Rog,
Well put.
Nick,
I see your point, but I also view that expansion and development, unfortunate as it is, as something that will not be permanently reversed. Public land or anything for that matter, so long as it does not have individual ownership, will always suffer from the "common pool" problem of economics. You and I and everyone on BPL would approach a national park, for example as something that personally belongs to us. Thus, according to this same economic theory, we take better care of it.
My point being that ownership is a mentality. We need to put an end to the mentality that people are "just visiting a park" and "need to take care of it for others to follow" and instead get visitors in the mindset that they share ownership in the park and need to protect it. Let's face it, people in general don't care about the next person behind them. However, if that gas canister was being chucked on their bedroom floor, I bet they'd have something to say about. In a way, you and I and everyone else that forks tax dollars over every year owns, albeit small, a part of every national park in America. Just my .02.