{"pk":62364,"title":"Get the Facts, and Put Them to Work: Comprehensive Natural History Research Program for the National Parks","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Howard R. Stagner emphasizes that America's national parks—our largest, best-preserved remnants of original landscapes—cannot fulfill their roles as wilderness havens, research laboratories, and educational theaters unless underpinned by a robust, continuous program of natural-history research. He warns that parks are increasingly isolated \"islands\" besieged by upstream, boundary, and visitor-borne pressures, and that without precise knowledge of park ecosystems, their processes, and visitor interactions, subtle but irreversible degradation will continue. To address this, Stagner proposes a five-year, system-wide research framework: develop park-specific master plans in collaboration with universities and agencies; sequence targeted studies that build on one another; administer and coordinate via a dedicated National Park Service research staff; translate findings into management actions and public interpretation; and encourage independent basic research. By treating parks as living laboratories and aggressively applying and disseminating scientific insight, the Service can both safeguard these natural communities and fulfill parks' broader value to science and society.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[],"section":"Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1cs0c04h","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Howard","middle_name":"R.","last_name":"Stagner","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"1983-09-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/gwf/article/62364/galley/48201/download/"}]}