Extreme weather events can affect public and private lands in an astonishing sweep. National Park Service units reveal the scars of such happenstances in their process of healing and recovery. Virgin Islands National Park, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (Jean Lafitte), and Everglades National Park are public lands with ongoing recovery or mitigation activities as a result of storms and coastal flooding. Yellowstone, Glacier and Great Smoky Mountains (GSM) National Parks experienced recently devastating wildland fires. Park rangers and scientists at the Barataria Preserve launched citizen science phenology plots within their environmental education program in early 2017. In engaging at-risk youth in the Greater New Orleans area on critical resource issues, parks provide an opportunity to characterize and demonstrate interdependencies between Louisiana coastal ecosystems and urban life. Starting in early 2017 rangers at GSM offered school field trips and teacher workshops after the deadly 2016 Gatlinburg area wildfires. GSM rangers and scientists are launching two citizen science studies: (1) documenting salamander populations and habitat in aquatic and terrestrial eco zones of high, medium and low burned areas and (2) monitoring dynamics of wildfire fuel load and invasive species distribution along the urban interface boarders of the park.
Results/Conclusions
National parks are mission driven to promote conservation and stewardship through increasing knowledge of US ecological and cultural treasures. Increasingly human behaviors directly cause preventable destructive events, such as some wildfires, or exacerbate natural phenomena that produce extreme weather events, threatening public lands in all areas of the United States. During recovery, national parks bear witness to the differential impacts of extreme events on local communities and vulnerable sub populations who are often unaware of park resources, opportunities and threats. Recent efforts at Jean Lafitte and GSM aim to build awareness, promote self-agency and maintain long-term engagement with local communities to reduce fear of extreme events while increasing science literacy and preparedness. Through citizen science and engaging local at-risk populations, national parks have found sustainable, meaningful approaches for data collection, ecosystem monitoring and education.