National Park Service

Activities Within Park Borders Have Caused Damage to Resources Gao ID: RCED-96-202 August 23, 1996

The natural and cultural resources of the national parks are being threatened not only by sources outside the parks by also by activities originating inside the park borders. These include the impact of private inholdings and commercial development within the parks; the impact of nonnative wildlife or plants on native species or other park resources; the damage caused by illegal activities, such as poaching; the routine wear and tear on park resources stemming from visitors; and the unintended adverse effects of park managers' actions (for example, the accumulation of undergrowth because of past decisions to suppress naturally caused fires, which could result in a more serious fire). Without systemwide data on these threats, the Park Service is not fully prepared to preserve and protect its resources. In times of austere budgets and multibillion-dollar needs, the agency must have this information to identify and inventory the threats and set priorities for addressing them. GAO makes several recommendations for identifying, mitigating, and monitoring internal threats.

GAO found that: (1) because NPS does not have a national inventory of internal threats to the park system, it is not fully equipped to meet its mission of preserving and protecting park resources; (2) park managers at the eight parks studied have identified 127 internal threats to their parks' natural and cultural resources; (3) most of these threats are due to the impact of private inholdings or commercial development within the parks, the impact of nonnative wildlife or plants, damage caused by illegal activities, increased visitation, and unintended adverse effects of management actions; (4) park managers believe the parks' most serious threats are caused by shortages in staffing, funding, and resource knowledge; (5) 82 percent of the internal threats have already caused more than minor damage, and cultural or archeological resources have suffered more permanent damage than natural resources in many parks; (6) 61 percent of internal threats, particularly those from increased visitation and serious fires, have worsened over the past decade, 27 percent have stayed about the same, and 11 percent have diminished; (7) park managers lack baseline data needed to judge trends in the severity of internal threats; and (8) some parks are closing trails to reduce erosion, installing more rugged equipment to reduce vandalism, revoking uncooperative operators' permits, and posting signs to inform visitors of the damage from their inappropriate activities.



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