US National Park Research Articles

All Things Useful and Ornamental: A Praxis-based Model for Conservation Education

Conservation has matured into a professional discipline with its own body of knowledge, practical methodology and professional community of practitioners and educators. Conservation does not assume a priori a singular dedication to the physical fabric alone but rather to the entire resource including the associated intangible qualities, thus bringing the conservation process back into the social realm of people, places and things. In order to train skilled conservators in the physical and ethical exigencies of cultural heritage conservation, it is necessary to unite theory with practice. The University of Pennsylvania and the US National Park Service entered into a collaborative partnership in 1991 to explore the mutual needs for applied research and training in conservation and cultural resource management. This institutional collaboration has allowed a critical component of the professional training of conservators to be realized while providing much needed service to park sites. It has brought field-based problems into the academy where research protocols have been developed, tested and then re-introduced back into the field and most importantly it has exposed students to the complexities of ethical behaviour and professional conduct.

The fish fauna from Arenosa Shelter (41VV99), Lower Pecos region, Texas

Salvage excavations (1965–1968) at Arenosa Shelter in the arid Lower Pecos cultural region yielded over 47,000 faunal specimens and 1000 bone artifacts. This large Pecos River terrace site is near the Rio Grande confluence and international border. Recent research using US National Park Service collections studied the subsistence and bone technology practices of prehistoric residents. Small to large fish remains formed a significant minority of the faunal sample. The remains provided evidence of previously undocumented capture and carcass processing techniques used during the Middle to Terminal Late Archaic. Fish skeletal material also entered the region's bone technology to be used in specific, limited roles as tools.

Decreasing The “Bad” for Mixed Public Goods and Bads: The Case Of Public Sculpture

A standard analysis in public economics involves the provision of a public good, and how much of that good it is desirable to provide. A related standard analysis con siders the problem of regulating a public bad, such as pollution. What is not usually considered is a class of public products that are both public goods and public bads: products that produce positive utility for some, and negative utility for others forced to experience them. Some might argue that expenditures on national defense sometimes fit this characterization; others might see the reintroduction of wolf populations into US national parks as fitting it. Whatever one's reaction to these possible examples, however, it seems clear, as we will argue below, that the example of controversial public sculpture does fit the mixed public good-public bad characterization. This paper considers the following issue: when confronted with a mixed public good/public bad, what are the options for decreasing the negative utility generated relative to the positive utility produced? Or, to state the issue more flamboyantly, are there ways to help insure that public goods are not also serious public bads? Because it is both difficult and seemingly unrewarding to tackle this eco nomic design question in the abstract, we apply our analysis to the concrete example of controversial public sculpture. The later part of this paper sets forth some instructive specific controversies involving the provision of public sculpture in the United States. First, we present a simple public goods-bads framework that helps us analyze the economic design issues that arise in the controversial public sculpture setting.

Visitor management policy of national parks, national wildlife areas and refuges in Canada and the united states: A policy analysis of public documents

The published visitor management policies of national parks, national wildlife areas and refuges in Canada and the United States are important components of the overall management system. This paper analyses how the visitor management policies that apply to all units operated by each agency compare to each other and compare to an ideal framework, using data from publicly‐available sources. Analysis was undertaken by policy comparison of all publicly‐available documents available in the Canadian inter‐university library system and the internet. The quantity and quality of visitor management policy is higher with higher funding levels, as demonstrated by the US National Park Service at the high end of the spectrum, and the Canadian Wildlife Service at the low end. The US National Park Service has the most comprehensive visitor management policy, and this policy is well coordinated in one overall document. The Canadian Wildlife Service has a very weak visitor management policy structure that lacks even basic goals for visitor management. Some visitor policy gaps exist for each agency. All agencies lack explicit policies governing visitor length of stay, human resources required for visitor management and economic impact measurement. This is the first policy analysis of this type undertaken. It provides a basis for the revision and improvement of these policies in the future.

Law Enforcement Perceptions and Changes in the United States Park Service: Urban proximity and level of enforcement practices

Crime and urban encroachment to United States National Parks and other natural resource areas has been a growing problem for land managers. This study examined how the perceptions of law enforcement rangers have developed in respect to the level of enforcement toward law‐breaking visitors over a 25‐year period, and it identified the role of a park unit's proximity to an urban area on this relationship. An Internet survey of US National Park superintendents and rangers (n=527) was conducted in 2005. Data indicated that the severity of the techniques used by law enforcement in the National Park Service has not changed in recent times; however, when parks are closer to urban areas, law enforcement rangers use more intense (e.g., arrest versus prevention) enforcement techniques. The results of this study indicated a need for research concerning how level of enforcement affects the experiences of both law‐breaking and law‐abiding visitors.

