National Park Service Management Research Articles

Unnatural nature – visual, spatial, and temporal contexts controlling our air

The article is the result of the collaboration of a sociologist and librarian who have photodocumented the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site for decades to study the changed ecology, revaluation of landscape, and the sense of nature, changing overtime. The research methods included archival research, field interviews, and comparative documentation. The visual, spacial, and temporal contexts controlling the air we breathe include: the historic contexts of natural formations, the stewardships by the Roosevelt Family, TR Association, the National Park Service management, and the dynamic interactions of people on the site. The documents are studied to theorize the larger socio-cultural changes, altering our visions and the social construct of nature. The aspects of breathing air and life itself, and the desirability of safe, healthy enjoyable public spheres emerge and make this case study useful for comparative analysis.

Pairing Modern and Paleolimnological Approaches to Evaluate the Nutrient Status of Lakes in Upper Midwest National Parks

AbstractUnderstanding what constitutes a reference (background) nutrient condition for lakes is important for National Park Service managers responsible for preserving and protecting aquatic resources. For this study we characterize water quality conditions in 29 lakes across four national parks, and compare their nutrient status to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) nutrient reference criteria and alternative criteria recently proposed by others. Where appropriate we also compare the nutrient status of these 29 lakes to state or tribal nutrient reference criteria or standards. For lakes that exceed reference criteria we investigate physical and chemical patterns, and for a subset of lakes compare modern nutrient conditions to paleolimnological (i.e., diatom‐inferred [DI]) nutrient reconstructions. Many lakes exceeded USEPA nutrient reference criteria, but met alternative less restrictive criteria. Modern nutrient conditions were also largely consistent with DI historic (pre‐1900) nutrient conditions. Lakes exceeding alternative nutrient criteria and with elevated nutrient levels relative to DI historic conditions were mostly small, shallow, and dystrophic; continued attention to their nutrient dynamics and biological response is warranted. Coupling modern and paleolimnological data offer an innovative and scientifically defensible approach to understand long‐term nutrient trends and provide greater context for comparison with reference conditions.

Geotemporal vectors of coastal geomorphological change interacting with National Park Service management policy at Great Kills Park, Gateway National Recreation Area, USA

The trend and episodes of erosion at Great Kills Park, part of the National Park Service, are products of the origin of the park's location and the impact of a negative sediment budget. Management response to the impacts of erosion is somewhat limited by National Park Service philosophy, but some options remain because the negative sediment budget is a product of barriers to sediment transport updrift of the Park. The erosional situation is exacerbated by an exposure of an antecedent backmarsh feature within the Park that is affecting the inshore pattern of incident waves. Recent monitoring data indicate planform conformity to an updrift log-spiral erosional bluff that extends downdrift to a site with beach and dune features. Despite a general net negative sediment budget in the profile, the dune feature is increasing in volume as it shifts inland, fitting models of foredune development. Seasonal monitoring of the topography records that storms cause a stepwise inland displacement of an updrift portion of the Park and a more linear displacement in the downdrift portion. Among the options consistent with management policy responding to the negative sediment budget issue is an opportunity to work within the scale of the small sediment transport cell and backpass sediment toward the updrift margin of the cell.

Beyond noise mitigation: managing soundscapes as common-pool resources

The extent of noise and its impacts continues to grow globally indicating a different approach from regulating individual noise sources is needed. We pose the argument that soundscapes, or the acoustic environment, should be managed as a common-pool resource (CPR). Using CPR theory, we argue that soundscapes possess key features of CPRs: (1) multiple soundscape users, (2) difficulty of exclusion, and (3) subtractability and degradation. Using Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework, we describe the main elements of soundscapes to consider for their sustainable management. In order to assess noise issues and challenges in managing national park soundscapes, we conducted interviews with U.S. National Park Service managers at parks identified as having air tour overflight impacts. While most managers indicated that aircraft overflights posed the most serious impacts to park resources and visitor experiences, the park units also experienced several other types of noise impacts including traffic on park roads, park maintenance operations, and different types of motorized recreational vehicles. Addressing single sources of noise is necessary, as is the case with air tour overflights, but we argue that a more comprehensive approach is needed to protect park soundscapes. From this study several SES framework variables emerged that need to be addressed for sustainable management, such as the lack of clear soundscape boundaries, availability of acoustic monitoring and data, and the number and types of soundscape users. Based on CPR theory and using the SES framework, the challenges and a potential new approach for sustainable management are discussed.

