Photo by philliefan99

The D.C. Council is considering legislation that would prohibit smoking in city parks and playgrounds, but Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) says the measures being floated by her counterparts in local government wouldn’t make much of an impact in the effort to make Washington’s green spaces free of tobacco smoke.

And she’s right. Only 12 percent of D.C.’s parks are actually controlled by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation; the remainder—from sprawling Rock Creek Park to downtown landmarks like McPherson Square to traffic islands like Dupont Circle—are controlled by the National Park Service. Distasteful as it might seem, smoking is allowed at national parks across the country (except in the case of certain emergencies, such as increased wildfire risks), from the Grand Canyon to, yes, dinky plots scattered around D.C.

So, Norton is asking NPS to implement a smoking ban on national parks within the District of Columbia. “One should not go to an NPS park to enjoy the outdoors and find smoke instead of fresh air,” she writes in a letter to Steve Whitesell, NPS’ regional director for the D.C. area. “Freedom from second-hand smoke in the outdoors is particularly important in big cities like D.C., where pollution and traffic congestion already contribute to health conditions similar to those caused by second-hand smoke.”

While smoking bans are increasingly popular around the United States, regulations that affect public parks are less frequent, thought they are in place in some of the biggest cities in the country. Los Angeles banned smoking in its parks in 2007, and New York extended its ban to cover parks in 2011.