The ground shook under the motor home as Jack and I slept on the shores of Lake Yellowstone. We awakened to the brief and gentle rocking and rolling of the RV, looked at the clock, and realized we were locked in the dark before the dawn.

      The open window invited legends on whispering wind to echo through our wilderness home. We listened to eerie stories from the spring fed caldron atop the world’s most active volcano, Lake Yellowstone. 

      Jack and I made our way into the cool night air and strolled serenely, dodging the supple waves massaging the sandy shore.  We watched in amazement as a billion diamond clad ballerinas danced in the light of the harvest moon.

      Jack stopped and turned toward me, stood on his hind legs, as he does when he’s inquisitive and seemed to raise the question, “Why are we allowed to roam this magnificent National Park, while a pending disaster was brewing, boiling and spewing beneath us. 

      As an aftershock rolled under our feet, my precocious Chihuahua yipped with surprise and leaped straight into the air in his attempt to avoid the unknown. My one-laugh-a-day dog had done it again. I was smiling as I wondered about the question he had so succinctly presented. 

       We stumbled into a well-worn picnic table and sat quietly as we marveled at the broad expanse of wilderness as the hue of new day awakened on the horizon. How could a nation in peril, like the United States of America, help preserve God’s blessed landscape from the ravages of overuse and abuse?  Gas was overpriced, the housing market was crashing and the economy was in a free fall to oblivion.

      Inspiration has always been a component of my life and this was paradise. Jack planted his cold nose in my lap allowing me to stimulate my cranium while he encouraged me to scratch behind his oversized ears.

      I wondered aloud if the two of us could develop a plan to preserve the magic and majesty of the nation’s first National Park.

      What would the Washington politicians do with a creative concept to change the country’s attitude toward responsibility and accountability?  In the next few hours and into the warmth of the day we debated the pros and cons of our reasoned and logical plan.

      Close all our National Parks until electric cars become a reality. Retain the full-time personnel and encourage volunteers from the various wilderness organizations to work collectively to refurbish the park’s infrastructure at no cost to the tax payers.

      The timely recess would allow the environment to repair itself and to return to its natural state. Wildlife would return to their savage roots free from human interference and encounters. The nation’s National Parks would void themselves of all accumulated human and commercial toxins.

      As Jack and I debated each component of our thoughts it became evident that our plan should cover all National Parks, National Monuments, Federal Wetlands and National Seashores and all Federal Land Management properties across the nation.

      Days earlier we had passed through the Badlands of South Dakota, headed here and in a few days we’d be entering the Grand Tetons, then on to the Grand Canyon and more. We were on our annual six month cross country image making jaunt to every nook and cranny in our special, tax funded, hideaways.

      Recording nature at it best and worse is our business and interacting with it is our profession.

      The more we debated the more our concept of saving the National Parks made sense. From there it became apparent that not only would our plan save the parks it would have an unparalleled impact on the nation’s economy as well.

      Imagine what we could do to the country’s pollution levels if one million people a year, coming to Yellowstone, stayed off the highways. Multiply this by all Federal lands and the number of gallons of gasoline we would save would be astronomical.

      If the traffic was re-directed to state or county parks in the general area where people live our nation’s highways would be free from excess wear and tear, saving our highways and off-roads as well.

      The impact on the economy in our local areas would prosper and many mom and pop business would be the beneficiaries of our self constraint. Staying home, being responsible advocates of fiscal restraint would add to the welfare of our economy as well, and we’d have more capitol to repay our debts and mortgages.

      Jack and I began to see the wisdom of our early morning discussions along the magnificent shore of the country’s most spectacular wilderness lake.

      Not only would our roads be saved but emissions of CO2 would drop, consumption of gasoline would fall precipitously and our dependence on foreign oil alleviated. Jack and I moved forward with our thesis and determined that if we stayed closer to home there would be less air travel as well reducing the levels of air craft emissions, one of our worse types of pollution.

      Jack and I had begun to develop the perfect initial phase for emissions reduction and conservation of our natural resources.  Our plan has many more phases, and we will share these with you in future blogs.

      It was a good morning even if the ground beneath our feet was still trembling.