Science and the National Parks (1992) / Chapter Skim
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2 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH FOR THE NATIONAL PARKS
2 THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH FOR THE NATIONAL PARKS
Pages 23-40
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From page 23... ...
research program must generate sound information to help resource managers deal with increasingly serious and complex threats, withstand increasingly detailed scrutiny, enhance public understanding, and foster cooperation with outside scientists and other agencies. Because man issues that affect parks, such as air and water pollution and the fate of migrating animals, cannot be confined within park boundaries, proposed solutions can affect areas that surround the parks and require regional cooperation.
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From page 24... ...
, or because visitor facilities were built in inappropriate places (e.g., Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone National Parks) , or because of inappropriate management actions (e.g., predator removals, control of native species perceived as pests, control of natural fire, disruption of natural hydrologic regimes, and introduction of exotic fish)
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From page 25... ...
~ . The oil spilled into Prince William Sound from the 1989 grounding of the Exxon tanker Valdez damaged beaches in Kenai Fjords and Katmai national parks.
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From page 26... ...
in the 1950s, an era when there was little attention to science in the NPS, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina was the site of a misplaced effort to improve recreational fishing by removing native nongame fish from a park stream. Because knowledge of the park's fish populations was limited, several species of fish previously unknown in the park were both discovered and extirpated during that operation.
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From page 27... ...
Introduced rainbow and brown trout also have reduced the range of the native brook trout. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an inventory of black bear populations showed that only about 500 bears were present, far fewer than expected in the ecosystem, so managers were motivated to develop a regional management plan.
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From page 28... ...
Notably, the answers came from scientists outside the NPS, who were supported by and interacting closely with Park Service staff. The example of the Isle Royale wolves provides an invaluable demonstration of the hazards that face all small isolated populations, and it highlights issues that face conservation biologists worldwide.
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From page 29... ...
A decline in the famous wolf population in the 1980s led the Park Service to allow scientists to put radiocollars on some wolves to better study the population's status and health. CREDIT: NPS photo by Robert I
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From page 31... ...
in Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks in California, fire suppression was once believed essential to protect park resources. However, after decades of fire control, fire-intolerant species of pine and fir spread into the meadows and giant sequoia groves, respectively.
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From page 32... ...
ASSESSING THREATS AND MITIGATION MEASURES At Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, offroad vehicles were blamed for serious dune erosion, visitor annoyance, and harm to the endangered piping plover, a bird that requires extensive sand beaches for nesting.
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From page 33... ...
The protection of Everglades National Park in Florida seemed at first glance assured by the setting aside of some one million acres in south Florida, a total since increased by the creation of Big Cypress National Preserve adjacent to the However, the park boundaries did not en national park. compass all of the areas that proved critical to the functioning of park ecosystems, and the effects of land use and water management outside the park soon became evident.
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From page 34... ...
These efforts and others in the park should increase our understanding of this unique ecosystem and help park managers protect the resources for the future. The native cutthroat trout of Yellowstone Lake, a key species in the food web of the Yellowstone ecosystem, is both a top predator in the river ecosystem and prey for many terrestrial carnivores, including grizzly bears, white pelicans, bald eagles, and ospreys.
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From page 35... ...
A nearby commercial cave, in similar karst terrain, was closed because water pollution had resulted from poor local sewage and wastewater disposal practices. Studies using tracer dyes have shown that Mammoth Cave groundwater comes in large part from the surrounding drainage plain, which receives both untreated and inadequately treated sewage effluent.
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From page 36... ...
Science programs in several national parks' including Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks' and Rocky Mountain National Park have been important in the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Pro
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From page 37... ...
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH 37 gram (NAPAP)
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From page 38... ...
Research includect studies of the effects of acid precipitation on vegetation in the Sierra Nevada, on forests in the southern Appalachians, and on air quality in the Colorado Front Range. CONCLUSION These examples illustrate some of the array of problems facing park scientists and managers, who must grapple with pervasive human influences; determine appropriate levels of human involvement in ecological processes and in the lives of endangered)
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From page 39... ...
It is important to rote that virtually all successful research efforts in the national parks in some way involve coordination with the external scientific community. This con Balancing the needs of visitors who seek to enjoy the nation's parks with the need to protect park resources will always remain a challenge for park managers.
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From page 40... ...
By itself, an adequate research program will not eliminate the many, complex threats faced by the national parks. But it will allow faster identification of human perturbations, greater understanding of cause and effect, better insights into prevention, and more appropriate strategies for mitigation so that managers can maintain systems in a desirable condition or restore them where necessary.
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