The National Park Service likes to celebrate beginnings: a new hiking trail at Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio, the first steps into a newly found passage at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the establishment of Amache National Historic Site in Colorado. But some beginnings are worrying — like discovering legacy pollution in a park.
Then the goal runs backward: returning a contaminated site to its original, unimpaired state. Getting back to "old" can take years of studies and millions of dollars that any superintendent would rather spend on something new. The work is arduous and unglamorous, but it is essential to preserving the park system for this and future generations — and the Park Service's Park Planning, Facilities and Lands Directorate makes a point of celebrating it.
Image from the National Park Service's article on pollution cleanup in the parks.
Recent cleanups
| Park | Site | What's being done |
|---|---|---|
| Mojave National Preserve, California | Valgold Mine | Cleanup completed; it received the Department of the Interior's 2023 Environmental Achievement Award for Remediation and Restoration |
| Virgin Islands National Park | Caneel Bay | Removing a landfill containing hazardous substances that affect the local environment; funded in 2023 by the Inflation Reduction Act |
| Yosemite National Park, California | El Capitan | Removing sources of legacy pollution, keeping contamination from leaching into the Merced Wild and Scenic River, and restoring the natural watershed; also Inflation Reduction Act funding, on track to finish in 2024 |
| Yosemite National Park | Cascades | In the final stages: removing contaminants from a former wood treatment area to reduce risks to people and the environment |
| Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska | Glass-Heifner Mine | Newly funded: removing contaminated mine tailings to keep them out of the water supporting a salmon stream, protect tribal resources, and improve outdoor spaces and habitat |
Yosemite's El Capitan site near the Merced Wild and Scenic River, 2016. Credit: National Park Service.
Field work at Yosemite's Cascades site, 2023. Credit: National Park Service.
Mine debris at the Glass-Heifner Mine site, Kenai Fjords National Park, 2021. Credit: National Park Service.
Why it matters
Whether the aim is restoring a watershed, reducing health risks or protecting tribal resources, these projects safeguard both ecosystems and people. Finishing them is not just a return to "old" but a step toward a sustainable, unimpaired future for the parks. Contaminated sites are rarely exciting and never easy — but tending to them is part of what keeps the National Park System going.
Sources
Based on "Preserving the Past, Ensuring the Future: NPS Celebrates the Unseen Triumphs in Pollution Cleanup," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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