We do recognize that America’s national parks were largely created by European Americans for their own use. A recent National Park Service study confirmed that visitors are disproportionately white and that African Americans and Hispanic Americans are underrepresented. By any measure, however, these park visitation numbers for race and ethnicity are unbalanced. It doesn’t seem right that our wonderful national parks do not better reflect our nation as a whole.

So, for many, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s statement “There is nothing so American as our national parks…. The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people.” rings hollow.