Protecting & Restoring

History of Conservation in U.S. National Parks

As the former Director of the National Park Service, Robert Stanton, said when he announced the Natural Resource Challenge at the Mount Rainier National Park Centennial:

Over the years, we have realized things weren’t what they should be. So we began to re-examine our various policies on the management of natural resources in national parks. In 1963, Starker Leopold led a committee that set the stage for change within the Park Service. That report urged that scientific research "form the basis for all management programs" and that "every phase of management" come under the "full jurisdiction of biologically trained personnel."

I should also take a moment here to note that Dick Sellars’ 1997 book, "Preserving Nature in the National Parks," has been a key catalyst in our recommitment to a comprehensive natural resource management policy.

We are in essence echoing the policies of Aldo Leopold, Starker’s father, who said: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."