Natural resources are defined by the National Park Service as those features and values including native plants and animals, water, air, soils, topographic features, geologic features, paleontologic resources, natural quiet, and clear night skies. Natural resources are composed of inherently complex organisms, processes, and systems. The natural resource policies of the National Park Service emphasize the need to manage natural resources and values of the parks in a systematic, consistent, and professional manner. These resources and values include ecosystems and their component plants, animals, water, air, soils, topographic features, geologic features, and paleontologic resources, and aesthetic values, such as scenic vistas, natural quiet, and clear night skies. Natural processes and systems are dynamic, are often beyond immediate human control, and are affected by activities both within and outside of NPS parks.

Understanding of these processes and systems is far from complete, yet the National Park Service is charged with management and protection of the natural resources of NPS areas into the future. The fundamental objectives of NPS natural resource management, as prescribed in policy, are to manage the natural resources of the National Park System to maintain, restore, and perpetuate their inherent integrity and, when consistent with the foregoing, to provide opportunities for visitors to benefit from and enjoy natural environments which are evolving through natural processes minimally influenced by human action.