Sustainability

Student Conservation Association (SCA) intern Anna Knight sorts through plastic at Island in the Sky.

NPS/Neal Herbert

 

"The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world."

National Park Service mission

This mission influences everything we do at Canyonlands. As we learn more about the park's relationship with the outside world, achieving the mission becomes more complicated. Activities outside the park affect the lands inside it, and our actions alter the world outside. To address these relationships, Canyonlands National Park has established an Environmental Management System (EMS).

The EMS seeks to make park operations more environmentally responsible. Something as simple as sharing a ride between park districts can save time, gas, and money. Our EMS provides concrete ways to decrease our impacts such as:

 

• Reducing our waste production and diverting more material away from the landfill through smart recycling.
• Reducing our fuel consumption by choosing appropriate types of vehicles to do our jobs and arranging carpools.
• Reducing greenhouse-gas production in our operations through renewable energy use and efficient buildings and equipment.

Additionally, our EMS helps us meet or exceed the requirements of executive orders and local, state, and federal environmental laws. It also encourages us as individuals to conserve natural resources in our everyday jobs.

Our EMS helps us reduce our use of natural resources, tracks our operations’ impact on the environment around us (and saves the park a lot of money in the process). The system sets achievable goals, and allows us to track our progress. Our EMS is about more than just being “green.” It is a toolkit to help make our world a little better, a little safer, and a little cleaner. Through this EMS we move a step closer to ensuring our success at “providing for the enjoyment of these lands while leaving them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”