| OCR Text |
Show 189 Salt Lake Commercial Club.m Both The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News covered the event and quoted the representative, who spoke of the economic benefits of national parks. However, the quotes conformed to the stories' angle, which was organized around the economic impact of tourism, not the preservation ofnaturc. 564 It is not known, however, whether the Sierra Club source spoke of environmental concerns related to the parks. The primary focus of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups championing the national parks was to bring visitors in hopes of securing converts to the national park idea. This philosophy translated into environmental groups campaigning for more roads, hotels, and other conveniences in the national parks. As national park historian Alfred Runte wrote: "Until the level of visitation appeared adequate to defend the parks against utilitarian interests, preservationists themselves willingly compromised a sense of the primi1ive to encourage greater public solidarity behind the national park idea."565 The reporting confim1ed this thesis that put environmental advocates in a precarious position of, in a sense, sacrificing the parks in order to save them. For example, for environmental groups to build support for the national park idea they promoted road construction hoping to attract tourists who would become park faithful. In 1930, this effort led to blasting and paving that resulted in Zion's claim of the longest highway tunnel in the country.566 ~l Salt lake Tribune, "Park ls Reality," November 25, 1919. '"' Ibid.; Deseret Evening News, ··rark Is Big Asset," November 25, 1919. m Runte, National Parks: The American Experience, 172. ' 66 Alexander, " Red Rock ,mdGray Stone," 24. |
