Upstream Landscape Dynamics of US National Parks with Implications for Water Quality and Watershed Management

The mission of the United States (US) National Park Service (NPS) 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” (NPS, 1916). NPS currently manages 397 parks covering about 358,200 km2, or approximately 4% of all US states and territories. The National Park system includes approximately 300 parks that are considered to contain significant natural resources. These parks are key components of a larger network of protected areas that anchor the conservation of natural resources in the US. They also afford direct protection for a number of important and defining resources in the US, including 421 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals, nearly two-thirds of native fishes in the 50 states (Lawrence et al., 2011), the highest point in North America (Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park, 6,194 m), the longest cave system in the world (Mammoth Cave National Park with more than 587 mapped km of caves), the country’s deepest lake (Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park, 589 m), the lowest terrestrial point in the western hemisphere (Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park at 86 m below sea level), and – within these extremes – many other natural resources that are significant at local, regional, and national scales.