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Author: William Lee Halvorson Publisher: University of Arizona Press ISBN: 0816515662 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 377
Book Description
Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks presents twelve case studies of long-term research conducted in and around national parks that address major natural resource issues. These cases demonstrate how the use of longer time scales strongly influences our understanding of ecosystems and how interpretations of short-term patterns in nature often change when viewed in the context of long-term data sets. Most important, they show conclusively that scientific research significantly reduces uncertainty and improves resource management decisions. Chosen by scientists and senior park managers, the cases offer a broad range of topics, including air quality at the Grand Canyon; interaction between moose and wolf populations on Isle Royale; control of exotic species in Hawaiian parks; simulation of natural fire in the parks of the Sierra Nevada; and the impact of urban expansion on Saguaro National Monument. Because national parks are increasingly beset with conflicting views of their management, the need for knowledge of park ecosystems becomes even more critical - not only for the parks themselves, but for what they can tell us about survival in the rest of our world. This book demonstrates to policymakers and managers that decisions based on knowledge of ecosystems are more enduring and cost effective than decisions derived from uninformed consensus. It also provides scientists with models for designing research to meet threats to our most precious natural resources. "If we can learn to save the parks", observe Halvorson and Davis, "perhaps we can learn to save the world".
Author: William Lee Halvorson Publisher: University of Arizona Press ISBN: 0816515662 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 377
Book Description
Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks presents twelve case studies of long-term research conducted in and around national parks that address major natural resource issues. These cases demonstrate how the use of longer time scales strongly influences our understanding of ecosystems and how interpretations of short-term patterns in nature often change when viewed in the context of long-term data sets. Most important, they show conclusively that scientific research significantly reduces uncertainty and improves resource management decisions. Chosen by scientists and senior park managers, the cases offer a broad range of topics, including air quality at the Grand Canyon; interaction between moose and wolf populations on Isle Royale; control of exotic species in Hawaiian parks; simulation of natural fire in the parks of the Sierra Nevada; and the impact of urban expansion on Saguaro National Monument. Because national parks are increasingly beset with conflicting views of their management, the need for knowledge of park ecosystems becomes even more critical - not only for the parks themselves, but for what they can tell us about survival in the rest of our world. This book demonstrates to policymakers and managers that decisions based on knowledge of ecosystems are more enduring and cost effective than decisions derived from uninformed consensus. It also provides scientists with models for designing research to meet threats to our most precious natural resources. "If we can learn to save the parks", observe Halvorson and Davis, "perhaps we can learn to save the world".
Author: William L. Halvorson Publisher: University of Arizona Press ISBN: 0816552401 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 377
Book Description
Our national parks are more than mere recreational destinations. They are repositories of the nation's biological diversity and contain some of the last ecosystem remnants needed as standards to set reasonable goals for sustainable development throughout the land. Nevertheless, public pressure for recreation has largely precluded adequate research and resource monitoring in national parks, and ignorance of ecosystem structure and function in parks has led to costly mistakes--such as predator control and fire suppression--that continue to threaten parks today. This volume demonstrates the value of ecological knowledge in protecting parks and shows how modest investments in knowledge of park ecosystems can pay handsome dividends. Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks presents twelve case studies of long-term research conducted in and around national parks that address major natural resource issues. These cases demonstrate how the use of longer time scales strongly influence our understanding of ecosystems and how interpretations of short-term patterns in nature often change when viewed in the context of long-term data sets. Most importantly, they show conclusively that scientific research significantly reduces uncertainty and improves resource management decisions. Chosen by scientists and senior park managers, the cases offer a broad range of topics, including: air quality at Grand Canyon; interaction between moose and wolf populations on Isle Royale; control of exotic species in Hawaiian parks; simulation of natural fire in the parks of the Sierra Nevada; and the impact of urban expansion on Saguaro National Monument. Because national parks are increasingly beset with conflicting views of their management, the need for knowledge of park ecosystems becomes even more critical--not only for the parks themselves, but for what they can tell us about survival in the rest of our world. This book demonstrates to policymakers and managers that decisions based on knowledge of ecosystems are more enduring and cost effective than decisions derived from uninformed consensus. It also provides scientists with models for designing research to meet threats to our most precious natural resources. "If we can learn to save the parks," observe Halvorson and Davis, "perhaps we can learn to save the world."
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309047811 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 137
Book Description
The U.S. National Park Service needs much better scientific information to protect the nation's parks for future generations, and research must be an essential element in its mandate. Science and the National Parks examines the reasons why science is important to the national parks, reviews previous evaluations of research in the parks, and recommends ways to improve the current science program. The book stresses the need for two distinct but related approaches to research, called "science for the parks" and "parks for science." Science for the parks includes research to gain understanding of park resources and develop effective management strategies. The parks for science concept recognizes that the national parks are potentially very important to scientific investigations of broad national and global environmental problems and invaluable for understanding the ecological response to anthropogenic change. Science and the National Parks is a critical assessment of the problems hampering the current Park Service science program, providing strong recommendations to help the agency establish a true mandate for science, create separate funding and autonomy for the program, and enhance its credibility and quality.
