Danger Beyond This Point: Visual Representation, Cultural Landscapes, and the Geography of Environmental Hazards in U.S. National Parks

Abstract

National parks can be dangerous places. Lulled by often ill-informed notions that national parks are cleansed of any hazards and monitored by a ubiquitous staff of rangers, many visitors take unnecessary risks to their personal safety. The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) is tasked with the often-difficult challenge of protecting and preserving the 419 units of the national park system while providing for the comfort and safety of visitors. This article examines the spatial and thematic patterns of danger in national parks through a visual and textual content analysis of park signage and brochures combined with a landscape evaluation. Based on this work, I present examples of park signage and a typology of danger in national parks that is both geographic and thematic. Findings indicate that 1) a more informed understanding of the geographic range and environmental diversity of hazards can help park managers develop signage and increase visitors’ geographic literacy of the NPS system. 2) We gain a better sense of the environmental use and management contexts of national parks by focusing on danger signs, their imagery, and site-specific information. This information provides texture to our understanding of changing park service management strategies, prepares visitors to be active participants in their personal risk responsibility, and helps us better understand changing environmental perceptions of U.S. national parks. 3) A spatial, cultural, and social perspective is important as it moves national parks toward a more inclusive experience that welcomes the growing ethnic, social, and cultural diversity of park visitors.