Watershed Nitrogen and Mercury Geochemical Fluxes Integrate Landscape Factors in Long-term Research Watersheds at Acadia National Park, Maine, USA

This paper is an overview of this special issue devoted to watershed research in Acadia National Park (Acadia NP). The papers address components of an integrated research program on two upland watersheds at Acadia NP, USA (44 degrees 20' N latitude; 68 degrees 15' E longitude). These watersheds were instrumented in 1998 to provide a long-term foundation for regional ecological and watershed research. The research was initiated as part of EPA/NPS PRIMENet (Park Research and Intensive Monitoring of Ecosystems Network), a system of UV-monitoring stations and long-term watershed research sites located in US national parks. The initial goals at Acadia NP were to address research questions about mercury, acid rain, and nitrogen saturation developed from prior research. The project design was based on natural differences in forests and soils induced by an intense wildfire in one watershed in 1947. There is no evidence of fire in the reference watershed for several hundred years. We are testing hypotheses about controls on surface water chemistry, and bioavailability of contaminants in the contrasting watersheds. The unburned 47-ha Hadlock Brook watershed is 70% spruce-fir mature conifer forest. In contrast, burned 32-ha Cadillac Brook watershed, 4 km northeast of the Hadlock watershed, is 20% regenerating mixed northern hardwoods and 60% shrub/rocky balds. Differences in atmospheric deposition are controlled primarily by forest stand composition and age. The watersheds are gauged and have water chemistry stations at 122 m (Cadillac) and 137 m (Hadlock); watershed maximum elevations are 468 and 380 m, respectively. The stream water chemistry patterns reflect, in part, the legacy of the intense fire, which, in turn, controls differences in forest vegetation and soil characteristics. These factors result in higher nitrogen and mercury flux from the unburned watershed, reflecting differences in atmospheric deposition, contrasting ecosystem pools of nitrogen and mercury, and inferred differences in internal cycling and bioavailabilty.

Sacred Mountains: Themes and Teachings

As the highest and most impressive features of the landscape, mountains have an unusual power to awaken a sense of the sacred. Their soaring summits, the clouds and thunder that swirl about their peaks, the life-giving waters that flow from their heights, these and other characteristics imbue them with an aura of mystery and sanctity. In that aura, people of diverse backgrounds, both traditional and modern, experience a deeper reality that gives meaning and vitality to their lives. Drawing on many of the themes associated with sacred mountains around the world, The Mountain Institute in Washington DC has developed with the US National Park Service innovative educational activities that highlight the spiritual and cultural meanings of natural features of mountain environments in different cultures. The purpose of the project is to connect a broad range of visitors with nature, enrich their experiences, and give them deep-seated, sustainable reasons for conserving the environment. Efforts to conserve the environmental integrity and cultural diversity associated with sacred mountains need to involve the many diverse peoples and traditions that revere and care for them.

Does Integrating Economic and Biological Systems Matter for Public Policy? The Case of Yellowstone Lake

Abstract Integrated economic and ecologic modeling systems can yield more precise predictions about the underlying physical system and the risks imposed to humans and the environment. But do more accurate risk assessments matter for environmental policy that is in part influenced by the consumers of this physical system? Herein we discuss a situation within the crown jewel of the US national park system in which the answer is no. For endangered cutthroat trout populations threatened by the invasion of exotic lake trout in Yellowstone Lake, if one accounts for the preferences of the average visitor, the optimal policy can be bluntly summarized as "fix the roads, forget the fish." To reverse this outcome, the typical visitor to the Park would have to be more forward-thinking and more generous toward a species that she would never see.

Activity patterns of American black bears in Yosemite National Park

Abstract The impacts of tourism, most notably food resource enrichment and harassment, have led to alterations in natural bear (Ursus sp.) behavior in many National Parks throughout the United States. Comprehensive efforts to reduce these impacts and restore natural activity patterns have been elements of US National Park management for decades. We described black bear (U. americanus) activity patterns during 2001 and 2002 to assess the influence of human activity centers on bear behavior in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. We found bear activity and movement patterns, habitat use, and the distance bears were located from developed areas continued to be influenced by human presence in the Yosemite Valley region of Yosemite National Park. We recommend continued use of educational campaigns, stronger law enforcement efforts, improvements to food storage containers, more effective waste management, and more aggressive aversive conditioning techniques to reduce the number of human–bear interactions an...

