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Overview
In many areas, National Park System
units represent the last vestiges of once vast undisturbed
ecosystems. Yet, over 315,000 acres in 195 parks have
been disturbed by modern human activities, including abandoned
roads, dams, canals, railroads, grazed areas, campgrounds,
mines, and other abandoned sites. In addition, exotic
plants infest some 2.6 million acres in the National Park
System, reducing the natural diversity of these places.
The variety, scope, and complexity of park resources and
disturbances to them requires sophisticated knowledge
of how natural systems work and what does and does not
harm them, and the expertise to apply this knowledge and
provide environmental leadership.
Our
Mission
The purpose of the National Park Service is:
"...to promote and regulate the use
of the...national parks...which purpose is to
conserve the scenery and the natural and historic
objects and the wild life therein and to provide
for the enjoyment of the same in such manner
and by such means as will leave them unimpaired
for the enjoyment of future generations."
National
Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C.1. 
Our mission is to develop,
disseminate and utilize the tools of natural
and social science to enable the National
Park Service to fulfill its core mission:
the protection of park resources and values.
Our Vision
Our vision is natural
resources of the National Park System that are
unimpaired for future generations.
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The Natural Resource Challenge,
the National Park Service's Action Plan for Preserving Natural
Resources, is evidence of the National Park Service's commitment
to our stewardship of park natural resources.
We further carry out our stewardship through activities
that include:
- Inventorying and Monitoring of park resources
to acquire the information needed by park managers in
their efforts to maintain ecosystem integrity in the
approximately 270 National Park System units that contain
significant natural resources.
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Conservation planning, including facilitating public
input on NPS decisions, and conducting environmental
assessments.
- Assisting the recovery of disturbed areas and reintegrating
the site into the surrounding natural system.
- Controlling exotic plants through
the efforts of our Exotic Plant Management Teams
(EPMTs) and others.
- Active protection through management
also includes removal of the human disturbance(s) that
are causing resource degradation or that are preventing
natural recovery of a site.
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