The Flaming Gorge Dam in northeastern Utah regulates the flow of the Green River, affecting endangered fish and other riparian species in Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park. The National Park Service has been providing input on new flow recommendations to stimulate recovery of endangered fish species and to restore riparian habitat.
Download a PDF file of this section of this report (418 KB).
Homo sapiens has become a geophysical force, the first species to obtain that dubious distinction. We have driven carbon dioxide to the highest levels in the last 200,000 years, unbalanced the nitrogen cycle, and contributed to global warming that will ... [create] severe pressure on the national parks, probably within a matter of just decades.
—E. O. Wilson
Harvard biology professor, naturalist, and author
Environmental histories identify the late 20th century as the period in which human beings recognized that no place on earth is safe from environmental degradation, regardless of its remoteness. Despite appearances, units of the national park system are no exception. Undeterred by park boundaries or the distance of their sources, air and water pollution commonly diminishes park values. Habitat loss and fragmentation reduce populations of plants and animals and influence the spread of exotic species. Other threats arise from within parks and include erosion, vandalism, and overuse of some areas. This reality compels the National Park Service as caretakers of beloved treasures to be vigilant about changes in park natural resources and to intervene as a sophisticated, scientific force for their preservation. The actions of the National Park Service today—some of which are documented here for 2000—to maintain the health of park ecosystems will determine the quality of parks it passes on for the enjoyment of future generations.
Articles
River management and the Upper Colorado River Recovery Implementation Program
By John Wullschleger
Mysterious tadpole die-off in Whiskeytown
By Jennifer Gibson
Water quality–monitoring partnership on the Pedernales
By John Tiff and Brian Carey
Calling for stronger fossil resource protection: A report to Congress
By Julia Brunner and Lindsay McClelland
Off-road vehicles in Big Cypress to be managed in consideration of natural resources
By Robert V. Sobczak and Antonio J. Pernas
Sidebars
Change in status of lynx and black-tailed prairie dog
Virus responsible for amphibian deaths in parks
Award-Winner Profile - Maintenance Chief Merry Petrossian recognized with award
Ozone standards exceeded in parks
This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2000, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2000 (publication D-1459)
/YearInReview/yir/yir2000/pages/04_resource_risks/04_001_resource_risks.html
Last Updated: 06/17/2001
Direct comments on this website to jeff_selleck@nps.gov