Is love of nature in the US becoming love of electronic media? 16-year downtrend in national park visits explained by watching movies, playing video games, internet use, and oil prices

After 50 years of steady increase, per capita visits to US national parks have declined since 1988. This decline, coincident with the rise in electronic entertainment media, may represent a shift in recreation choices with broader implications for the value placed on biodiversity conservation and environmentally responsible behavior. We compared the decline in per capita visits with a set of indicators representing alternate recreation choices and constraints. The Spearman correlation analyses found this decline in NPV to be significantly negatively correlated with several electronic entertainment indicators: hours of television, ( r s = - 0.743 , P < 0.001 ), video games ( r s = - 0.773 , P < 0.001 ), home movies ( r s = - 0.788 , P < 0.001 ), theatre attendance ( r s = - 0.587 , P < 0.025 ) and internet use ( r s = - 0.783 , P < 0.001 ). There were also significant negative correlations with oil prices ( r s = - 0.547 , P < 0.025 ), foreign travel ( r s = - 0.452 , P < 0.05 ), and Appalachian Trail hikers ( r s = - 0.785 , P < 0.001 ). Income was significantly positively correlated with foreign travel ( r s = 0.621 , P < 0.005 ) but negatively correlated with national park visits ( r s = - 0.697 , P < 0.005 ). There was no significant correlation of mean number of vacation days, indicating available vacation time is probably not a factor. Federal funding actually increased during this period, and so was rejected as a probable factor. Park capacity was rejected as limiting since both total overnight stays and visits at the seven most popular parks rose well into the mid-1990s. Aging of baby boomers was also rejected as they are only now reaching retirement age, and thus during the period of visitation decline were still of prime family vacation age. Multiple linear regression of four of the entertainment media variables as well as oil prices explains 97.5% of this recent decline ( r = 0.975 , multiple r 2 = 0.950 , adjusted multiple r 2 = 0.925 , SE=0.015, F = 37.800 , P < 0.0001 ). We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's appreciation of nature (biophilia, Wilson 1984) to ‘videophilia,’ which we here define as “the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media.” Such a shift would not bode well for the future of biodiversity conservation.

Biocomplexity in the Big Thicket

Introduction: Overview of the Big Thicket and BiocomplexityThe Big Thicket is an ill-defined region of southeast Texas on the coastal plain of theGulf of Mexico between the Trinity and Sabine rivers, not far from Houston.Because the biological-diversity index of the area is one of the highest in NorthAmerica, the Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP)—an archipelago of isolatedconservation ‘units’ administered by the US National Park Service—was establishedin 1974. The BTNP is located in a matrix of privately owned timberland, small farms,and a few small towns. The major human impacts on the region, beginning in the late19th century and continuing into the 21st, have been logging and milling by largeindustrial timber operations and oil and gas extraction. Because of its proximity tothe refineries of Port Arthur and the city of Beaumont and the steady increase in theavailability of automobiles after World War II, residential development has alsobeen a major impact in the region—and now represents the most potent driver ofland-use/land-cover change.Few ecosystems are now free of extensive human influence. However, the wayhuman activity affects natural systems and the way those anthropogenic changes innatural systems reciprocally affect human behavior is poorly understood. Therefore,the aggregate impact of the several decisions of private persons, corporations, andgovernments to buy and sell land, to explore for minerals, to harvest timber, to buildhomes, strip malls, factories, and roads is only perceptible after the fact. Detailedprediction of anthropogenic land-use/land-cover change is impossible with currenttools. However, computer models can simulate the complex interactions betweenhuman and natural systems reliably enough to enable stakeholders and policy

The impact of fees on visitation of national parks

This study assesses the impact of the change in revenue management policy (namely the increased public land recreation fees) on the number of domestic and international travelers that visit the large, mostly well-known US National Park System sites. Baseline, multivariate demand models were developed based on secondary data from 10 years prior to the fee policy change, and were used to predict demand in years following the fee change. The predictions of the baseline demand models were then compared to the sites’ actual visitation. The differences between the actual and the predicted visitation are statistically significant, indicating that the change in the federal agencies’ revenue management policy might have had an adverse effect on the visitation of the largest US national sites.

