The goal of this project has been to explore whether Wilderness appreciation is a culturally relative phenomenon. A meta-analysis of National Park history reveals that the evolution of National Parks can be linked to singularly Euro-American and Western traditions. Judeo-Christianity, Modernist philosophy, the American Pioneer Myth, landscape painting, and 19th century urban discontentment collectively contributed to the emergence of America's Parks as Wilderness: "uninhabited" nature. Outdoor recreation research has demonstrated lower visitation rates among ethnic minorities to such "Wilderness" areas. This thesis presents an integrated methodology of cultural history and social research. I administered written questionnaires and conducted focus groups at two Rhode Island high schools, in order to assess the degree to which ethnicity and/or socioeconomic status contribute to variations in high school students' perceptions of the National Parks.

Students at the Met school in Providence, RI and Barrington High School in Barrington, RI (an affluent suburb) are represented in this research. The Met school sample is comprised of 57% students who self-identified as ethnic minority, compared with 11% of the Barrington students. My findings reveal that the Met students are less informed about Park history and contemporary Park issues. They listed with significantly greater frequency TV and movies as a primary source of information on the Parks, and generally maintain a more romantic and idealized perception of the Parks. They are less aware of the activities available in National Parks, and displayed significantly lower interest in outdoor recreation than their Barrington counterparts. Despite the culturally relative history of the National Parks and the suggestion by outdoor recreation research that ethnic minorities underutilize wilderness areas, the Met school students expressed with salience and ardor an appreciation for the National Parks. Moreover, they seem to have a stronger conviction that Park protection should be a high government priority. Their attachment to undeveloped wilderness appears to stem primarily from their perception that National Parks wilderness provides a refuge from and contrast to a degraded and polluted urban landscape.

When photographic images of National Parks were discussed in the Met school focus groups, students primarily framed their reaction to Wilderness in terms of the potability of the water, the cleanliness of the snow, and the absence of liquor stores, needles, and trash. These sentiments were absent from the reactions of the Barrington students to Park imagery. And, in contrast to the Barrington students, Met school respondents were predominantly opposed to the concept of user fees. They believe that the federal government, rather than individual visitors, should bear the responsibility of wilderness preservation.

The findings of my thesis suggest that the cultural relativity of Park history is negated both by the pervasiveness of romanticized Wilderness imagery in the popular media, and by the unanticipated strong desire among students for an aesthetic contrast to the city environment. As the National Park Service strives to adjust itself to the cultural values and ideals of an increasingly diverse population, it should attempt to garner the support of an urban, ethnically diverse adolescent population that already holds a high affinity for Wilderness. I suggest that this outreach should take the form both of in-school education and perhaps more importantly, through enhanced efforts by the Park Service to bring ethnic minorities and underprivileged youth to the National Parks.