How can science help us reveal the value of wilderness?

"In the legislation creating wilderness, Congress has reflected two distinct perspectives: one is the value of wilderness to mankind through its spiritual and aesthetic qualities; the second is wilderness as the conservator of resources likely to be lost elsewhere, including whole ecosystems. Wilderness, in this alternate view, is a vessel containing precious cargo."
From The Role of Research in Wilderness, by David M. Graber. (keynote address at the Sierra Nevada Wilderness Managers Meeting, 29-30 September 1987, Bass Lake, CA)

In August of 1999, the National Park Service announced a major effort to substantially improve how the NPS manages the natural resources under its care. The Natural Resource Challenge: The National Park Service's Action Plan for Preserving Natural Resources addresses the challenges of caring for our country's natural heritage in today's complex world. It also calls for substantially increasing the role of science in decision-making, revitalizing and expanding natural resource programs; gathering baseline data on resource conditions; strengthening partnerships with the scientific community; and, sharing knowledge with educational institutions and the public.

Click the starfish to examine the importance of "doing science" to the continued well-being of our natural wilderness areas and their "precious cargo" at View of National Parks created by The Arthur Carhart Wilderness Training Center.