Temporal variability and case study of high O&lt;SUB align=right&gt;3 episodes in two southeastern US national parks

Despite a decreasing trend nationwide, eight-hour O3 concentrations in 25 of US national parks have increased by 8% during last decade. This study presents a 13-year observation of high O3 at the Great Smoky Mountains (GRSM) and Mammoth Cave (MACA) national parks, both among the 25 impacted parks. Although there is no monotonic increase, the later half witnessed three-fold exceedances than the former. O3 exceedances occurred most frequently in June at MACA, and in August or September at GRSM. High O3 episodes at MACA occurred during daytime or early evening, but exceedances at GRSM can be found in any hour. Air masses with high O3 at GRSM came from all directions, whereas those at MACA are predominantly from the southwest. Case studies show that high O3 episodes at MACA are developed under clear sky, high temperature, low humidity, and weak winds traveling in a uniform anti-cyclonal pathway.

Looking Closer: A Guide to Making Bird’s-eye Views of National Park Service Cultural and Historical Sites

The US National Park Service (NPS) has long used large-scale panoramas, also known as bird’s-eye views, to portray park sites where buildings and other human-made features are plentiful. This paper examines these bird’s-eye views, most of which were produced by nationally renowned contract illustrators in a wide range of artistic styles. Both their traditional and digital work receive attention. A brief historical review looks at the antecedents of current NPS products dating back to the Renaissance. The practical second half of the paper focuses on how the NPS now designs these bird’s-eye views with 3D software, with an eye toward cost savings. Topics include viewing parameters in a 3D scene, preparingDEMs, modeling buildings, designing trees, and creating environmental special effects. Two dozen full-color illustrations supplement the text.

Revenues and the Cost of Collecting Recreational Fees

This study examines the cost of collecting recreational fees at US national parks and its relation to the number of visitors and the fee revenue collected. The fitted second-order polynomial regression model indicates that the cost of fee collection is indeed a function of fee revenue but is not correlated with the number of visitors. It seems to agree with the parabolic portion of a typical total cost curve where the cost of collection per dollar of revenue diminishes with higher revenue. A cluster analysis underscores the findings of the regression analysis. Further analysis indicates that federal land agencies that make more use of differential pricing schemes benefit from a lower collection cost per dollar of fee revenue.

The impact of life‐cycle cost management on portfolio strategies

The US National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for the management of some of the most recognisable and notable natural and cultural resources in the USA. To make the case for additional maintenance funding, NPS is instituting life‐cycle cost management practices. Over the 50‐year life cycle of the Redwood Information Center at Redwood National and State Parks in Crescent City, California, custodial costs alone will sum to more than the total replacement construction cost for the entire facility. This point illustrates an important aspect regarding the true cost of operating and sustaining physical infrastructure over its life cycle. It also suggests that understanding life‐cycle costs is a critical element of effective, long‐term portfolio and asset management. Often, institutional owners of physical assets inadequately assess the true cost of building and owning facilities, typically overemphasising initial construction costs. Life‐cycle operations and maintenance (O&amp;M) and capital renewal costs, however, almost always comprise a far greater percentage of total life‐cycle building costs. Using actual life‐cycle costs for an asset that is owned and managed by NPS, this paper explores the development of full life‐cycle costing, highlighting key life‐cycle cost drivers, of an information centre at the Redwood National and State Parks.

Determination of the organic aerosol mass to organic carbon ratio in IMPROVE samples

The ratio of organic mass (OM) to organic carbon (OC) in PM 2.5 aerosols at US national parks in the IMPROVE network was estimated experimentally from solvent extraction of sample filters and from the difference between PM 2.5 mass and chemical constituents other than OC (mass balance) in IMPROVE samples from 1988 to 2003. Archived IMPROVE filters from five IMPROVE sites were extracted with dichloromethane (DCM), acetone and water. The extract residues were weighed to determine OM and analyzed for OC by thermal optical reflectance (TOR). On average, successive extracts of DCM, acetone, and water contained 64%, 21%, and 15%, respectively, of the extractable OC, respectively. On average, the non-blank-corrected recovery of the OC initially measured in these samples by TOR was 115 ± 42%. OM/OC ratios from the combined DCM and acetone extracts averaged 1.92 and ranged from 1.58 at Indian Gardens, AZ in the Grand Canyon to 2.58 at Mount Rainier, WA. The average OM/OC ratio determined by mass balance was 2.07 across the IMPROVE network. The sensitivity of this ratio to assumptions concerning sulfate neutralization, water uptake by hygroscopic species, soil mass, and nitrate volatilization were evaluated. These results suggest that the value of 1.4 for the OM/OC ratio commonly used for mass and light extinction reconstruction in IMPROVE is too low.

