Lesson Plan
1. Topic: US National Parks and human impacts Age Group: 16-18
Form used: 4
Time needed: 50 minutes
Language focus: Conversation (asking and answering questions, brainstorming and
reporting), text comprehension
Materials: chalkboard, article “Famous national parks among 'most endangered'” (see
attached)
2. Activities
Pre (10-15 minutes):
-Ask students if they can explain what a national park is, FLA writes definition on
board while students take notes
-Ask if there are any national parks in Austria and what they are, write on board
-Ask if they know any names of US national parks and write on the board, FLA adds
names of well known parks to the list and where they are located, gives some
background on Yellowstone National Park and a few of its features
-Ask students if know what the parks’ purposes are and what they are used for, write
ideas on board, FLA adds anything students miss
While:
-Write headline of article “Famous national parks among 'most endangered'” on
chalkboard
-Have students get into pairs to predict article content, brainstorming what ways the
national parks could be endangered (5-10 minutes)
-Discuss what students come up with, write ideas on the board while students take
notes (5-10 minutes)
-Hand out article and read through with them, asking questions throughout to check
comprehension (15-20 minutes)
Post (if time):
-Have students get back into pairs to discuss and write down whether or not they think
snowmobiles should continue to be allowed in national parks and to list the pros and
cons of banning them
3. Goals/Objectives: Raise students’ awareness the purpose of National Parks and the
human activities that threaten them, illicit students’ latent knowledge of possible
threats, frequent interaction between students and FLA
Created by Gail Gromaski, FLA in Innsbruck, 2004-2005
Famous national parks among 'most endangered'1
Group says snowmobiles, pollution threaten
preserves
By Peter Dykstra
CNN
January 15, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) --A few of the nation's most famous
and heavily visited parks mingle2 with some of its least-known on an interest
group's list of "Most Endangered National Parks" published Tuesday.
The annual "top ten" list compiled by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
includes Yellowstone, Shenandoah, and Great Smoky Mountains national parks -- three of
the most popular and most accessible -- and a string of less-famous ones from Alaska to
Montana to the Virgin Islands. NPCA's list includes parks that the organization's members
say are most vulnerable to damage from human activity and pollution.
Yellowstone and Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska made the list because rules
that restrict snowmobiles in the parks are being rolled back3, according to NPCA.
Many who live near the parks consider snowmobiles key to much-needed winter tourism, but
others fear that snowmobile traffic, and the resulting air and noise pollution, could harm the
parks' landscapes.
NPCA's Ron Tipton said a rules change being enacted4 by the Bush administration "will not
only overturn the decision to phase out5 snowmobiles, but the new policy will allow as many
as 1,100 snowmobiles a day" in Yellowstone. The average at the park during the peak winter
season is 850 snowmobiles per day.
Sprawl, pollution criticized
NPCA says urban sprawl6 threatens Georgia's Ocmulgee National Monument, home to an
extensive collection of Native American archaeological sites, and Joshua Tree National Park
in California, where a residential community is planned on the park border.
The Big Thicket National Preserve, located in the coastal wetlands7 near Beaumont, Texas,
is threatened by deforestation8 and development just outside the preserve's borders,
according to NPCA. NPCA blames air pollution from vehicles and coal-burning power plants
for harming the vistas9 at Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/01/13/parks.endanger/index.html
1
endangered: threatened; vulnerable
2
mingle: to get involved or mixed up with
3
are being rolled back: are being reduced
4
being enacted: being established
5
to phase out: to get rid of gradually
6
urban sprawl: the unplanned, uncontrolled spreading of urban development into areas adjoining the edge of a
city.
7
wetlands: lowland areas, such as a marshes, bogs, or swamps, that are saturated with moisture
8
deforestation: the removal of trees
9
vistas: views