Do Parks Help Forests?
Schmit JP, Miller K, Matthews ER, Brolis A. 2022. Do Parks Help Forests?. Frontiers for Young Minds. 10(729784)
Article explaining how National Parks protect forests and the difference between forests inside and outside of national parks. Abstract: National Parks were created to help protect nature. But does that protection really matter? Are forests inside parks actually any better off than nearby forests outside of parks? How could you even tell? To find out, we studied thousands of trees inside of parks. We measured every tree’s diameter to see how big it was and returned 4 years later to see how they had changed. Then we compared the trees in parks to thousands of other trees that had been measured in similar unprotected forests nearby. It turns out that there are more trees growing in parks, and large trees are much more common. Trees in parks are less likely to die, but due to their large size, they grow more slowly. Parks even have more dead trees and dead wood on the forest floor. All of these things are signs of a healthy forest. Based on: Miller, K. M., Dieffenbach, F. W., Campbell, J. P., Cass, W. B., Comiskey, J. A., Matthews, E. R., et al. 2016. National Parks in the eastern United States harbor important older forest structure compared with matrix forests. Ecosphere. 7:e01404. doi: 10.1002/ecs2.1404 https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2230636
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Schmit, John; Miller, Kathryn; Matthews, Elizabeth; Brolis, Andrejs
- Units
- ACAD , ALPO , ANTI , APCO , APIS , BLUE , BOWA , CACO , CATO , CHOH , COLO , DEWA , ERMN , FONE , FRHI , FRSP , GARI , GETT , GEWA , GLKN , GRPO , GWMP , HAFE , HOFU , INDU , ISRO , JOFL , MABI , MANA , MIDN , MIMA , MISS , MONO , MORR , NACE , NCBN , NCRN , NERI , NETN , PETE , PIRO , PRWI , RICH , ROCR , ROVA , SACN , SAGA , SAHI , SARA , SHEN , SLBE , THST , VAFO , VOYA , WEFA , WOTR
- Keywords
- basal area, biodiversity, coarse woody debris, CWD, DBH, forest health, Forest Inventory and Analysis, Forest Monitor, forest structure, forest succession, forests, GLKN External Publication, live tree density, long-term monitoring, monitoring, National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring, NCRN Periodical, old growth, old-growth characteristics, snags, Special Feature: Science for Our National Parks’ Second Century, tree, tree growth rate, tree mortality, trees, vital signs, x#forestHealth, x#journalArticle, x#NETN, x#outreach