National Park Service Research Articles

Following the tug of the audience from complex to simplified hazards maps at Cascade Range volcanoes

Volcano-hazard maps are broadly recognized as important tools for forecasting and managing volcanic crises and for disseminating spatial information to authorities and people at risk. As scientists, we might presume that hazards maps can be developed at the time and with the methods of our discretion, yet the co-production of maps with stakeholder groups, who have programmatic needs of their own, can sway the timing, usability, and acceptance of map products.We examine two volcano hazard map-making efforts by staff at the U.S. Geological Survey. During the 1990s and early 2000s scientists developed a series of hazard assessments and maps with detailed zonations for volcanoes in Washington and Oregon. In 2009, the National Park Service expressed the need for simplified versions of the existing hazard maps for a high-profile visitor center exhibit. This request created an opportunity for scientists to rethink the objectives, scope, content, and map representations of hazards. The primary focus of this article is a discussion of processes used by scientists to distill the most critical information within the official parent maps into a series of simplified maps using criteria specified. We contextualize this project with information about development of the parent maps, public response to the simplified hazard maps, the value of user engagement in mapmaking, and with reference to the abundance of guidance available to the next generation of hazard-mapmakers.We argue that simplified versions of maps should be developed in tandem with any hazard maps that contain technical complexities, not as a replacement, but as a mechanism to broaden awareness of hazards. We found that when scientists endeavor to design vivid and easy-to-understand maps, people in many professions find uses for them within their organization’s information products, resulting in extensive distribution.

Developing a population assessment for Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus in the United States Virgin Islands: lessons learned

The Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is one of the most important fisheries in the US Virgin Islands. Low densities and life-history characteristics of lobsters have made reliable surveys in the region notoriously difficult, contributing to sparse and inconsistent fisheries- independent datasets to inform management decisions. Many existing and historical surveys are limited in their temporal and spatial coverage. In 2019, the National Park Service initiated a long-term monitoring effort of spiny lobsters in Buck Island Reef National Monument and Salt River National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, and Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Initial surveys show both density (3.06–7.07 lobsters ha –1) and occupancy (0.11–0.12 sites with lobster) are low and not significantly different between the three parks. While survey efforts are currently focused on national parks, the 50 × 50 m gridded sample frame and stratification scheme are adaptable to the wider US Caribbean region, modelled after the multi-agency design to monitor reef fish with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. With the same survey footprint as reef fish surveys, the two methods could conceivably be co-located in the future, improving cost-efficiency and overall data quality. If expanded, this methodology could provide regional fishery managers with much needed density indices, though future surveys would benefit from a greater sample size or by supplementing with other methods that increase the number of observed lobsters to allow for robust size-frequency analyses.

A Western Pocahontas: Myth, Reality, and Memorialization for Spotted Tail’s Daughter, Mni-Akuwin

Abstract In March 1866, the Sicangu (Brulé) Lakota chief Spotted Tail brought the body of his seventeen- or eighteen-year-old daughter, Mni-Akuwin, to Fort Laramie. She had died somewhere in the Powder River country. Before she died, she had asked her father to bury her among the Whites at the fort. Her subsequent scaffold burial in the post cemetery was an unusual mix of military display, Christian rites, and Lakota traditions; and the events surrounding it became a dramatic episode in the story of Native-White relations and western settlement. Almost 140 years later she was memorialized at the fort, a National Park Service site, as a symbol of racial reconciliation. The story of Mni-Akuwin has been told and retold many times through the years, often as a romantic tragedy comparable to the story of early Jamestown and the much-celebrated Pocahontas. The two Native women had a surprising amount in common, including what we know and don’t know about them, what has been ascribed to their motives, and how they have been championed as defenders of European colonists and non-Native settlers. Indian princess mythology, with its insistence on innocence, purity, romantic purpose, and tragedy, has been vital to the persistence of this view—a perspective that has often put reconciliation in the service of White supremacy, dispossession, and rejection of Native culture. As the Mni-Akuwin story illustrates, reconciliation can be problematic.