100 Years of Site Maintenance and Repair: Conservation of Earthen Archaeological Sites in the American Southwest

The conservation of earthen sites poses challenging questions regarding conservation methods and historic preservation. The National Park Service and other site managers have to strike a balance between conserving the sites while presenting them to the public: there is no ideal choice. It is impossible to prevent a ruin from continuing to deteriorate without changing its appearance or its status as a ruin. Therefore, the conservation of historic earthen ruins should perhaps be more appropriately thought of as a process which slows the pace of decay, rather than suspending or preventing it.This paper looks at over one hundred years (from 1889 to the present) of site conservation at a variety of earthen historic and archaeological sites in the American Southwest. In each case, the National Park Service manages and treats the earthen ruins. The main categories of conservation techniques, and the preservation questions that these techniques raise, are examined along with their advantages and disadvantages.

Estimating the Economic Value of National Parks with Count Data Models Using On-Site, Secondary Data: The Case of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

We estimate an individual travel cost model for Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GSD) in Colorado using on-site, secondary data. The purpose of the on-site survey was to help the National Park Service better understand the visitors of GSD; it was not intended for a travel cost model. Variables such as travel cost and income were estimated based on respondents' Zip Codes. Following approaches found in the literature, a negative binomial model corrected for truncation and endogenous stratification fit the data the best. We estimate a recreational benefit of U.S. $89/visitor/year or U.S. $54/visitor/24-h recreational day (in 2002 U.S. $). Based on the approach presented here, there are other data sets for national parks, preserves, and battlefields where travel cost models could be estimated and used to support National Park Service management decisions.

Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service

Handsomely produced ...Carr underscores the significance and enduring power of the landscape park model. - Environmental History. This intelligently crafted book demonstrates that during the 1920s and '30s landscape architects used planning as an effective means of protecting wilderness from the effects of automobile tourism...Highly recommended. - Choice. From the creation of Central Park in 1858 to the bison, wolf, and fire controversies of today, conservationists have been under constant scrutiny for the way that public lands are managed...[Carr] speaks with eloquence and pride about the ongoing struggle to preserve the back countries. - Mystic Montana. A fascinating account of how and why development occurred in the national parks. - Leisure Sciences. Tracing the history of landscape park design from British gardens up through the city park designs of Frederick Law Olmsted, Ethan Carr places national park landscape architecture within a larger historical context. Despite the difficulties now confronting the parks, their continued ability to attract millions of visitors suggests that their creators succeeded in presenting a captivating vision of a once-wild America. Ethan Carr is a landscape architect and is currently working for the National Park Service. He has taught landscape architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the University of Virginia School of Architecture. NP [old blurb now follows]: Contemporary environmental historians have suggested that the history of National Park Service management of national parks since 1916 has resulted in a debacle of overuse and ecosystem destruction. In Wilderness by Design, Ethan Carr goes beyond polemics to examine specific national park policies and the historical contexts that shaped them. Carr delves into the planning and motivations of the people who wanted to preserve America's scenic geography. He demonstrates that by drawing on historical antecedents, landscape architects and planners carefully crafted each addition to maintain maximum picturesque wonder. Ethan Carr is the director of the Riverfront Program for Scenic Hudson, Inc. He has served as a landscape historian for the National Park Service, and as a result of his work, sites covered in this book earned designations as National Historic Landmarks.

