BY JONATHAN LERNER

When everyone wants a piece of the same postcard.
From the August 2016 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine.
Mather Point, a limestone fin that juts into Grand Canyon National Park, is the first overlook from which many, possibly most, visitors to the storied national park get a glimpse into that astonishing other world. In the middle of a short flight of steps down from the rim to the overlook sits a pair of large boulders. There?s often an informal queue at that spot. Every day hundreds, maybe thousands, of people wait to clamber up and have their pictures taken. Shot from below and elevated by the rock above the crowd, people appear to float before the geological fever dream of the canyon. Invariably, they spread their arms wide, like wings. These portraits make an allusion to flight?and an illusion of solitude. A redesign of the access to Mather Point for cars and pedestrians, and of the park?s nearby main visitor center, was completed in 2012. It more than doubled the parking capacity. But attendance at national parks has soared since then, and already these new facilities are frequently overwhelmed. For the National Park Service system as a whole, between 2012 and 2015, recreational visits were up nearly 9 percent. For national parks in the Intermountain Region, attendance rose 20 percent. Many things could be driving this surge, including cheap gas and publicity about this month?s National Park Service Centennial. Another factor is ?Mighty 5...