“There will never come an end to the good that he has done.”

These words were written in dedication to Stephen Tyng Mather, one of the architects behind the establishment of the U.S. National Park System. And for over 100 years, Americans could go to the parks to relax, spend time with family, and reconnect with nature. This year has been different. From earlier this year when the Trump Administration first caught the parks in its crosshairs, to now in the midst of the Government shutdown which they’ve used to furlough thousands of employees, Mather’s unending good is looking a lot more finite. So what’s the solution to this?

Anime girls.

Let’s talk about the video game “National Park Girls.” In chapter 1 the player meets Eve, a disillusioned Park Ranger at Yosemite National Park who has to work more hours due to recent layoffs. Eve recently moved into a remote cabin so that she could look after the campers in the park, and she finds out that three girls have been living there in secret: an energetic blonde teenager who goes by Yellowstone, a sweet little cherub known as Zion, and a dark-skinned woman named Yosemite. Nobody trusts each other, but after realizing they all have things they can’t afford to lose — specifically, the girls’ home and Eve’s job — they tentatively decide to start living together.

After getting to know each other a bit, Eve inquires about the oddities of each girl. They’re real, tangible people, but also physical manifestations of the parks. Yellowstone has a volcano on her head, Zion has wings like the legendary Zion Angel, and Yosemite’s hair is always wet like a waterfall. ‘Nuff said.

Despite all of their quirks, Yellowstone still tries her best to be there for the other girls, always cooking and cleaning up after them, only to be unappreciated day in and day out. Eventually, Yellowstone blows up at the other girls and, unfortunately for everyone, the volcano on her head isn’t just metaphorical. As earthquakes rock Wyoming, we wonder if Anime Girls really will end Western civilization. In reality, the park bearing her name is similarly facing issues. Real parks continue to accumulate trash since tourists still visit as usual, but no employees are around to clean it up. Another case of taking things for granted, since many people just assume that someone else will clean up after them. However, the solution for both is simple. We just need to make sure to take proper care of both the park, and the girl, and show we care.

Now, Zion — the girl — is a cherub, and Eve wonders why the other two act so strangely around her. After the world’s most awkward picnic, it’s revealed that Zion was a mother figure to Yosemite decades ago, before slowly aging backwards into a child as perceptions of her park shifted. Think of it as kind of a reverse reverse Benjamin Button situation. Yosemite keeps trying to force her perception of Zion as a mother figure onto her, much to Zion’s detriment. After Zion breaks down, Yosemite accepts what she’s used to isn’t what’s best for Zion, and that she needs to put in effort to meet her where she is now. Zion National Park was facing a major crisis since people flocked to Zion for its beauty, but completely ignored its real needs and entered the park illegally due to a lack of employees managing the ticketing stations, a situation that the recent shutdown has likely exacerbated. We have to stop acting like everything’s normal, and tackle the current moment ourselves.

Now, Yosemite is the only one of the girls that’s Eve’s age (though they’re all pseudo-immortal). She’s been doing research on what exactly the girls are, while having subtly flirtatious banter with Eve as they investigate together. Long story short, they are embodiments of people’s perceptions of the land, and as those change, they do too. When the Ahwahnechee tribe first lived in the area now called Yosemite, Yosemite herself went by a completely different name she has now forgotten since the people that once lived there were forced out. After her memories return, she confides in Eve about her fear of forgetting herself. Eve can’t promise to always remember her, but she vows to appreciate Yosemite for the rest of her life, only if Yosemite promises to do the same for her.

We are in danger of forgetting too. Over a century ago, Mather and his fellow conservationists helped create the National Parks to preserve the beauty of the land. This July, President Trump signed a bill that would auction off chunks of land from beloved National Parks (including Zion and Yellowstone) to the highest bidder. There have also been talks of privatizing parks and letting oil companies snatch up our land. We can’t afford to forget why we have these parks, because we need to preserve this connection with nature for future generations. It’s easy to close yourself off and not care, but we have to care for things to change.

Eve is terrified of letting people in for fear of losing them. She walls herself off, and despite her ever growing feelings, pushes Yosemite away and tries to quit her job as a park ranger. Yosemite pleads with Eve to stay, saying she’s scared too, but that the only thing scarier than the future is facing it alone. Eve and Yosemite ultimately decide to face their fears, and move forward together as lovers. 

We can’t be paralyzed by fear, rather we should be motivated by it. If we move forward together, it’s possible to push back against the Trump Administration, as has already been seen with recent backpedaling on the sales of park lands. It’s not just possible to protect our parks — it’s necessary. We cannot let Mather’s good come to an end.