From sounds to science on public lands: Using emerging tools in terrestrial bioacoustics to understand national park soundscapes

The National Park Service manages over 400 units across the United States, each with unique resource protection needs. Many parks have natural resource conservation priorities that include the protection of natural soundscapes and the sound-producing species who contribute to them. It is challenging, however, to translate terabytes of raw audio into applied information for the diverse research and management questions posed by individual parks. Recent advances in terrestrial bioacoustics are making this process more tractable, particularly as BirdNET has emerged as an extensible off-the-shelf tool equipped to detect diverse assemblages of sound-producing species across varied park ecosystems. We illustrate the applied utility of using and adapting this emerging tool in combination with open code and visualizations to answer multi-taxa questions about occurrence, phenology, and wildlife responses to management. This work demonstrates both the iterative nature and challenges inherent to keeping a federal agency astride the leading edge in a rapidly progressing, data-heavy field, amid a backdrop of global change.

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.

Mixed trends in heavy metal-enriched fugitive dust on National Park Service lands along the Red Dog Mine haul road, Alaska, 2006-2017.

This study presents the status and trends of long-term monitoring of the elemental concentrations of zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd) in Hylocomium splendens moss tissue in Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR), Alaska, adjacent to the Red Dog Mine haul road. Spatial patterns of the deposition of these metals were re-assessed for the period from 2006-2017 following an identical study that assessed trends between 2001-2006. In contrast to the widespread and steep declines in Zn and Pb levels throughout most of the study area between 2001-2006, this study showed more mixed results for 2006-2017. At distances within 100 m of the haul road, only Pb decreased between 2006-2017. At distances between 100-5,000 m, however, both Zn and Cd decreased between 2006-2017, with high probabilities of decrease and percent decreases of 11-20% and 46-52% respectively. Lead did not decrease in any of the more distant areas. Following earlier work on lichen species richness in the study area, it appears that 2017 Zn levels are approaching those associated with "background" lichen species richness throughout a relatively large proportion of the study area at least 2,000 m from the haul road and several km from the port site. The findings in this study may be used to plan additional mitigation measures to reduce Zn deposition related to impacts on lichen communities.

Assisted colonization of albatrosses in the California Channel Islands: conservation basis and suitability assessment

Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed Albatrosses (P. nigripes) nest primarily on low-lying atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that are threatened by inundation from sea level rise and increasing storm surge associated with climate change. Restoration or creation of breeding colonies on higher islands is among the highest priority conservation actions for these species. A previous structured decision-making analysis identified the California Channel Islands as a possible restoration site for Black-footed Albatross. The California Current is part of the natural foraging ranges of Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses. Archaeological evidence indicates both species were present in the California Channel Islands prehistorically, yet neither currently nests in the Channel Islands. We assessed the feasibility of creating albatross breeding colonies in the Channel Islands using social attraction and translocation, and the suitability of each island. We used a risk analysis framework developed for the U.S. National Park Service to evaluate the potential ecological risks of this action. Creating an albatross colony in the Channel Islands is feasible using available methods. Santa Barbara and San Nicolas islands would be most suitable for albatross. Social attraction is less expensive and might be effective for creating a Laysan Albatross colony because that species is already visiting some islands. Translocation would be necessary to create a Black-footed Albatross colony. The risks associated with attempting to establish albatross breeding colonies in the Channel Islands were deemed to be generally low, but the risk of no action is high to these albatrosses. This can be a useful assisted colonization case study that can inform decisions by land managers and agencies regarding conservation of North Pacific albatrosses and other species.