Population and Habitat Ecology of Deer on Devils Tower National Monument

White-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (0. hemionus) currently use Devils Tower National Monument and adjacent private agricultural lands year round or migrate from the Monument to other areas. In 1989, a game fence was constructed on the west and north borders of the Monument. Enclosure of the Monument by additional fencing could alter habitat use of deer substantially and create many of the problems associated with island reserves. National Park Service management policy directs the Monument to predict changes in the natural resources under its stewardship. Current deer use of the Monument is not well documented so that a baseline for monitoring long term changes is lacking. The Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, in cooperation with the Devils Tower National Monument, initiated a study in June 1990 to document current population numbers and habitat ecology of white-tailed and mule deer on the Monument. Objectives of this study are to: (1) Evaluate methods to estimate seasonal deer densities on the Monument. (2) Determine seasonal movement patterns and time spent on and off the Monument by radio­collared deer. (3) Determine deer habitat selection patterns of deer on the Monument. (4) Estimate the nutritional carrying capacity of the Monument for deer. Preliminary data on population estimates, movement patterns, and habitat use patterns of deer using the Monument during 1990-1991 were presented in the 1991 Annual Progress Report. This report presents additional data on the population numbers for the period April 1992 to October 1992 and describes vegetation data collected but not yet analyzed.

Population and Habitat Ecology of Deer on Devils Tower National Monument

White-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (0. hemionis) currently use Devils Tower National Monument and adjacent private agricultural lands year round or migrate from the Monument to other areas. In 1989, a game fence was constructed on the west and north borders of the Monument. Enclosure of the Monument by additional fencing could alter habitat use of deer substantially and create many of the problems associated with island reserves. National Park Service management policy directs the Monument to predict changes in the natural resources under its stewardship. Because current deer use of the Monument is not well documented, the Department of Zoology and Physiology and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, in cooperation with the Devils Tower National Monument, initiated a study in June 1990 to document current population numbers and habitat ecology of white-tailed and mule deer on the Monument as a baseline for monitoring long-term changes in the deer herd.

Nourishment of perched sand dunes and the issue of erosion control in the Great Lakes

Although limited in coverage, perched sand dunes situated on high coastal bluffs are considered the most prized of Great Lakes dunes. Grand Sable Dunes on Lake Superior and Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan are featured attractions of national lakeshores under National Park Service management. The source of sand for perched dunes is the high bluff along their lakeward edge. As onshore wind crosses the bluff, flow is accelerated upslope, resulting in greatly elevated levels of wind stress over the slope brow. On barren, sandy bluffs, wind erosion is concentrated in the brow zone, and for the Grand Sable Bluff, it averaged 1 m3/yr per linear meter along the highest sections for the period 1973–1983. This mechanism accounts for about 6,500 m3 of sand nourishment to the dunefield annually and clearly has been the predominant mechanism for the long-term development of the dunefield. However, wind erosion and dune nourishment are possible only where the bluff is denuded of plant cover by mass movements and related processes induced by wave erosion. In the Great Lakes, wave erosion and bluff retreat vary with lake levels; the nourishment of perched dunes is favored by high levels. Lake levels have been relatively high for the past 50 years, and shore erosion has become a major environmental issue leading property owners and politicians to support lake-level regulation. Trimming high water levels could reduce geomorphic activity on high bluffs and affect dune nourishment rates. Locally, nourishment also may be influenced by sediment accumulation associated with harbor protection facilities and by planting programs aimed at stabilizing dunes.