Author: James K. Agee Publisher: University of Washington Press ISBN: 9780295968179 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
The need for cooperation among government agencies as well as an interdisciplinary approach to the increasingly challenging and complicated problem of managing park and wilderness areas prompted the University of Washington College of Forest Resources, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service to sponsor an ecosystem management workshop for scientists, planners, and managers. To develop an improved conceptual approach to managing change in ecosystems crossing natural and political boundaries, the workshop focused on defining terms, uncovering areas of misunderstanding and barriers to cooperation, and developing methods to determine the most important problems and issues. Three needs emerged from the prioritization process: a precise definition of the management objectives for park and wilderness lands and how to integrate them with objectives for surrounding lands, nationally as well as site-specific; more information about physical, biological, and social components of park and wilderness ecosystems from both sides of political boundaries; and key indicators of ecosystem condition as well as methods for evaluating management effectiveness. All of these common themes point to a need for more precise direction in management goal setting and more accurate assessment of progress toward goals. The book includes an introductory chapter by the editors and summary in which they outline a direction for ecosystem management in the next critical decades. The other chapters by individual contributors include studies on laws governing park and wilderness lands, paleoecological records that reveal the historic effects of climatic variations on vegetation change, succession and natural disturbance in relation to the problems of what can and should be preserved, managing ecosystems for large populations of vertebrates, the management of large carnivores, effects of air pollution, lake acidification, human ecology and environmental management, the role of economics, cooperation in ecosystem management, and management challenges in Yellowstone National Park.
Author: Steven R. Beissinger Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022642300X Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 455
Book Description
Papers from a summit, "Science for Parks, Parks for Science: the next century," organized by University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the National Geographic Society and the National Park Service and held 25-27 March 2015 at the University of California, Berkeley.
Author: R. G. Wright Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell ISBN: 9780865424968 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 496
Book Description
National Parks and Protected Areas explores the roles that national parks play in preserving and understanding biodiversity and related ecosystem processes. As the gateway to the conservation effort, parks can no longer be viewed as distinct, separate entities. They must be understood and managed in the context of their surrounding ecological and cultural landscapes. National Parks and Protected Areas outlines the reasons why ecosystem management serves as a functional paradigm for parks and protected areas, and presents the supporting historical, political, ecological and legal bases. It illustrates the role that these guiding principles of ecosystem management play in protecting landscapes of various scales--ranging from a complete system of protected areas to an individual park. The use of case examples provides background and understanding of the often contentious role natural processes play in park ecosystems. Recognizing that management of protected areas requires constant survelllance and monitoring to identify changes and trends, National Parks and Protected Areas clearly identifies the real value of maintaining pristine protected areas.
Author: Tony Prato Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell ISBN: 9780813812489 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 446
Book Description
The balance of nature in any strict sense has been upset long ago…The only option we have is to create a new balance objectively determined for each area in accordance with the intended use of that area.” --Aldo Leopold, 1927, in a letter to the Superintendent of Glacier National Park The planning and management staff of state/national parks and protected areas face a complex set of management problems and an uncertain future. Today, internal and external forces are combining with changes in management philosophy (from a species to an ecosystem focus) to create a new direction in natural resources management. National Parks and Protected Areas: Approaches for Balancing Social, Economic and Ecological Values is peerless in its unified treatment of the issues surrounding this subject. From decision-making for planning and management to the principles of ecology and economics, this text examines the analytical methods, information technologies, and planning and management problems associated with protected area planning and management. Protected area managers and students in undergraduate and graduate courses in natural resource management will appreciate this highly readable book. Features Include: A multidisciplinary, systems perspective Focus on science- and knowledge-based natural resource management Concentration on North American national parks and protected areas with information and examples from other parts of the world Clarification of methods for dealing with social, economic, and ecological uncertainty Explanations of biophysical and economic simulation models and information management technologies: GIS, remote sensing, decision support systems, computer animation, etc. Discussion of the role of local communities and joint decision making for designing and implementing management strategies Case studies which show multi-dimensional decision-making for specific management problems and issuesNatural resource policy makers, members of environmental organizations, and other stakeholders will also benefit from an enhanced understanding of the complex social, economic and ecological functions and values of national parks and protected areas facilitated by explanations of ecological and economic concepts that allow comprehension by individuals with limited background in these areas.
Author: William Lee Halvorson
Author: William Lee Halvorson
Author: William L. Halvorson
Author: National Research Council
Author: James K. Agee
Author: Steven R. Beissinger
Author: 
Author: R. G. Wright
Author: United States. National Park System Advisory Board
Author: Tony Prato
Author: Gary E. Machlis