The Rhetoric of Freedom

Over the past few years, the National Council on Public History (NCPH)’s annual meeting has given attention to the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. NCPH has worked with the National Park Service (NPS) to present a scholar’s roundtable with different annual themes. The roundtable at the 2023 meeting examined “The Rhetoric of Freedom.” This essay opens with an exploration of the theme. What follows is an introduction to the scholars who participated in the roundtable; a description of their suite of programming; and a summary of their findings. I close with a “best practices” case study of the Aiken-Rhett House, an urban plantation mansion in Charleston, South Carolina. The case study answers a reoccurring question that emerged from roundtable discussions: How do historians engage public(s) in narratives of freedom, bondage, and nation building?

Review: Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston, by Seth C. Bruggeman

Review: <i>Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston</i>, by Seth C. Bruggeman

“We have our own cultural ways of being in nature”: New perspectives on African Americans’ relationships to U.S. National Parks

Explanations for why African Americans are under-represented in U.S. national parks tend to focus on socioeconomic barriers, cultural norms, socialization practices, and discrimination. There exist, however, counternarratives that challenge prevailing notions that African Americans lack strong connections to national parks focusing on their environmentalism and offers new directions for further research. Using focus groups and qualitative methods, this study explored how African Americans perceive national parks. Our findings revealed nuanced and critical Black-centered themes. One encapsulates resurgent fear of racial oppression in nature driven by the current political climate. We also found a desire to reclaim and recreate a Black-centric environmental narrative. We conclude that applying a historical and cultural lens and recognizing environmental values among African Americans provide a basis for the National Park Service and other agencies to build stronger relationships with African Americans.

Checking in on fossil sites: Advancing monitoring protocols and techniques for paleontological localities in National Park Service units

Checking in on fossil sites: Advancing monitoring protocols and techniques for paleontological localities in National Park Service units

How to define urban park relevance? Examining and integrating US National Park Service and partner views on the goal of “relevance to all Americans”

Park agencies must consider their engagement strategies’ relevance. Urban and local relevance are enduring foci. Agencies thus collaborate with partners serving urban, local audiences to bridge the park-community boundary. Yet, relevance is relative. How, then, can views on park relevance from an agency and its partners be reconciled for a collaborative view of parks’ cityscape contributions? We examined this conundrum within the Urban Agenda of the US National Park Service (NPS), which highlighted the agency’s substantial urban presence, acknowledged urban populations as critical stewards, and sought meaningful related partnerships. Framed with Collective Impact components, we sought to learn from 63 interviews with NPS staff and partners in Detroit, Tucson, and Boston about what “relevance to all Americans” entails. We found distinct differences between the views but that the agency-specific view can contribute to cityscape-wide goals. Detailing these definitions and alignments allows for strategic, scaled planning of related actions.

A Dataset of Amphibian Species in U.S. National Parks

National parks and other protected areas are important for preserving landscapes and biodiversity worldwide. An essential component of the mission of the United States (U.S.) National Park Service (NPS) requires understanding and maintaining accurate inventories of species on protected lands. We describe a new, national-scale synthesis of amphibian species occurrence in the NPS system. Many park units have a list of amphibian species observed within their borders compiled from various sources and available publicly through the NPSpecies platform. However, many of the observations in NPSpecies remain unverified and the lists are often outdated. We updated the amphibian dataset for each park unit by collating old and new park-level records and had them verified by regional experts. The new dataset contains occurrence records for 292 of the 424 NPS units and includes updated taxonomy, international and state conservation rankings, hyperlinks to a supporting reference for each record, specific notes, and related fields which can be used to better understand and manage amphibian biodiversity within a single park or group of parks.

Evaluating the predicted eruption times of geysers in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States and is known for its geothermal features, consisting of many popular geysers such as Old Faithful. Geysers are fascinating to national park visitors because their eruptions range from small bubbles to jets of water hundreds of meters high, and their eruptions last from seconds to hours. To help tourists plan their visits, the US National Park Service and other independent groups (such as GeyserTimes) publish predicted eruption times of popular geysers. We hypothesized that the models developed by the US National Park Service are accurate with little discrepancy from our independent analysis, due to park rangers monitoring the geysers constantly and likely adjusting their models over time according to observed patterns and changing conditions underground. In our study, we focused on Old Faithful and Beehive Geyser by downloading eruption time data and conducting statistical regression analyses using linear, exponential, and logistic regression methods, with the ultimate goal of evaluating the accuracy of different statistical models. Contrary to our hypothesis, our results demonstrated that the official predictions from the US National Park Service are variable in accuracy. Specifically, we showed that the predicted eruption times for Old Faithful from the National Park Service and our own regression models are highly consistent, while the official predictions from the National Park Service for Beehive Geyser were less precise than our predictions.

