Grand Canyon Essay, Research Paper

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1919. Located in northern Arizona, the park contains the world-famous Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and includes the river?s entire course from the southern end of Glen Canyon to the eastern boundary of Lake Mead (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). The great chasm has a maximum width of 18 mi. within the park, and it is more than 5000 ft. deep (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). The northern rim of the canyon is on the average about 1200 ft. higher than the southern rim. Paved roads wind around the rims of the Grand Canyon, and trails descend into the canyon, although only one of them, the Kaibab Trail, crosses the gorge from rim to rim (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). If the park would be there today then there would be four distinct zones of climate and plant life extinct. These four regions are very important to our wildlife and I would not want to see them disappear. Dense forests of aspen, pine, fir, and spruce grow on the colder northern rim, and the southern rim is sparsely covered with pinon and juniper (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). Wildlife includes deer, antelope, cougar, and mountain sheep. All the historic landmarks of Native Americans, who at one time lived in the Grand Canyon, would be ruined if the park wasn?t there. Prehistoric Native American groups lived in the canyon and on its rims; ruins of pueblos and cliff dwellings remain. The park is bordered on the south by the reservation of the Havasupai people (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). If the park was not there then the Havasupai peoples land would probably be commercial land. In 1975 the park was nearly doubled in size by the inclusion of Grand Canyon National Monument and Marble Canyon National Monument and portions of Glen Canyon and Lake Mead national recreation areas (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). How could you think of getting rid of a park that has come so far and has doubled its size. The effects of tourism and federal water management policies led the government to take steps to protect the canyon?s environment during the 1990s. In March 1996 a controlled flood through Glen Canyon Dam was generated as a way to re-create natural spring flooding through the canyon. The results of this led to a new water-management plan (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). This plan of flooding is to restore the canyon?s natural ecosystems, which had been changed by the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). There is no reason to get rid of this park if the government even puts our tax dollars into restoring it. The park is made up of 1,217,158 acres of unique beautiful land. There is no possible good reason for getting rid of the park. We need to save the park for the sake of the land, wildlife, and tourist who have not yet seen this beautiful wonder.