December 20, 2016, was a Black Letter Day for America’s national parks. The National Park Service issued a new regulation – Director’s Order 100 – which invents a new Precautionary Principle designed to even further stifle creativity and innovation by the agency charged with promoting 413 special places that belong to Americans and tell our stories.

While the 413 places and approximately 85 million acres protected in our National Park System belong to the American people, a significant number are so important to the entire human family that they sit atop the world’s greatest conservation lists: World Heritage Site, (22) Biosphere Reserve, (23) and Ramsar International Convention of Wetlands, (2). They are among the rarest of the rare on Planet Earth, of the same stature as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and the Galapagos Islands among others. So what happens to our national parks and public lands affects not just America but the world.

Last month, the National Park Service (NPS) celebrated its 100th birthday. In the days leading up to the celebration, NPS director Jonathan Jarvis said that his agency’s goal for the centennial was “to create the next generation of visitors, supporters, and advocates for our national parks and our public lands.”