New report details threats to America's national parks
A decade in the making, the report—The State of America’s National Parks—represents the most comprehensive overview yet performed on resource conditions in America’s national parks.NPCA’s Center for Park Research wrote the report based on its studies on resource conditions at 80 national parks across the country, a 20 percent sample of the 394 parks in the National Park System. The report finds that long-standing and new threats are impacting wildlife and water and air quality within our national parks. The historic sites that tell the story of the Civil War, the civil rights movement and the evolution of America’s diverse culture are also suffering, mostly because of a lack of funding.
"Our national parks are places we go for reflection, inspiration, and connection to our national heritage—they are places we as Americans decided to protect to showcase where America’s story has unfolded. But new data shows that our national parks are in serious jeopardy," said Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association. "As we approach the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service, we have a responsibility to ensure our American treasures are preserved and protected for the future."
The Association details threat after threat: loss of native species; invasive plants and animals crowding out native species; compromised air and water quality; the systemic threat of climate change; and inadequate resources to protect important historic and cultural sites. It's a daunting prospect to think that this amazing, living national legacy, is being lost.
But the report isn't all bad news. It's a call to action for the Obama administration to "develop a comprehensive long term plan for the parks that reduces threats from energy development and other adjacent uses, enforces air quality laws, and monitors water quality." Here's how they recommend the administration start [pdf]:
Reintroduce native wildlife: Following the successful reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park and elk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the National Park Service should reintroduce key species of native wildlife into additional park ecosystems to reestablish their essential role in natural processes.Quality Native Plants - News
The Association details threat after threat: loss of native species; invasive plants and animals crowding out native species; compromised air and water quality; the systemic threat of climate change; and inadequate resources to protect important
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Daily Kos: New report details threats to America's national parks
A decade in the making, the report—The State of America’s National Parks—represents the most comprehensive overview yet performed on resource conditions in America’s national parks.
NPCA’s Center for Park Research wrote the report based on its studies on resource conditions at 80 national parks across the country, a 20 percent sample of the 394 parks in the National Park System. The report finds that long-standing and new threats are impacting wildlife and water and air quality within our national parks. The historic sites that tell the story of the Civil War, the civil rights movement and the evolution of America’s diverse culture are also suffering, mostly because of a lack of funding.
"Our national parks are places we go for reflection, inspiration, and connection to our national heritage—they are places we as Americans decided to protect to showcase where America’s story has unfolded. But new data shows that our national parks are in serious jeopardy," said Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association. "As we approach the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service, we have a responsibility to ensure our American treasures are preserved and protected for the future."
The Association details threat after threat: loss of native species; invasive plants and animals crowding out native species; compromised air and water quality; the systemic threat of climate change; and inadequate resources to protect important historic and cultural sites. It's a daunting prospect to think that this amazing, living national legacy, is being lost.
But the report isn't all bad news. It's a call to action for the Obama administration to "develop a comprehensive long term plan for the parks that reduces threats from energy development and other adjacent uses, enforces air quality laws, and monitors water quality." Here's how they recommend the administration start [pdf]:
Reintroduce native wildlife: Following the successful reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park and elk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the National Park Service should reintroduce key species of native wildlife into additional park ecosystems to reestablish their essential role in natural processes.Quality Native Plants - Bookshelf
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