Protecting & Restoring
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.We further carry out our stewardship through activities that include:
- Inventory and Monitoring of park resources to acquire information needed by park managers to maintain ecosystem integrity in the approximately 270 National Park System units that contain significant natural resources.
- 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.