The Early Park Movements

From 1925 to 1945 a relatively sustained effort existed to establish a park in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas. The effort, however, was highly fragmented. Little substantive exchange took place between interested citizens and park agencies. Boosters were interested in expanding tourism because their communities would experience economic benefits. The spiritual and psychological appeal of the mountains and canyons of the Guadalupes so enthralled them that they gave little thought to the problems involved in administering a large park. Acquisition of the land was the boosters' primary concern.

On the other side, national and state park agencies worried about where they would find the money to acquire, develop, and maintain park lands. The Texas legislature was hesitant to make any move, partly because of lack of funds and partly because every legislator was promoting his district's pet park.

Park Service personnel worked to justify either the creation of a separate Texas national park or an extension to Carlsbad Caverns. Neither plan fit neatly into the financial and ideological frameworks of the Park Service. By some analyses the scenic value of the Texas park was limited. By other analyses, acquisition of the land was the problem since purchase by the federal government was a method yet untried. In addition to those problems, a wide range of viewpoints existed within the Park Service regarding the character and purposes of park lands. The emerging awareness of conservation of unique biota was apparent in the assessments of Wright, Thompson, and Toll. Similarly, Obert recognized the fragility of McKittrick Canyon, but he went further than his associates and addressed development needs and compared them with the resource. He did not consider economic gain or recreational values to be appropriate trade-offs for destruction of the canyon. A generation later, environmentalists concerned with the development of Guadalupe Mountains National Park would express beliefs similar to Obert's.


Content adapted from Judith K. Fabry's "Guadalupe Mountains National Park: An Administrative History," published in 1988.