Continuity

First class of the NPS Natural Resource Trainee Program, 1982, photographed on the Colorado State University campus, Fort Collins, Colorado.

I am thrilled to publish a case study about a resource inventory and condition assessment of desert springs at Saguaro National Park. The authors credit the first edition of Park Science with inspiration for this work. Published in 1980, this inaugural issue highlighted the intensive 11-day gathering of researchers and resource managers to “take the pulse” of a wilderness drainage lying mostly within Olympic National Park. Three years later the pulse model was adopted at Sequoia–Kings Canyon national parks, where it was repeated in 1994 to illuminate resource changes over that period. I was lucky to be a participant in the second Sequoia pulse study, covering the story as the new editor of Park Science. I know how stimulating the pulse approach can be on account of its daily surveys, nightly group progress reports, and the opportunities for professional growth through meaningful collaboration and fieldwork. The Saguaro pulse study, as the authors note in this issue, continues to invigorate and inform the park science and resource management program. I am gratified to trace continuity in these articles, which show how good ideas can spark applications for other areas, a primary purpose of Park Science.

Jon Jarvis’s recent confirmation as 18th director of the National Park Service signals to me the value of continuity for leadership. Though several directors have come from within the Service, Mr. Jarvis is the first of these with a biology background and extensive resource management experience. In 1996 we ran an article that tracked the career development of NPS Natural Resource Trainee Program alumni and featured a group photograph (above) of the first class in 1982. Fifth from the right in the bottom row is our new director, then a trainee from Crater Lake National Park. Each time Mr. Jarvis’s career has evolved to a new position of leadership, I have taken pride that “one of us” was moving up. While he brings many important characteristics to his new job, I am especially pleased that his broad understanding of park issues and the role of science in their resolution is squarely among them.

Finally, the recent Ken Burns/Dayton Duncan television series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea amplified for me the tremendous advances we have made in park stewardship informed by science since the earliest days of the National Park Service. We should not forget that our work to understand, manage, and protect the enduring qualities of national parks is a great service to Americans and generations yet to come.

—Jeff Selleck

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This page updated:  23 November 2009
URL: http://www.nature.nps.gov/ParkScience/index.cfm?ArticleID=296&Page=1

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