THE NATIONAL PARKS SYSTEM 239 



ture, national parks are theoretically untouched by 

 man's hand except for roads to enter and examine 

 them, trails to points of beauty and interest, and 

 hotels and camps for the use of visitors. Flora and 

 fauna theoretically are left to nature's handling. 

 But a paternal government fights forest diseases 

 with scientific treatment, and reduces the number of 

 predatory animals for the safety of those which add 

 much to the life and charm of the wilderness. 



Natural balance of life, therefore, no longer 

 actually exists. This is the principal blotting of the 

 record of creation in our Standard National Parks 

 System besides concentration of human population 

 in one or more spots in each; this we shall consider 

 later; neither can be helped. 



This system, which John C. Merriam has so 

 aptly called our Super-University of Nature, is one 

 of the most precious of national possessions. Its 

 educative application far exceeds mere imparting of 

 scientific knowledge, and, as a field of research 

 among unmodified natural conditions, its value to 

 the future is beyond estimation. 



Nor is even this the parks' highest function. 

 'Their primary uses," writes Dr. Merriam, "extend 

 far into that fundamental education which concerns 

 real appreciation of nature. Here beauty in its truest 

 sense receives expression and exerts its influence 

 along with recreation and formal education. To me 

 the parks are not merely places to rest and exercise 

 and learn. They are regions where one looks 



