Volcanoes park scores poorly in national review

A sobering new study of America’s national parks rates Hawaii Volcanoes National Park "poor" in natural resources and only "fair" in cultural resources.

"The State of America’s National Parks" was compiled by the Center for Park Research, a division of the private National Parks Conservation Association, based on findings from 80 of the 394 parks in the National Parks system. The study assesses the ability of U.S. national parks to deal with ongoing challenges such as pollution, invasive species, climate change, energy and land development and, perhaps most significantly, "chronic funding shortfalls."

The lack of funds have seriously undercut the ability of overburdened parks personnel to preserve and protect the fragile ecosystems and cultural resources that exist in each park, the study says.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park scored 60 on a scale of 100 in the study’s natural resources assessment, which evaluates impacts — human or otherwise — on park ecosystems.

The park’s challenges in this area are highlighted in a section of the report titled "Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Native Species Under Attack."

As the report notes, park staff members "battle an ark’s worth of invasive nonnative species brought to the islands during the last 200 years."

The report highlights the park’s efforts to resist the encroachment of sheep, goats and pigs from sensitive areas and to remove non-native plants from thousands of acres of park land but also acknowledges the loss of 30 native plants.

Like many other parks included in the survey, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has suffered from chronic understaffing, according to the report, which cites a shortfall of 63 employees in 2004.

The park fared slightly better (64 out of 100) in the study’s assessment of cultural resources, defined by the park’s actual resource conditions versus the desired conditions outlined in National Park Service guidance. The assessment takes into account history, archaeological resources, historic structures, museum and archival collections, cultural landscapes and ethnography.

The NPCA report includes several recommendations, including having the National Park Service use its existing authority to control the entry of non-native plants, animals and diseases, undertake a multiyear strategic initiative to improve the condition of cultural resources, and give the protection of cultural resources equal priority to natural resources.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park deferred comment to an official statement by National Park Service spokesperson David Barna, who said the NPCA report "confirms" what park service staff have already seen for themselves.

"All of those threats are real," Barna said. "That’s why we’ve spent the last two years planning a response to climate change threats, invested nearly $1 billion of Recovery Act money to tackle deferred maintenance issues and completed energy audits in most national parks to identify ways to use less energy and save money by reducing energy consumption."

Barna also acknowledged the park service’s funding situation.

"In the real world, we could use another $600 million a year for park operations across the national system of 394 parks. But America has a budget reality playing out on Capitol Hill and the message is tighten your belt, get busy and innovative."