The Alpine Amusement Park — Exploring a Controversial Approach to Conservation

Popular hiking destinations are looking more like theme park attractions than trails. Here's how we both conserve and preserve access to the outdoors, without putting up turnstiles:

America’s most popular trails are dealing with a crowding problem. We’re moving into a strange era of lottery systems, tickets, and assigned visiting times to go out and access nature. But do these measures work?

In “The Alpine Amusement Park,” I explore a controversial crowd control model being deployed in Colorado, evaluate whether it actually works, a…