Information on the Condition of Many Park Resources Is Insufficient

While acknowledging the importance of obtaining information on the condition of park resources, the Park Service has made only limited progress in developing it. Park managers told us that—except for certain endangered species, such as sea turtles—they had inadequate knowledge about whether the condition of wildlife was improving, declining, or staying the same. Yet preventing or mitigating these threats and their impact is at the core of the agency’s mission to preserve and protect the parks’ resources. Enhancing Knowledge About Resources Will Involve Difficult Choices

The information that I have presented to you today is not new to the National Park Service. Park Service managers have long acknowledged that to improve management of the National Park System, more sound scientific information on the condition of resources and threats to those resources is needed. The Park Service has taken steps to correct the situation. When asked why more progress is not being made, Park Service officials generally told us that funds are limited and competing needs must be addressed. Making more substantial progress in improving the scientific knowledge base about resources in the park system will cost money. Dealing with these challenges calls for the Park Service, the administration, and the Congress to make difficult choices involving how national parks are funded and managed. Regardless of which, if any, of these choices is made, without an improvement in the Park Service’s ability to collect the scientific data needed to properly inventory park resources and monitor their condition over time, the agency cannot adequately perform its mission of preserving and protecting the resources entrusted to it.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed its views on the National Park Service's (NPS) knowledge of the condition of the resources that the agency is entrusted to protect within the National Park System.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) GAO's work has shown that although NPS acknowledges, and its policies emphasize, the importance of managing parks on the basis of sound scientific information about resources, today such information is seriously deficient; (2) frequently, baseline information about natural and cultural resources is incomplete or nonexistent, making it difficult for park managers to have a clear knowledge about what condition the resources are in and whether the condition of those resources is deteriorating, improving, or staying the same; (3) at the same time, many of these park resources face significant threats, ranging from air pollution, to vandalism, to the development of nearby land; (4) however, even when these threats are known, NPS has limited scientific knowledge about the severity of them and their impact on affected resources; (5) these concerns are not new to NPS, and in fact, the agency has taken steps to improve the situation; (6) however, because of limited funds and other competing needs that must be completed, NPS has made relatively limited progress to correct this deficiency of information; (7) there is no doubt that it will cost money to make more substantial progress in improving the scientific knowledge base about park resources; (8) dealing with this challenge will require NPS, the administration, and the Congress to make difficult choices involving how parks are funded and managed; and (9) however, without such an improvement, NPS will be hindered in its ability to make good management decisions aimed at preserving and protecting the resources entrusted to it.