9 National Parks To Visit This Fall

Many forest explorers tend to favor summer when exploring national parks. Visits to these mesmerizing parks can however be glorious in autumn as well. The landscapes tend to be much richer in spectacle displays of vibrant fall colors. Fall is an ideal time to visit national parks for those that aren’t too keen on hot weather and for those that love to gawk at glorious landscapes. It is especially a good time for photographers that are looking for some vibrant landscape shots. Here are nine of the most beautiful national parks in the United States to visit in the fall.

Denali National Park – Alaska

This 6 million acre park offers visitors lots of enjoyment. Even though you might not be able to enjoy quite as much activities during fall there is still much to do. You can enjoy quad biking, hiking, take scenic air tours, fishing expeditions and if you can bare the cold you can even give rafting a try. But what is truly amazing is the gorgeous scenery during fall since the wilderness trails are covered with deep reds, oranges and yellows as a result of autumn’s whimsical charm.

Glacier National Park – Montana

The National Park Service of Glacier National Park claims that fall is one of the best times to visit this gorgeous area for two reasons. First, you can enjoy uncrowded and quitter exploring and excursions. Second, because a natural phenomenon where the trees in the west of the park will begin changing color mid-September where those on the west side of the park start changing color much later in the month.

Acadia National Park – Maine

Mid-October is the time where you can truly explore and marvel at Acadia National Parks wilderness because this is the time where fall is at its ripest and when colors are most flamboyant. Acadia National Park is also a superb place for bird watchers and visitors can enjoy superb mountain trails and even horseback riding.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park – North Carolina

This national park starts showing off its fall colors in mid-September and you can enjoy the most extravagant scenes around mid-October. You can also combine lots of other activities in your fall trip like lake paddling, waterfall spotting, hiking trails and more.

Mt. Rainier National Park – Washington

This national park is superb during fall for two reasons; you can explore the Mt. Rainer volcanoes and you can enjoy glorious fall scenery in bright oranges and yellows during mid-October to November.

Rocky Mountain National Park – Colorado

Want to catch the Rocky Mountain National Park’s fall at its peak? Then the best time to visit is during mid to late October. You may even hear some serious head-butting contests from Bighorn sheep and it is a perfect place for mountain trailing.

Shenandoah National Park – Virginia

The hiking trails in this park are an absolute must around mid-October because this is when you can explore the brightest fall colors. You can also catch the best landscape shots if you are into photography.

Yosemite National Park – California

Yosemite National Park is most popular for its gigantic sequoia trees. The best time to explore these trees in glorious fall shades is during the first quarter of fall.

Zion National Park – Utah

If you love waterfalls and hanging gardens, then Zion National Park will definitely ignite your senses. This is also one of the most vibrant parks during fall.

Many park visitors focus way too much on summer and summer activities. They miss out on the most dramatic and breathtaking landscape views and wilderness displays that these wonderful parks have to offer. Fall is definitely a good time to explore some of these top national parks.

The National Parks Service is dedicated to the preservation of natural and cultural resources within the country’s national parks. Nature’s Packaging is committed to sustainably managed forests for harvesting timber and for recreational enjoyment.

References

https://weather.com/travel/news/national-parks-fall

https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Attractions-g143022-Activities-c61-Denali_National_Park_and_Preserve_Alaska.html

https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Attractions-g143010-Activities-Acadia_National_Park_Mount_Desert_Island_Maine.html

Benefits of Community-based Natural Resource Management

It was in 1997 that the Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) project was established in Mozambique Africa, for the purpose of empowering local communities to assume some level of control over how their environments would be managed. This literally constituted a shift in power away from the central government, and into the hands of local authorities who are best equipped to maintain healthy natural resources and to make those resources sustainable indefinitely.

That first CBNRM conference brought together representatives from high levels of government, community members, and engineer types, who were all interested in preserving local environments. The discussions at that conference and in the four additional conferences since then, centered around how to deal with natural resources such as forests and wildlife, as well as developing or strengthening community-based organizations, and about how to add value to resources such as forest products.

The most recent CBNRM conference

At the 2018 version of the CBNRM conference, it was recognized that even though the resolution was 20 years into its implementation, there was still a great deal of work to be done, and that there were still significant obstacles to achieving hoped-for results. For one thing, there are still disputes over the jurisdiction of communities, and that makes it extremely difficult to manage resources from those disputed areas. However, since most of these individual communities rely heavily on natural resources such as timber and wildlife, it is essential that all obstacles be overcome, so that communities can realize the benefits of CBNRM.

There are also conflicts over land rights, with various communities squabbling over ownership and spheres of interest. This is an extremely important point, since government agencies and donors have difficulty supporting community groups which compete for the same properties. This of course, creates a great deal of confusion about community rights to natural resources, and it causes a great deal of difficulty in sustaining those natural resources so they can be used to benefit local economies.

Conflict resolution

In an effort to help resolve some of the community conflicts, and to break up the logjam which has developed over land rights, the World Bank has stepped in to support local stakeholders and their governments. Through the Integrated Landscape and Forest Management Portfolio, a number of initiatives have been undertaken so that land rights can be resolved, land usage can be planned out into the future, reforestation can take place, land restoration can be initiated, and specific areas can be protected, while tourism is concurrently being promoted.

The future of CBNRM

There’s no question that Mozambique has yet to realize the full potential of CBNRM, but at the most recent conference, government leadership was at least made aware of the fact that local economies can be improved by transforming community development, and by protecting the natural resources associated with each community. While progress has been slow over the last 20 years, a new element of enthusiasm was very much in evidence at the most recent CBNRM conference, and it seems likely that participants will now be working together much more closely to achieve the maximum benefits under CBNRM.

Nature’s Packaging is committed to worldwide sustainable forest management practices. Forests sequester carbon from the atmosphere and when they’re sustainably managed, they’ll continue to provide valuable resources to local economies and help fight climate change.

Resources

https://blogs.worldbank.org/nasikiliza/new-leadership-for-community-based-natural-resource-management-in-mozambique?CID=ENV_TT_Environment_EN_EXT