scholarly journals Creating Grand Teton National Park: A Case Study in Honor of the National Park System’s Centennial

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Leah Sherman

In August 1916 President Woodrow Wilson founded the National Park Service (NPS) as a means of preserving the United States’ wildlands, battlefields, and historical monuments. Over the last century this agency has grown exponentially, rising to 409 sites of significance as of 2014. In celebration of this achievement and in time for the National Park Service’s centennial later this year I have chosen to focus on the origin of one site in particular: Grand Teton National Park. This article thus seeks to present a case study of the park’s creation narrative as told through government documents, and to provide a starting place for researchers interested in the National Park System and/or Grand Teton National Park.

Author(s):  
Kent Marshall ◽  
Dennis Knight

One of the fundamental purposes of the National Park Service is to preserve and interpret the natural heritage of the United States. Preservation is accomplished through the establishment and proper management of National Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks, while interpretation stems from understanding gained through research. Over the years such a large amount of information relevant to interpretation has accumulated that park managers today are faced with problems of information retrieval as well as information availability. Grand Teton National Park is no exception. With this in mind, and with the financial support of the National Park Service, we have prepared an indexed, annotated bibliography on the ecology of Grand Teton National Park. The final draft of the manuscript is being typed and will be available for use in 1979.


Author(s):  
James Pritchard

This project investigated the history of the backcountry trail system in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). In cooperation with GTNP Cultural Resources and the Western Center for Historic Preservation in GTNP, we located records describing the early development of the trail system. Only a few historical records describe or map the exact location of early trails, which prove useful when relocating trails today. The paper trail becomes quite rich, however, in revealing the story behind the practical development of Grand Teton National Park as it joined the National Park Service system.


Author(s):  
Lusha Tronstad ◽  
Gary Beauvais ◽  
Jeanne Serb ◽  
Kevin Roe

Invertebrates are receiving an increasing amount of conservation attention across North America. Currently, about 40% of the animals listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) are invertebrates (www.NatureServe.org). The National Park Service and other agencies require better information on invertebrate faunas in order to effectively conserve this important group of animals. One way to prioritize invertebrate groups for study is to assess the number of rare taxa within a given genus. In this context, Oreohelix (mountainsnails) are a top priority because the genus is assumed to support a very high percentage of rare and endemic taxa. Additionally, Oreohelix species in Wyoming and surrounding states have been petitioned for ESA listing in the recent past. The diversity of Oreohelix forms in Wyoming is not well-understood, and the current taxonomy may not reflect the true pattern of diversity within the state. Therefore, we are studying both the morphology and genetic structure of Oreohelix in Grand Teton National Park to begin to understand the diversity of mountainsnails in the state. We collected Oreohelix from 4 locations in Grand Teton National Park. Based on shell and internal characteristics, all individuals were identified as O. subrudis. We are currently preparing specimens for DNA sequencing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 333
Author(s):  
Nicole C. Inglis ◽  
Jelena Vukomanovic

Fire management in protected areas faces mounting obstacles as climate change alters disturbance regimes, resources are diverted to fighting wildfires, and more people live along the boundaries of parks. Evidence-based prescribed fire management and improved communication with stakeholders is vital to reducing fire risk while maintaining public trust. Numerous national fire databases document when and where natural, prescribed, and human-caused fires have occurred on public lands in the United States. However, these databases are incongruous and non-standardized, making it difficult to visualize spatiotemporal patterns of fire and engage stakeholders in decision-making. We created interactive decision analytics (“VISTAFiRe”) that transform fire history data into clear visualizations of the spatial and temporal dimensions of fire and its management. We demonstrate the utility of our approach using Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park as examples of protected areas experiencing fire regime change between 1980 and 2017. Our open source visualizations may be applied to any data from the National Park Service Wildland Fire Events Geodatabase, with flexibility to communicate shifts in fire regimes over time, such as the type of ignition, duration and magnitude, and changes in seasonal occurrence. Application of the tool to Everglades and Big Cypress revealed that natural wildfires are occurring earlier in the wildfire season, while human-caused and prescribed wildfires are becoming less and more common, respectively. These new avenues of stakeholder communication are allowing the National Park Service to devise research plans to prepare for environmental change, guide resource allocation, and support decision-making in a clear and timely manner.


Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Paul Sutton ◽  
Sophia Duncan ◽  
Sharolyn Anderson

The annual budget for the United States National Park Service was roughly $3 billion in 2016. This is distributed amongst 405 National Parks, 23 national scenic and historic trails, and 60 wild and scenic rivers. Entrance fees and concessions generate millions of dollars in income for the National Park Service; however, this metric fails to account for the total value of the National Parks. In failing to consider the value of the ecosystem services provided by the National Parks, we fail to quantify and appreciate the contributions our parks make to society. This oversight allows us to continue to underfund a valuable part of our natural capital and consequently damage our supporting environment, national heritage, monetary economy, and many of our diverse cultures. We explore a simple benefits transfer valuation of the United States’ national parks using National Land Cover Data from 2011 and ecosystem service values determined by Costanza et al. This produces an estimate suggesting the parks provide $98 billion/year in ecosystem service value. If the natural infrastructure ‘asset’ that is our national park system had a budget comparable to a piece of commercial real estate of this value, the annual budget of the National Park Service would be roughly an order of magnitude larger at something closer to $30 billion rather than $3 billion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam D. Chupp ◽  
Amy M. Roder ◽  
Loretta L. Battaglia ◽  
John F. Pagels

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen Schafft

This issue of Practicing Anthropology is devoted to an exposition and discussion of the seminal work of Muriel (Miki) Crespi and its impact on the United States National Park Service (NPS). Changes that Crespi initiated and achieved with the collaboration of colleagues greatly enhanced the commemoration and documentation of the heritage of varied ethnic groups around whose lives and artifacts our national parks have been developed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Martin Blatt

Abstract These four essays critique Ken Burns's PBS documentary series The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Burns has over the last several decades established himself as the central producer of PBS multi-part documentaries, addressing such topics as the Civil War, baseball, jazz, and World War II. National Park Service (NPS) leadership recognized the promotional opportunities for the NPS and aligned themselves closely with Burns and PBS. Critical discussion in the essays focuses in three areas: the treatment of Native Americans; the reverential treatment of “nature” in the national parks, and the distorted focus on the natural park in the West as the embodiment of the National Park system.


Author(s):  
Paul C. Sutton ◽  
Sophia L. Duncan ◽  
Sharolyn J. Anderson

The annual budget for the United States National Park Service was roughly three billion dollars in 2016. This is distributed amongst 405 National Parks, 23 national scenic and historic trails, and 60 wild and scenic rivers. Entrance fees and concessions generate millions of dollars in income for the National Park Service; however, this metric fails to account for the total value of the National Parks. In failing to consider the value of the ecosystem services provided by the National Parks we fail to quantify and appreciate the contributions our parks make to society. This oversight allows us to continue to underfund a valuable part of our natural capital and consequently damage our supporting environment, national heritage, monetary economy, and many of our diverse cultures. We explore a simple benefits transfer valuation of the United States national parks using National Land Cover Data from 2011 and ecosystem service values determined by Costanza (et al). This produces an estimate suggesting the parks provide $84 billion / year in ecosystem service value. If the natural infrastructure 'asset' that is our national park system had a budget comparable to a piece of commercial real estate of this value, the annual budget of the National Park Service would be roughly an order of magnitude larger at something closer to $30 billion rather than $3 billion.


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