Call to action item #7 “next generation stewards:” A success story

National Park Service

In August 2011 the National Park Service issued “A Call to Action,” providing guidance to all NPS staff and partners to advance the mission of the Service into its second century. Call to Action Item #7 “Next Generation Stewards,” envisioned addressing lack of knowledge about park biodiversity and declining relevance of parks and their resources to diverse audiences through biodiversity discovery activities such as BioBlitzes. Specifically the Action Item called for: “Creating a new generation of citizen scientists and future stewards of our parks by conducting fun, engaging, and educational biodiversity discovery activities in at least 100 national parks, including at least five urban parks by 2016 (NPS 2011).” Parks were encouraged to consider activities that addressed their individual needs, resources, constraints, partners, and audiences. Response from the parks was so enthusiastic that Call to Action Item #7’s initial park participation goal was accomplished two years early. Building upon this success, the National Park Service instigated a nationwide BioBlitz as a signature centennial project, with the key objectives of participation by at least 100 parks in 2016 and involvement of thousands of public participants. At the time of this writing (November 2016), 129 parks have registered to participate. This report provides an overview of Call to Action Item #7, as well as invited papers from multiple authors that illustrate the truly collaborative nature of this endeavor. Included are discussions of key components such as data management and youth engagement; communication strategies, resources, and products; examples of individual park biodiversity discovery efforts; and illustrations of partner involvement. The success of Call to Action Item #7 is a commencement rather than a conclusion, engendering an obligation and opportunity to grow and build upon the foundation that has been laid. This report also shares a vision and recommendations to continue to document the biological resources of the parks, build our next generation of citizen stewards and scientists through biodiversity discovery, and use the information from these ventures to inform park management and conservation strategies.

Call to action item #7 “next generation stewards:” A success story

Series

Collections