Urban Encroachment at Saguaro National Monument
Shaw WW. 1996. Urban Encroachment at Saguaro National Monument. Pages 184-200 or 302-317+. In Halvorson WL and Davis GE. Science and ecosystem management in the national parks. University of Arizona Press. Tucson, AZ
Introduction: Few, if any, protected natural areas are unaffected by the pressures to develop and use nearbv. lands for resource extraction, agriculture. or towns and cities. "External ~ threats" have been acknowledged as a critical issue facing parks throughout the world (McNeeley and Miller 1983), and a survey of U.S. national park superintendents found that 66% of 203 parks in the United States had problems with incompatible uses on adjacent lands (National Parks and Conservation Association 1979). In that survey, the most frequently cited conflicting uses of neighboring lands were residential and commercial developments. Urbanization affects parks in a variety of ways including water and air pollution, diversion and depletion of water sources, loss of habitat, and displacement of biota. Wildlife and wildlife habitats are especially vulnerable to urbanization. Half of all wildlife problems cited in the National Parks and Conservation Association survey were caused by residential and commercial development through habitat loss. pollution. loss of water sources, and direct impacts such as vehicle collisions increased hunting or poaching, and predation or harassment of wildlife by domestic or feral pets (National Parks and Conservation Association 1979). Furthermore. as urbanization occurs outside parks, these areas become increasingly isolated from other natural areas. "Insularization" of parks as a consequence of urban encroachment can have a variety of effects on an area's biota ranging from restrictions on immigration, emigration and dispersal, to long-term consequences on speciation through the isolation of small gene pools (MacArthur and Wilson 1967: Wilson and Willis 1975; International Union for the Conservation of Nature 1980: Wilcox 1980: Miller and Harris 1979: Newmark 1987: Boeck.lin and Simberloff 1986). Although the principles of island biogeography offer valuable insights, few studies have documented these processes or established baseline data to monitor the long-term impacts of urban encroachment on wildlife in national parks adjacent to expanding cities.
- Type
- Book Chapter
- Authors
- Shaw, William
- Units
- SAGU
- Keywords
- adjacent lands, Development, encroachment, Park, Urbanization, Wildlife Habitats