don_neubacher@nps.gov
Superintendent, Point Reyes National Seashore, California


Back to Chapter 1: Confluence

Natural Resource Challenge funds Exotic Plant Management Teams
By Linda Drees and Gary Johnston

Inventory and Monitoring Program benefits from the Natural Resource Challenge
By Gary Williams

CESUs and the inventory and monitoring networks:
A case of good timing
By Kathy Tonnessen, Ron Hiebert, and Larry Norris

Four new cooperative ecosystem studies units established

Natural resource project funding increased

The Challenge funds native and exotic species management

Geologic Resources Division expands expertise

Award-Winner Profile - Gary Machlis receives Conservation Service Award

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Imagine a network of cooperating scientists and educators, NPS staff, and park facilities that are combined to preserve and protect vast areas of national significance. From the information generated through this collaboration superintendents are able to make critical resource decisions based on scientific knowledge and ecological principles. Public support coalesces around these management decisions because they are defensible and preserve ecological integrity. Finally, the network consists of individual centers of activity throughout the country and nurtures the next generation of scientists and educators who will guide future management of our planet through the 21st century. This vision progressed toward reality in 2000 when the National Park Service created the first learning centers in the national park system.

To help realize this future, the Natural Resource Challenge includes a commitment to establishing 32 learning centers around the country. Strategically placed in inventory and networks and unified in concept and function, they will facilitate park research and educate the American public about the health of park resources and the regions they live in.

After a national competition in 2000, five pilot centers were selected and subsequently funded as part of the FY 2001 appropriation for the Natural Resource Challenge. These centers are currently being developed at parks across the country that are located in different inventory and monitoring networks. The five centers are the Pacific Coast Learning Center at Point Reyes National Seashore (California), the Atlantic Learning Center at Cape Cod National Seashore (Massachusetts), the McGraw Ranch Learning Center at Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado), the Rim of Fire Marine Science Center at Kenai Fjords National Park (Alaska), and the Purchase Knob Learning Center at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee and North Carolina). Another eight centers have been selected for possible funding in FY 2002; by 2005 the hope is for a nationwide system of 32 learning centers to be formed.

Conceived as public-private partnerships, learning centers will support research activities, the accumulation and synthesis of information, and the direct transmission of information to the public. Each center will provide computer access and laboratory, office, and dormitory facilities. They will only have a small core staff, paid for by appropriation, and will rely heavily on partnerships for both start-up and operational expenses.

Equally important, the centers will promote education and outreach through an education specialist who will work with area park interpreters and partners. Building upon and expanding the National Park Service’s environmental education effort, the centers will help transfer information learned about park resources to park visitors and the broader public through diverse educational programs. The centers will help to carry a nationwide message to the public about the health of the national park system and the importance of parks as biological reserves. Although developed as a part of the Natural Resource Challenge, the centers are not meant to focus on natural resources only, but on opportunities for parks to become laboratories, libraries for research, and learning centers for and about all park resources. Imagine the potential.

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Last Updated: 06/17/2001
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