Week 7 State Park as commodities At Yosemite Act in 1864, state parks were prohibited from being commoditized.

Discourses around the law stated that the property was of no value for the government, but a national pride. In some memories of the process is declared that they were worthless for public purposes, but wonders of the world that require preservation (Runte, 1990). Underneath Yosemite Act exist tacit values of land preservation that entails nature, landscape and wilderness (opposed to urban, farming or mining). These values resist allocating state parks as worthless for public purpose on the contrary; these ideas make these places highly valuable. For Raymond Williams, preserving nature after the XVII century was historical and active; viewed within the romantic and religious ideal of Mother Nature or Garden of Eden, and at the same time as a set of rules, entailing natural selection (Williams, 1983). This view as something precious transformed in time, makes the whole idea of preserving a way to look to resources for the future, seeking a way to sustain something that could probably no longer exists. The landscape, on the other hand, entails an aesthetic value. For Williams, a land with productive activity is hardly known as landscape, because this idea entails separation and observation. When observing at production and consumption of land the notion of landscape is scenery consumption. In State Parks cases: John Muirs, Alph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Law Olmstead, the Hudson River School and other well known precursor of the preservation, helped to shape an emerging national identity and a vision of the sublime within appealing landscapes. Their vision was all mixed with religious views of nature mingled with scientific observation and political positions. But over the mix it seems that the value of the vista was above all in their representations. Rapidly the citizens urge to contemplate the vista of what is also their land raised a massive interest that develops massive tourism. On the other hand, wilderness entails a frontier, a place somewhere else, outside of usi (Stegner, 1960). In a general way entails land that hasnt been touch by humans. Although nowadays, many ecosystems that are, or have been, inhabited or enhanced for different purposes may still be considered "wild." Strictly observing the term, the wilderness looks as an abstraction of something that is nonexistent but reminds as an ideal. However, shifts in values not only through time but depending in the position of a discourse still play a big role in state park management. Maintaining parks is not an easy shore, contrary at what was stated in the Yosemite Act, but use can make them self-sustained. This self-sustainment makes them productive and consumable, opposing to the idea of wilderness but elevating the level of landscape and nature as a commodity. In which different kind of human labor is involved generating jobs, commerce transactions, transportation networksii and well being for productive citizens in the surrounding areasiii. State parks as settle recreation commodities feed an industry. This productivity allows the

government to consider cutting budgets where leisure is being involved. Forcing other kind of networks around the interest and value of wilderness. Meanwhile other minor parks are overlooked and freed to the communal use. Different conditions arise within urban areas to other parks, were local communities gathered to preserve it as to use it for indiscriminate enjoyment. In this entire panorama what I see is that the value of wilderness in state parks, play an abstract and hard to define roll, that shifts against preservation when talking about consumption of landscape. And at the same time in favor when the preservation discourse is oriented towards nature for future generations like in science applications. Either public or private land, these values can shift depending on land use, commodifying nature, landscape and wilderness as equal values. Also the mere idea of ownership destabilizes the wilderness idea.

Williams, Raymond. (1983). El campo y la ciudad. Editorial Paidos. Buenos Aires Argentina. Runte, Alfred. (1990). Yosemite: The embattled wilderness. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Stegner, Wallace . (1960). Wilderness Letter. In Wilderness Society. Retrieved March 20,2012, from http://wilderness.org/content/wilderness-letter. Burton C. English, Kim L. Jensen, J. Mark Fly, R. Jamey Menard. . (n.d.). Estimated Economic Impacts of Tennessee State Parks. University of Tennessee Institute for Agriculture Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. In Tenesse Government . Retrieved March 20, 2012, from http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/economic_impact/

In 1960 Wallace Stegner wrote the Wilderness Letter on the importance of federal protection of wild places. The letter was used to introduce the bill that established the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964. ii The northern pacific railroad construction in 1880, allowed the access of mass tourism to the most famous state parks. iii A study of the University of Tennessee Institute for Agriculture, in order to show the economic importance of the park in that state, explains that exists significant economic benefits to Tennessee by reducing physical and mental health costs and increasing overall productivity of local people. Also says that parks promote the state well-being by increasing the states attractiveness to outside industries, retirees and people seeking to relocate in areas rich in natural amenities.