RESILIENCE OF THE GLADIATOR MILKVETCH (ASTRAGALUS XIPHOIDES), A RARE, ENDEMIC PLANT OF PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK, OVER A CENTURY AND THROUGH PROLONGED DROUGHT

Hiding among eroding badlands, hoodoos, and ephemeral washes of Petrified Forest National Park is a rare, narrow endemic with a peculiar name, the Gladiator milkvetch (Astragalus xiphoides). First discovered in the park in 1940, its scarcity and range were largely unknown until the 1980s when the species was designated as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Focused surveys for the species were conducted in Petrified Forest National Park in 1989, identifying 16 distinct populations. Beginning in 1995, the park experienced a 27-year period of prolonged drought ending in 2022. This article summarizes the recent efforts by the National Park Service to locate these 16 populations in order to assess the plants resilience through prolonged drought. Eight of the populations surveyed in 1989 persist today, with some populations declining in density by 80–90 percent and others remaining stable with modest increases in density.

“Visibility” at Italian natural parks: preliminary data from the first-ever pilot project by ENEA and CUFAA

“Visibility” is meant as the greatest distance at which an observer can see a distant object in contrast with the horizon and, when referred to a landscape, it depends on the optical characteristics of the atmosphere, somehow linked to the presence of air pollutants. Visibility can hence become a useful indicator of air quality and the project Visibility, representing the first case of visibility monitoring in Europe, aims to apply this approach within the Italian National Parks as natural areas with a significant fruition vocation. The goal is to test the U.S. National Park Service protocol I.M.PRO.V.E. (Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environment) for the quantification of a coefficient that describes the light extinction (Bext) as a function of different chemical-physical parameters associated with molecules dispersed in the air, and the Circeo National Park (LT) was selected for the “pilot” action, with the positioning of the measuring instruments for atmospheric pollution evaluation at the Lago dei Monaci site. 24-hours samplings were performed in spring-summer 2021 and winter 2021/2022, to measure the air concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 particulate matter, sulfates and nitrates, elemental carbon and organic carbon, metals and trace elements and the gaseous species nitrogen dioxide, with the consequential calculation of the Bext. The visual detection of the degree of air transparency was performed by a panoramic camera pointed in the direction of the “landmark” Monte Circeo, taken as a reference for the definition of long-distance visibility.

Variable-Step Multiscale Katz Fractal Dimension: A New Nonlinear Dynamic Metric for Ship-Radiated Noise Analysis

The Katz fractal dimension (KFD) is an effective nonlinear dynamic metric that characterizes the complexity of time series by calculating the distance between two consecutive points and has seen widespread applications across numerous fields. However, KFD is limited to depicting the complexity of information from a single scale and ignores the information buried under different scales. To tackle this limitation, we proposed the variable-step multiscale KFD (VSMKFD) by introducing a variable-step multiscale process in KFD. The proposed VSMKFD overcomes the disadvantage that the traditional coarse-grained process will shorten the length of the time series by varying the step size to obtain more sub-series, thus fully reflecting the complexity of information. Three simulated experimental results show that the VSMKFD is the most sensitive to the frequency changes of a chirp signal and has the best classification effect on noise signals and chaotic signals. Moreover, the VSMKFD outperforms five other commonly used nonlinear dynamic metrics for ship-radiated noise classification from two different databases: the National Park Service and DeepShip.

