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National Academy of Sciences Advisory Committee on Research in
the National Parks
ABSTRACT
The report submitted to the Secretary describes how the Committee conducted
its study and surveys the development of the national parks idea, which
originated in the United States and has reached its fullest expression there. It
calls attention to the responsibilities and obligations which stem from the
worldwide recognition and appreciation of the leadership of the United States in
this area.
It discusses some of the historical aspects of the establishment of national
parks, the first of which was Yellowstone National Park in 1872, and highlights
the characteristics of some of the 31 parks now in existence. The report asserts
that the national parks of the United States are among the most valuable
heritages of this country; that in setting these lands aside the people and the
government of the United States demonstrated particular wisdom; and that the role
of national parks in the lives of our citizens is dramatically enlarging.
The objectives or purposes of the National Park Service are discussed in the
light of the origin of the national parks and the various Acts of Congress which
deal with them. The conclusion is reached that the Service should strive first to
preserve and conserve the national parks with due consideration for the enjoyment
by their owners, the people of the United States, of the aesthetic, spiritual,
inspirational, educational, and scientific values which are inherent in natural
wonders and nature's creatures. The Service should be concerned with the
preservation of nature in the national parks, the maintenance of natural
conditions, and the avoidance of artificiality, with such provisions for the
accommodation of visitors as will neither destroy nor deteriorate the natural
features, which should be preserved for the enjoyment of future visitors who may
come to the parks.
Each park should be regarded as a system of interrelated plants, animals,
and habitat (an ecosystem) in which evolutionary processes will occur under such
control and guidance as seems necessary to preserve its unique features.
Naturalness, the avoidance of artificiality, should be the rule.
Each park should be dealt with individually, and the National Park Service in
consultation with appropriate advisers should define their objectives and
purposes for each park. These will vary from park to park and in general should
be those for which the park was originally established, with special
consideration for the specific natural phenomena (biological, geological,
archeological) which instigated its establishment.
The report points out that the National Park Service has the responsibility
of administering the national parks in accordance with the purposes for which
they are or may be set aside by specific Acts of Congress and emphasizes that
knowledge about the parks and their problems is needed to discharge this
responsibility. Such knowledge comes from research, especially research in
natural history.
An examination of natural history research in the National Park Service shows
that it has been only incipient, consisting of many reports, numerous
recommendations, vacillations in policy, and little action.
Research by the National Park Service has lacked continuity, coordination,
and depth. It has been marked by expediency rather than by long-term
considerations. It has in general lacked direction, has been fragmented between
divisions and branches, has been applied piecemeal, has suffered because of a
failure to recognize the distinctions between research and administrative
decision-making, and has failed to insure the implementation of the results of
research in operational management.
In fact, the Committee is not convinced that the policies of the National
Park Service have been such that the potential contribution of research and a
research staff to the solution of the problems of the national parks is
recognized and appreciated. Reports and recommendations on this subject will
remain futile unless and until the National Park Service itself becomes
research-minded and is prepared to support research and to apply its
findings.
It is inconceivable that property so unique and valuable as the national
parks, used by such a large number of people, and regarded internationally as one
of the finest examples of our national spirit should not be provided adequately
with competent research scientists in natural history as elementary insurance for
the preservation and best use of the parks.
It is pointed out, however, that the results of research can neither be
predicted or prejudged. The results may not always be pleasant. They may indicate
that a facility should not have been built, that a road should have been routed
another way, that visitors into a particular region should not be encouraged in
large numbers and without control. It may even indicate that a particular park
has deteriorated so far that it can never be returned to its former state. It is
the very integrity of these conclusions, however, that make it essential that
they be brought to bear upon the management problems of the national parks.
The report presents the pressing need for research in the national parks by
citing specific examples in which degradation or deterioration has occurred
because research on which proper management operations should have been based was
not carried out in time; because the results of research known to operational
management were not implemented; or because the research staff was not consulted
before action was taken. In still other situations problems are recognized for
the solution of which research is needed, but where none has been undertaken or
planned or, if planned, has not been financed.
Attention is called to the meager dollar support given to research and
development in the natural sciences in the national parks. In the National Park
Service as a whole less than one per cent of the appropriation in 1960, 1961, and
1962 was devoted to research and development while the proportion for comparable
government agencies was in the neighborhood of 10 per cent. In fact, unless
drastic steps are immediately taken there is a good possibility that within this
generation several, if not all, the national parks will be degraded to a state
totally different from that for which they were preserved and in which they were
to be enjoyed.
Particular attention is called to the precarious condition of the Everglades
National Park and the big trees in California.
As a result of the study made by the Committee a series of twenty
recommendations are made.
Recommendations
- The objectives or purposes of each national park should be defined.
- The natural history resources of each park should be inventoried and mapped.
- A distinction should be made between administration, operational management,
and research management.
- A permanent, independent, and identifiable research unit should be
established within the National Park Service to conduct and supervise research in
natural history in the national parks and to serve as consultant on natural
history problems for the entire National Park System.
- The research unit in natural history in the National Park Service should be
organized as a line arrangement, with an "Assistant Director for Research in the
Natural Sciences" reporting to the Director of the National Park Service.
- Most of the research by the National Park Service should be
mission-oriented.
- The National Park Service should itself plan and administer its own
mission-oriented research program directed toward the preservation, restoration,
and interpretation of the national parks.
- Research should be designed to anticipate and prevent problems in
operational management as well as to meet those which have already developed.
- A research program should be prepared for each park.
- Consultation with the research unit in natural history of the National Park
Service should precede all decisions on management operations involving
preservation, restoration, development, protection and interpretation and the
public use of a park.
- Research on aquatic life, as well as on that existing on and above the land,
should be pursued to assist in determining general policies or the maintenance of
natural conditions for their scientific, educational, and cultural values.
- Research should include specific attention to significant changes in land
use, in other natural resource use, or in economic activities on areas adjacent
to national parks likely to affect the parks.
- Research laboratories or centers should be established for a national park
when justified by the nature of the park and the importance of the research.
- The results of research undertaken by the National Park Service should be
publishable and should be published.
- Additional substantial financial support should be furnished the National
Park Service for research in the national parks.
- Cooperative planning as a result of research should be fostered with other
agencies which administer public and private lands devoted to conservation and to
recreation.
- Universities, private research institutions, and qualified independent
investigators should be encouraged to use the national parks in teaching and
research.
- Consideration should be given to including in the budget of the National
Park Service an item for aid to advanced students who wish to conduct research in
the national parks.
- A Scientific Advisory Committee for the National Park Service should be
established, and Scientific Advisory Committees for individual parks are
desirable.
- Action in implementing the recommendations of the present Committee's report
should be taken promptly.
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