Most national parks impacted by air pollution, new report says
Newsy
The report looked at three main ways in which air pollution impacts parks: hazy skies, unhealthy air and harm to nature.
Vast landscapes, blue skies and mountain peaks that go on forever; there are many reasons why people view national parks as an escape from our everyday lives, but a new report says national parks are not escaping the effects of air pollution.
"We are concerned to see that air pollution and climate pollution continue to be really problematic health threats for the parks across the country," said Ulla Reeves, interim director of the Clean Air Program with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).
NPCA released their Polluted Parks report last month, an update to a similar report released in 2019. The group advocates for additional protections for national parks.
While there were some modest improvements since 2019, an overwhelming number of national parks exhibited what the group calls unsatisfactory levels of concern.
"Air pollution can travel very far away, many, many miles away from the original sources and the consequences have impacts for people who are visiting the national parks. The consequences are very problematic for nature in particular," said Reeves.
