First lady Michelle Obama, waves next to President Barack Obama, after the first family landed in the Marine One helicopter in a field near the Half Dome rock formation at Yosemite National Park in Calif., Friday, June 17, 2016.
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With Yosemite Falls splashing down the granite cliffs behind him, President Barack Obama commemorated the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service Saturday with a call to further protect the nation’s natural wonders and make them more welcoming to all Americans.
Obama, also using the occasion to tout his environmental record, is the first sitting president since John F. Kennedy in 1962 to visit California’s Yosemite National Park.
While the Carlsbad Caverns National Park was closed for several hours on Friday during President Obama’s visit, dozens of vehicles and their passengers were left waiting just before the gates at White’s City.
During his speech – after thanking park rangers, Superintendent Don Neubacher, and Congressman Tom McClintock – Obama continually stressed the importance of maintaining national parks as a place for future generations.
“How many of you guys have been to a national park?” the president asked. “Over time these climate change influences are going to be more and more profound”.
As the kids started yelling, the president said: “Oh, I would get out of here!”
Some Republicans have criticized Obama for expanding the National Park Service by designating new monuments and protected lands, despite budget problems.
“Over the last 100 years, there has been plenty to celebrate”, Obama said. It’s the only one we’ve got. No more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park, ‘ he said, adding that a changing climate could destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades and threaten landmarks like Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
The first family stayed at a rented cabin inside the park.
In Yosemite, he said, meadows are drying up, the park’s largest glacier is in retreat and the pika, a small mammal, is heading to higher elevations in search of a livable habitat.
Obama has protected more than 265 million acres of federal lands and waters from development, more than any other president, according to the White House.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama gave the initiative a boost Saturday by handing out free passes to the fourth-graders, who hail from the Livingston Police Explorers Program and Miraloma Elementary School in San Francisco, at the base of Yosemite Falls.
Officials say there’s an economic case for supporting the sites: They sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs while visitors pump billions of dollars into surrounding economies.
In addition to climate change, the national parks are also feeling the brunt of a budget shortfall. The first time I saw a bear and her cub.
“California’s tourism industry welcomes President Obama during his historic visit to Yosemite”.
The more immediate challenge is the national parks’ budget shortfall.
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The subterranean adventure was the first stop on a working vacation during which Obama will spend some time with his teenaged daughters while making the case for more spending on conservation and curbing climate change.
