Growing up in New Hampshire, I was constantly surrounded by natural beauty. Now that I live in Connecticut, I don’t see as much of nature as I’d like.
Then a funny thing happened, and as a result, I’ve created a new feature for this site. Earlier this year, I went on a roadtrip to South Carolina. Along the way, I kept coming across various national parks, wildlife refuges, seashores, and so on. Given my love for nature, I decided to stop at a few of these areas. I was blown away by the beauty protected in some of these areas, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. In particular, I found the National Wildlife Refuges to be absolutely stunning. As a result, I’ve set out to visit as many federally-protected areas as I can.
With the goal of visiting as many federally-protected areas as possible during my lifetime, I am creating a new feature for this site to document my progress. Entitled “Visiting Protected Areas,” posts for this feature will include photographs, descriptions of the areas visited, my musings over my visits, and anything else that strikes me as relevant. My hope with this feature is that I can share with my readers some of the beauty this country holds dear.
My task is a daunting one, and not one I hope to accomplish soon. Instead, it is more of a lifelong goal to visit these areas. Some I have already visited accidentally, others I have planned and driven for days to see. Going forward, weekend roadtrips and vacations will be planned with the intent of passing through these areas, if nothing else. Regardless of how I set out to visit these areas, this goal is daunting and will take a lifetime.
To give some idea of what I’m talking about when I refer to “federally-protected areas,” the following is a selected list of the areas I want to visit and an approximation of how many such areas exist. It is important to note that this list is not exhaustive, as the federal government has myriad programs for protecting natural resources.
- National Parks (just under 400)
- National Wildlife Refuges (550+)
- National Seashores (administered as part of National Parks system)
As you can see from the list, given the number of protected areas, I have quite the task set before me, but I look forward to the challenge. Because this feature results from my earlier visits to national parks and wildlife refuges, expect the first installment in a few days, with frequent updates for a few weeks.