Effects of wildfire on national park visitation and the regional economy: a natural experiment in the Northern Rockies

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Duffield ◽  
Chris J. Neher ◽  
David A. Patterson ◽  
Aaron M. Deskins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Park ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Demand Models ◽  
Value Loss ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Observed Behaviour

Federal wildland fire management policy in the United States directs the use of value-based methods to guide priorities. However, the economic literature on the effect of wildland fire on nonmarket uses, such as recreation, is limited. This paper introduces a new approach to measuring the effect of wildfire on recreational use by utilising newly available long-term datasets on the location and size of wildland fire in the United States and observed behaviour over time as revealed through comprehensive National Park Service (NPS) visitor data. We estimate travel cost economic demand models that can be aggregated at the site-landscape level for Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The marginal recreation benefit per acre of fire avoided in, or proximate to, the park is US$43.82 per acre (US$108.29 per hectare) and the net present value loss for the 1986–2011 period is estimated to be US$206 million. We also estimate marginal regional economic impacts at US$36.69 per acre (US$90.66 per hectare) and US$159 million based on foregone non-resident spending in the 17-county Great Yellowstone Area (GYA). These methods are applicable where time-series recreation data exist, such as for other parks and ecosystems represented in the 397-unit NPS system.

scholarly journals Valuing Our National Parks: An Ecological Economics Perspective

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Paul Sutton ◽  
Sophia Duncan ◽  
Sharolyn Anderson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
Commercial Real Estate ◽  
Annual Budget ◽  
Park Service

The annual budget for the United States National Park Service was roughly $3 billion in 2016. This is distributed amongst 405 National Parks, 23 national scenic and historic trails, and 60 wild and scenic rivers. Entrance fees and concessions generate millions of dollars in income for the National Park Service; however, this metric fails to account for the total value of the National Parks. In failing to consider the value of the ecosystem services provided by the National Parks, we fail to quantify and appreciate the contributions our parks make to society. This oversight allows us to continue to underfund a valuable part of our natural capital and consequently damage our supporting environment, national heritage, monetary economy, and many of our diverse cultures. We explore a simple benefits transfer valuation of the United States’ national parks using National Land Cover Data from 2011 and ecosystem service values determined by Costanza et al. This produces an estimate suggesting the parks provide $98 billion/year in ecosystem service value. If the natural infrastructure ‘asset’ that is our national park system had a budget comparable to a piece of commercial real estate of this value, the annual budget of the National Park Service would be roughly an order of magnitude larger at something closer to $30 billion rather than $3 billion.

A Life in the Practice of Anthropology: Muriel Crespi and the Development of the Ethnography Program in the National Parks

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen Schafft
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Park Service

This issue of Practicing Anthropology is devoted to an exposition and discussion of the seminal work of Muriel (Miki) Crespi and its impact on the United States National Park Service (NPS). Changes that Crespi initiated and achieved with the collaboration of colleagues greatly enhanced the commemoration and documentation of the heritage of varied ethnic groups around whose lives and artifacts our national parks have been developed.

scholarly journals Valuing Our National Parks: An Ecological Economics Perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Sutton ◽  
Sophia L. Duncan ◽  
Sharolyn J. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
Commercial Real Estate ◽  
Annual Budget ◽  
Park Service

The annual budget for the United States National Park Service was roughly three billion dollars in 2016. This is distributed amongst 405 National Parks, 23 national scenic and historic trails, and 60 wild and scenic rivers. Entrance fees and concessions generate millions of dollars in income for the National Park Service; however, this metric fails to account for the total value of the National Parks. In failing to consider the value of the ecosystem services provided by the National Parks we fail to quantify and appreciate the contributions our parks make to society. This oversight allows us to continue to underfund a valuable part of our natural capital and consequently damage our supporting environment, national heritage, monetary economy, and many of our diverse cultures. We explore a simple benefits transfer valuation of the United States national parks using National Land Cover Data from 2011 and ecosystem service values determined by Costanza (et al). This produces an estimate suggesting the parks provide $84 billion / year in ecosystem service value. If the natural infrastructure 'asset' that is our national park system had a budget comparable to a piece of commercial real estate of this value, the annual budget of the National Park Service would be roughly an order of magnitude larger at something closer to $30 billion rather than $3 billion.

