough study found that the cause was an excess of carbon dioxide in the air brought about by the visitors' breath.” (The Caves at Lascaux)

There are hundreds of other examples, from the overcrowding at US National Parks causing reservation requirements (some having to be made a year or more in advance) to the damages done at the Galápagos Islands from oil spills and heavy visitation.

Our generation was the first mass-visitors to the glaciers in Alaska and in Glacier National Park. We will also be the last. The glaciers are diminishing at a rate that, only ten years after my visit to Glacier Bay and 30 years after ice fishing in July in Glacier Park’s Quartz Lake, there are few of these ice wonders still accessible.

Perhaps, even if we knew our presence at these places were causing damage, we may still have gone. Perhaps, even if we knew the damage we were doing to the environment, we would still have caused the pollution that has ruined many locations of our planet. We can, though, hope not.

Now, armed with this knowledge, we can and should do all we can, even sacrificing trips to such tempting and inviting locations, to preserve nature and our archeological heritage. As today we may no longer visit Lascaux in person, in fifty years our grandchildren may be unable to visit Venice, the low-lying Pacific islands, or even much of Florida, New York City, or the Netherlands as the melting ice caps cause a dramatic rise in ocean levels.

No more excuses.