A study released yesterday by the non-profit National Parks Conservation Association paints a grim picture of the national park system’s future. Pulling together , the group found that from a “host of new and long-standing threats,” including the disappearance of top predators, increased air pollution, and inadequate convervation budgets. Among the report’s more disturbing findings were ones noting that more than half the parks studied had marginal or poor air quality and that 95 percent had lost at least one wildlife or plant species. The NPCA is now calling on President Obama to issue an executive order committing federal resources to improve the park system ahead of its centennial in 2016. “It’s like going to the doctor and being told you’ve got a serious illness but that there’s a proven cure,” NPCA President Tom Kiernan told . “Now is the time to apply it.”
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