The Appropriateness of Snowmobiling in National Parks: An Investigation of the Meanings of Snowmobiling Experiences in Yellowstone National Park

The debate over snowmobiling and other types of motorized recreation in US national parks signals the need for a better understanding of the meanings of these experiences. The fundamental issue facing many parks is whether snowmobiling is an appropriate activity. The matter of appropriateness is anchored in two questions: (1) Does snowmobiling in national parks cause unacceptable biophysical and social impacts? (2) Are snowmobiling experiences consistent with the fundamental purposes of national parks? This article particularly addresses the appropriateness issue and presents the findings of an interpretive study of the meanings of snowmobiling experiences in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Sixty-five semistructured interviews were conducted with winter visitors who used snowmobiles in the park during the winter season of 1999. Overall, the study findings reveal that visitors on snowmobiles view YNP as a place to experience its wildland attributes, such as natural scenery, geothermal features, and, especially, wildlife. Snowmobiling is perceived as a mode of transportation rather than the experience in and of itself. The results challenge the popular image of snowmobiles as thrill-craft and snowmobilers as thrill-seekers. The study demonstrates that snowmobiling in YNP affords highly meaningful recreational experiences, grounded in appreciating the park's unique natural features and attributes.

Hygroscopic growth behavior of a carbon-dominated aerosol in Yosemite National Park

Abstract The influence of particulate organic material (POM) and the contribution of biomass smoke on air quality and visibility remain a paramount issue in addressing regional haze concerns in US national parks. Measurements during the Yosemite Aerosol Characterization Study (July–September 2002) indicated an aerosol dominated by POM (∼70% of identified species) and strongly influenced by biomass smoke. Here we report aerosol size hygroscopic growth measurements for dry (RH 40%, particle size typically increased smoothly with RH, and overall hygroscopic growth at high RH was low to moderate in comparison to the range of values reported in the literature. For RH>80%, both monomodal and bimodal growth profiles were observed during the study, with 200 nm particles more often splitting into bimodal profiles (68% of cases), indicating some degree of external mixing. Trimodal growth profiles were observed on two occasions during periods of changing meteorology and aerosol composition. For bimodal profiles for 200 nm dry particles, particle diameter growth factors at RH=80% ( D ( RH = 80 % ) / D o where Do is measured at RH D ( RH = 80 % ) / D o was 1.15±0.05 and D ( RH = 90 % ) / D o was 1.31±0.06, and were slightly large for 100 nm particles. These growth factors are dramatically lower than those for typical ambient aerosol ionic components such as sulfate, nitrate and sodium salts and sulfuric acid. An inverse relationship between the POM fraction of PM2.5 and hygroscopicity was particularly evident for 200 nm particles with D ( RH = 80 % ) / D o approaching ∼1.1 as the POM/ionic mass ratio exceeded 10. Linear correlations with several measurements of POM and select biomass smoke markers were −0.74

National Park stewardship and ?vital signs? monitoring: a case study from Channel Islands National Park, California

1. Place-based conservation strategies require that stewards know and understand the targeted ecosystems, restore impaired resources, protect the ecosystems, and connect people wholeheartedly to the places. Knowledge of ecosystem structure and functioning is the cornerstone of stewardship. 2. This paper describes the design, implementation, and application of an ecological monitoring programme in Channel Islands National Park, California, USA. Experience from this programme showed that monitoring ecological ‘vital signs’ was a quick, sure, and inexpensive way to discover and track ecosystem dynamics. 3. Monitoring ecological ‘vital signs’ determined status and trends of ecosystem integrity and established limits of normal variation of key ecosystem features. It also provided early warnings of situations that required intervention and helped frame research questions to determine chains of cause and consequence. 4. The strong influence and probabilistic nature of biological interactions in ecosystems precluded effective use of deterministic modelling to predict ecosystem behaviour accurately. Therefore, ongoing monitoring was required to increase knowledge of system dynamics reliably. The US National Park Service has begun to identify and monitor the ecological ‘vital signs’ in 32 networks of 270 parks. Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.