The Role of the National Park Service Natural Resources Manager

Wauer, Roland

The National Park Service ranger has long been responsible for the dual role of resources management and law enforcement. For years the "man In green" was able to budget his time to do both Jobs well. Law enforcement was only a fraction of what It Is today and resources management usually was little more than a matter of policing the environmental status quo. Today, an ever-Increasing workload and new technology for managing and protecting park resources, visitors and facilities have greatly enlarged the task. A park ranger seldom has time and energy for more than visitor services and law enforcement. When push comes to shove, management of resources becomes a secondary responsibility. The professional, multi-disciplinary park ranger has, for all practical purposes, become an antique. In a number of the larger and more progressive natural parks, where resources management Is recognized as an Independent program, specialists are given this responsibility. However, the majority of these Individuals are specialists In only one or a few of the necessary elements of natural resources management - such as wildland fires, ungulates, caves - rather than In the management of entire natural systems. The few resources management generalists usually are former park rangers or Interpreters with little state of the art resources management education or training. There are very few cases where a park's natural resources manager Is clearly proficient In coordinating a complicated program of this kind. The solution to. this dilemma must begin with the realization that the park ranger can no longer be all things to all people. Adequate management of a park's natural resources requires a catalyst In the form of a person who Is responsible for Implementation and monitoring, relates to the "big picture," has the time and staff to do It correctly, and talks to managers, scientists, planners, Interpreters, and on-site crews who physically undertake the work. This person Is the natural resources manager (NRM) , a knowledgeable Individual at the park level who Interacts with key people In preserving the area resources. The development of a professional natural resources manager requires careful selection Interested, qualified people, training them In the techniques of resources management, and supporting the activities for which they will be held responsible. Those activities form the basic elements of the role of the NRM and ar.e essential to fulfill the mandate given the National Park Service to perpetuate natural resources for future generations.