Going to eastern China? You’ll see granite and sandstone cliffs rising against the sky. Going southwest? You’ll find the lush forests where giant pandas make their homes. If you’re headed northeast, you’ll see the boreal forests where endangered Siberian tigers roam. China is huge. It’s the world’s third-biggest country, and it has a lot of natural wonders to save—or lose.
Chinese officials have a big task ahead of them. They’re getting ideas for their national parks from the fourth-biggest country, the United States. Imagine discovering the United States little by little. Pioneers moved west in America in the 1840s and 1850s. They were stunned by what they saw. Deserts, mountains, forests, canyons, and plains stretched before them. Some wanted to preserve what they found.
Yellowstone National Park takes up more than 3,000 square miles in the American West. Most believe it was the first national park in the world. Before Yellowstone, most Europeans and Americans thought of nature mainly as a way to get food, clothing, and shelter. But that changed. Conservationists encouraged others: Protect some wild lands. Preserve the creatures that live on them. They didn’t want future generations to say, “What scenery? What animals? I just see buildings!”
President Ulysses S. Grant set aside more than a million acres of land for parks in 1872. That included Yellowstone. This land wouldn’t belong to anybody. It would belong to everybody. Everyone would be able to enjoy it. (Well, almost everybody. Sadly, the plan didn’t include Native Americans. And they had lived on the land for centuries!)
Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901. He loved to hunt. But as President Roosevelt hunted in the American West, he became discouraged. Bison, elk, sheep, and deer were being wiped out. Yet it seemed that people thought resources would last forever. He encouraged Americans to ask: What will happen when forests are gone? What will people do when they have used up all the coal, iron, oil, and gas? What will happen when soil is poor and rivers are polluted? During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt protected about 230 million acres of public land.
