North American National Parks

As native species become endangered, national parks in the United States are making an effert to conserve plant and animal species in protected reserves throughout the country.

Turing back the clock

New settlers in the United States in the seventeenth cen-tury changed the natural bal-ance of many habitats. This caused several plant and ani-mal species to disappear. The non-native species that the settlers introduced also pushed many native species toward extinction.

To help prevent the extinc-tion of plants and animals, the National Park Service (NPS) was established in 1916.

Controlling exotic species

Whether deliberately or acci-dentally, people have intro-duced exotic (non-native, or introduced) species in certain areas of the national parks. These species interfere with the restoration of the parks. The National Park Service con-trols these introduced species to keep them from harming natural resources.

example, in the 1 950s some European wild hogs escaped from a private reserve into the Great Smoky Moun-tains National Park and destroyed reptile, plant, and amphibian species. Their numbers grew to 2,000, but today the population is a manageable size of 400.

Protecting native species

By law, national parks protect native species in their habitats from removal, harm, or disturbance by humans.

The National Park System shelters 120 government-listed endangered species liv-ing within individual parks.

But in certain national pre-serves and recreation areas, native species may be legally hunted or fished. These activities allow limited removal of some animal species that might become too numerous for their habitats. The result is that the park’s ecosystems (ecological systems) are protected. Sometimes animals are moved to other areas to restore the native population in those locations.

Restoring native species

Native species are those that migrate to or were born on park lands. The NPS has plans to restore native species to their original habitats. Nation-wide restoration began in 1902 with an effort to build up a small herd of bison in Yellowstone Park.

To restore any missing species, scientists make sure that the species is native to the area before reintroducing animals or plants. They learn about the original popula-tion’s subspecies and decide if the correct habitat and food supply still exist. They deter-mine the impact of the resto-ration on the existing natural communities, both in and outside the park.

Some species being restored include the box turtle in New York, the peregrine falcon in several parks nationwide, the woodland caribou in Minne-sota, the bighorn sheep in California, and the northern Rocky Mountain wolf and the grizzly bear in the Rocky Mountains.

Letting nature take its course

One National Park Service goal is to make national parks more natural. This means that after introduced species have been removed, native species will regain their natural place in the environment.

Here, native predators can hunt native prey. The parks prohibit artificial feeding, which interferes with natural population control. But park managers will sometimes help the animals to feed if human activity causes shortages.

Natural factors are usually allowed to occur without in-terference. Fire is important to parks because it leads to new growth of food for herbivores in areas low on foliage. Nat-ural fires are allowed to burn unless they threaten human life or property.

Panther progrss

There are only 30 Florida pan-thers in south Florida, at Ever-glades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. The Florida Panther Inter-agency Committee exists to increase the population of the panther. It does this by increasing stocks of prey, preventing disease, and restoring natural habitats.

The Florida panther needs a range between 20 and 120 square miles to survive. Both private and park land may be needed to maintain panther populations. Most local land-owners seem to support res-toration, and the panther’s future looks promising.