Resisting the Pressures of the Present: Channel Islands National Park as a Case Study in Public Policymaking

Preserving the natural conditions of a park for the future depends on resisting the pressures of the present. Pressures have always existed to use national parks and historic sites for purposes other than preservation. Park units have been subject to nearly constant pressure from powerful interests seeking to extract resources and develop the land … those interests have often found receptive ears in political authorities seeking opportunities for short term advantage. … Political scientists have long argued that support for public goods (like parks) is usually overwhelmed by demands from private interests (pursuing such activities as development) precisely because advocacy of public goods is relatively unorganized and unfocused.

(Lowry 1994, 4)

The idea of setting aside large tracts of land as part of a public system for recreation and preservation of natural resources was first put into practice more than a century ago in the American West. Although several agencies have charges related to the management of federal lands, the National Park Service is the most visible. Institutions whose mission includes preservation or conservation of natural resources face particular challenges in carrying out their task, often in spite of efforts to exploit resources in their charge for commercial or private purposes. As of 2010, the National Park Service managed 392 areas of natural, historic or recreational significance, 58 of which have been designated as National Parks. These sites were created and maintained, often in spite of political forces (described in the quotation above) that favor potentially lucrative private uses over protection of land through public ownership and stewardship. Events both leading to and following the establishment of Channel Islands National Park illustrate this tension between private use and public preservation of unique pieces of the American landscape.

Eight islands located off the coast of southern California are known collectively as the Channel Islands. The establishment of a national park containing these islands was first officially recommended by a government survey in 1933, yet legislation establishing Channel Islands National Park (CINP) was not signed into law until 1980. Disputes over acquisition of privately owned land lasted an additional seventeen years, and controversies surrounding the continuation of private commercial hunting within the park boundaries continue to this day. This study explores the conditions that permitted successful passage of PL 96-199, which created the fortieth national park, and why enactment of that legislation did not guarantee a smooth and seamless integration of all five islands within the park boundaries.

The factors that allowed supporters of Channel Islands National Park to overcome the inherent political obstacles to preservation make the history of this park a case worthy of detailed examination. The history of the park offers opportunities to observe and better understand the forces that have an impact on the creation, development, and challenges associated with the unique units of the national park system. This case study highlights the central role that individual policy entrepreneurs play in shaping the course of units within that system.

National Parks as Political Entities

The establishment of a unit of the National Park Service system has always been a political decision.¹ The first national park, Yellowstone, was created by an Act of Congress in 1872 largely at the behest of a group of influential individuals who visited the remote area and wanted to protect the natural beauty from private encroachment. While several of the early parks were created or developed with the support of interests such as railroads, which saw parks as a means to increase tourist traffic, since that time many efforts to establish or expand parks have met significant resistance and opposition primarily from local and regional interests. In cases such as Grand Teton and Kenai Fjords, local opposition centered on the loss of control and threats to existing land uses.² In 1906, Congress gave the president the power to create national monuments, which would be protected from private development and removal of artifacts through the Antiquities Act, a power that has frequently generated political controversy when used.³ Since the creation of the first national park...