Ecology of Deer on Devils Tower National Monument

Currently, white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (0. hemionus) use Devils Tower National Monument and adjacent private agricultural lands year round or migrate from the Monument to other areas. Construction of a game proof fence by adjoining landowners threatens to enclose Devils Tower National Monument. If this occurs, deer use of the Monument may be substantially altered and long­term management of the population may be faced with many of the problems associated with island reserves. National Park Service management policy charges the Monument to detect or predict changes in the natural resources under its stewardship. However, current deer use of the Monument is not well documented so that a baseline for monitoring long term changes is lacking. The University of Wyoming Department of Zoology and Physiology and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, in cooperation with the University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center and Devils Tower National Monument, initiated a study in June 1990 to document the population and habitat ecology of white­tailed and mule deer on Devils Tower National Monument. Objectives of the study during this reporting period were to: 1. radio-collar a representative sample of the adult female population of deer 2. radio-locate adult does to identify daily and seasonal habitat use and movement patterns 3. determine seasonal deer densities on the Monument

Application of a mesoscale atmospheric dispersion modeling system to the estimation of SO 2 concentrations from major elevated sources in Southern Florida

Estimates of maximum ground-level concentrations of SO 2 due to anthropogenic emissions have been made for two National Park Service management areas in southern Florida as part of an interdisciplinary biological effects study for these areas. The nearest major sources of SO 2 are located at least 60 km away on the southern Florida coast so that mesoscale atmospheric transport must occur for the receptor areas to be affected by these sources. A mesoscale atmospheric dispersion modeling system consisting of a three-dimensional mesoscale meteorological model and a three-dimensional Lagrangian particle dispersion model were employed to make the estimates for a realistic worst-case summer meteorological scenario. The temporal and spatial variations of the meteorological fields resulting from the interaction of sea and land breezes with the synoptic flow were simulated with the meteorological model for the southern Florida peninsula. The dispersion characteristics of plumes emitted from four major elevated point sources were then evaluated using the Lagrangian particle model 1. (i) by means of particle dispersion plots and 2. (ii) by computing the 3-h-average ground-level SO 2 concentrations. A comparison was made with concentrations estimated using a plume-trapping formulation and the TVA σ y curves. The study results illustrate the complexity of the dispersion patterns which can occur for travel distances on the order of 100 km in a coastal area due to diurnal effects and mesoscale circulations, and demonstrate the potential of the mesoscale atmospheric dispersion modeling system for studies of air quality in complex terrain.

Survey of Vertebrates on the Big Hole National Battlefield

The primary objective of the survey was to determine species composition, relative abundance, and distribution of vertebrates on the Big Hole National Battlefield. Secondary objectives included: 1) identification of unique species such as those listed as threatened or endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and estimation of their population size; b) identification of species not endemic to the area and estimation of their population size; and c) make recommendations with regard to controlled burns. Information gained from the survey will enable National Park Service managers to assess future environmental impacts and develop reliable management plans.

Natural fire management in National Parks

An evolving understanding of ecological processes, together with ambiguities in National Park Service policy, have led to multiple interpretations of the role of management in our large natural area National Parks. National Park Service management policies must be dynamic and responsive to changes in scientific knowledge and societal values. We propose that the principal aim of NPS resource management in natural areas is the unimpeded interaction of native ecosystem processes and structural elements. The case of the changing role of natural fire management is used as an example in developing this rationale.

The ecological role of fire in Sierran conifer forests: Its application to National Park management

The impact of fire on the environment of the various Sierran conifer forests varies with intensity and frequency. Generally, however, fire (1) prepares a seedbed; (2) cycles nutrients within the system; (3) adjusts the successional pattern; (4) modifies conditions affecting wildlife; (5) influences the mosaic of age classes and vegetation types; (6) alters the numbers of trees susceptible to disease and insects; and (7) both reduces and creates fire hazards. Natural fire frequency apparently coincides with levels of fuel accumulation that result in burns of relatively low intensity at frequent intervals. This may average 8 yr in mixed conifer forests, although frequencies from 4 to 20 yr or more are found in particular sites. In all probability, giant sequoia and various pines of the Sierra survive today because of the role fire plays in the various forest types. National Park Service management policies are aimed at restoring fire, as nearly as possible, to its natural role in Sierran conifer forests. This is being accomplished by prescribed burning at lower and middle elevation types and by allowing lightning fires to burn in higher elevation forests.