Fine-scale forest structure, not management regime, drives occupancy of a declining songbird, the Olive-sided Flycatcher, in the core of its range

Abstract Climate change, management legacies, pest outbreaks, and fire regimes are combining to pose a growing risk of broad-scale loss of forest cover throughout western North America. Already, habitat changes have been linked with declines in numerous bird species; understanding the relative importance of management regimes and habitat structure may be critical to conserving at-risk species. The Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) is a declining songbird associated with tall, open forests in California’s Sierra Nevada, the core of its breeding range, where the management regimes of the National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have led to divergent forest conditions over the past century. We combined a landscape-scale passive acoustic monitoring program, the BirdNET animal sound identification algorithm, and single-season occupancy models to explore the relationships between Olive-sided Flycatchers in the Sierra Nevada and both management regimes and fine-scale forest structure. Olive-sided Flycatcher site occupancy increased as canopy cover decreased relative to mean tree diameter, which is consistent with their preference for mature, open forests. These “open forest” conditions were most prevalent on NPS-managed lands, which is consistent with the assumption that the NPS management regime is more faithful to the historical conditions that had supported a larger Olive-sided Flycatcher population than at present. Thus, the support we found for a positive association with USFS-managed lands after controlling for “open forest” suggests that other habitat features are also important. Our results suggest that conservation strategies for Olive-sided Flycatcher breeding habitat should prioritize the protection and generation of open canopies in areas with large trees, as well as the identification of other important habitat features. Prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and a return of Indigenous forest management practices could help to restore historical forest and fire conditions beneficial to this and other species with similar habitat requirements. Fine-scale alterations to forest structure can be implemented much more rapidly and at much broader scales than the imposition of strict protected status, suggesting that there may be multiple pathways to conservation when species respond to habitat at fine spatial scales.

Invited Perspective: Cutting through the Noise-the National Park Service Anthropogenic Noise Model for Exposure Assessment.

Invited Perspective: Cutting through the Noise-the National Park Service Anthropogenic Noise Model for Exposure Assessment.

Association between Noise and Cardiovascular Disease in a Nationwide U.S. Prospective Cohort Study of Women Followed from 1988 to 2018.

Long-term noise exposure is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), including acute cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction and stroke. However, longitudinal cohort studies in the U.S. of long-term noise and CVD are almost exclusively from Europe and few modeled nighttime noise, when an individual is likely at home or asleep, separately from daytime noise. We aimed to examine the prospective association of outdoor long-term nighttime and daytime noise from anthropogenic sources with incident CVD using a U.S.-based, nationwide cohort of women. We linked nighttime and daytime anthropogenic modeled noise estimates from a U.S. National Parks Service model (: sound pressure levels exceeded 50 percent of the time) to geocoded residential addresses of 114,116 participants in the Nurses' Health Study. We used time-varying Cox proportional hazards models to estimate risk of incident CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke associated with long-term average (14-y measurement period) noise exposure, adjusted for potential individual- and area-level confounders and CVD risk factors (1988-2018; biennial residential address updates; monthly CVD updates). We assessed effect modification by population density, region, air pollution, vegetation cover, and neighborhood socioeconomic status, and explored mediation by self-reported average nightly sleep duration. Over 2,548,927 person-years, there were 10,331 incident CVD events. In fully adjusted models, the hazard ratios for each interquartile range increase in nighttime noise (3.67 dBA) and daytime noise (4.35 dBA), respectively, were 1.04 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.06) and 1.04 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.07). Associations for total energy-equivalent noise level () measures were stronger than for the anthropogenic statistical noise measures. Similar associations were observed for CHD and stroke. Interaction analyses suggested that associations of nighttime and daytime noise with CVD did not differ by prespecified effect modifiers. We found no evidence that inadequate sleep ( h/night) mediated associations of nighttime noise and CVD. Outdoor anthropogenic nighttime and daytime noise at the residential address was associated with a small increase in CVD risk in a cohort of adult female nurses. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12906.