Supporting basic ecological research in US National Parks: Challenges and opportunities

The long-term preservation of national park ecosystems requires scientific knowledge about populations, communities, and the ecological processes upon which sustainable ecosystems depend. Unfortunately, national parks in the United States have a well-documented history of indifference, if not hostility, to the support of basic research. Numerous external reviews have criticized the lack of institutional support for science, blaming it in large part on the traditional emphasis of the National Park Service (NPS) on scenery and tourism management. However, recent efforts to improve the support for science in the U.S. national parks have been most encouraging. These include a long-sought Congressional mandate to support research, a major budget initiative to support scientific understanding and management of park resources as well as to improve research facilities, leadership in the establishment of a network of university-based cooperative units, and the successful partnering with private organizations to support innovative programs to fund Ph.D. students, postdocs, and sabbaticals in national parks. The long-term success of national parks in preserving natural ecosystems depends, in large part, on the NPS's ability to provide support for the science that is necessary to understand natural ecosystems as well as the effects of human activities.