Department of the Interior

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 16-17
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
States Department ◽  
Park Service ◽  
The U.S

The United States Department of the Interior is responsible for several programs in Africa through the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Mines, and the National Park Service. These programs range in scope from training programs to technical assistance to research for the Bureau of Mines annual publication. The Minerals Yearbook.

scholarly journals An Indexed and Annotated Bibliography on the Ecology of Grand Teton National Park

1978 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 39-39
Author(s):  
Kent Marshall ◽  
Dennis Knight
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Annotated Bibliography ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
Information Availability ◽  
Park Service

One of the fundamental purposes of the National Park Service is to preserve and interpret the natural heritage of the United States. Preservation is accomplished through the establishment and proper management of National Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks, while interpretation stems from understanding gained through research. Over the years such a large amount of information relevant to interpretation has accumulated that park managers today are faced with problems of information retrieval as well as information availability. Grand Teton National Park is no exception. With this in mind, and with the financial support of the National Park Service, we have prepared an indexed, annotated bibliography on the ecology of Grand Teton National Park. The final draft of the manuscript is being typed and will be available for use in 1979.

Highlights from 10+ Years of Lichenological Research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Celebrating the United States National Park Service Centennial

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 943-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin A. Tripp ◽  
James C. Lendemer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Great Smoky Mountains ◽  
Service Staff ◽  
Smoky Mountains ◽  
Park Service

Abstract—Great Smoky Mountains National Park is renowned as one of the most biologically diverse tracts of land in North America and is the most visited national park in the United States. The park comprises ∼830 square miles, epitomizes eastern temperate hardwood forests of North America, and serves as a refuge for nearly 20,000 documented species from microbes to plants and mammals. Lichens comprise one particularly diverse group of organisms in the park. In this study, we review data from our 11 years of lichenological research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Based on approximately 6,000 new field collections generated, the park checklist now includes 920 species, a 129% increase over estimates made two decades ago. Nearly a quarter of the lichens reported in the park are known from only a single occurence whereas only 7% of the lichens are known from 20 or more occurences. An assessment of commonness/rarity for all 920 species indicates that nearly half of the park's lichens should be considered to be infrequent, rare, or exceptionally rare. We assessed the distributions of all 920 species and found that 54 are endemic to the southeastern United States, 30 are endemic to the southern Appalachians, and eight occur nowhere else than within the confines of the national park. We discuss biogeographical affinities of the park's lichen biota as a whole, delimiting six regional “floristic” connections. Our 11 years of research have resulted in the discovery of several species presumed to be extinct or near-extinct. We make one new combination (Fuscopannaria frullaniae) and describe five species as new to science, each commemorating National Park Service staff instrumental to the completion of the study: Heterodermia langdoniana, Lecanora darlingiae, Lecanora sachsiana, Leprocaulon nicholsiae, and Pertusaria superiana.

Driving with the Driven: A Re(-)view of the Trail of Tears in the Roadside Montage

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Whalen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
National Park ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indian Territory ◽  
Southeast United States ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
Cultural Texts

This paper offers a re(-)view of a landscape montage called the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. The United States National Park Service has placed trail markers along county, state and interstate roadways that generally parallel one route taken by Cherokee Indians who were forced to migrate from the southeast United States to "Indian Territory" west of the Mississippi River during the early part of the nineteenth century. The American roadway, with its pastiche of signage that now includes the Trail of Tears, can be shown to maintain the poetics of "unsettled settledness" often visible in other cultural texts of settler societies. The (in)congruity and (ir)reconcilability of signifiers in anxious negotiation appear haunting and sometimes humorous. I use the method of image-texting to merge signifiers in the landscape. This involves breaking the integrity of photographs and texts to create (sur)real composites in order to reflect the "thinking-feeling" that went along with my reading carefully and deeply this landscape of difficult heritage.

Accommodating non-market values in evaluation of wildfire management in the United States: challenges and opportunities

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyron J. Venn ◽  
David E. Calkin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Market Values

Forests in the United States generate many non-market benefits for society that can be enhanced and diminished by wildfire and wildfire management. The Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy (1995, updated 2001), and subsequent Guidance to the Implementation of that policy provided in 2009, require fire management priorities be set on the basis of values to be protected (including natural and cultural resources), costs of protection, and natural resource management objectives (including beneficial fire effects). Implementation of this policy is challenging because those charged with executing the policy have limited information about the value that society places on non-market goods and services at risk. This paper reviews the challenges of accommodating non-market values affected by wildfire in social cost–benefit analysis and proposes an economic research agendum to support more efficient management of wildfire in the United States.

From Competition to Cooperation: A History of Canada–US National Park Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Young ◽  
Alan MacEachern ◽  
Lary Dilsaver
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
The Relationship

This essay explores the evolving international relationship of the two national park agencies that in 1968 began to offer joint training classes for protected-area managers from around the world. Within the British settler societies that dominated nineteenth century park-making, the United States’ National Park Service (NPS) and Canada’s National Parks Branch were the most closely linked and most frequently cooperative. Contrary to campfire myths and nationalist narratives, however, the relationship was not a one-way flow of information and motivation from the US to Canada. Indeed, the latter boasted a park bureaucracy before the NPS was established. The relationship of the two nations’ park leaders in the half century leading up to 1968 demonstrates the complexity of defining the influences on park management and its diffusion from one country to another.

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