A partial listing of these projects includes: 



The Wolves of Isle Royale. L. David Mech, 1966. NPS Fauna 

 Series #7. 



Wolf Ecology and Prey Relationships on Isle Royale. Rolf Pe- 

 terson, 1977. NPS Scientific Monograph Series #11. 



Interagency Grizzly Bear Team Reports. Annual Reports for 

 1974. 1975. and 1976. NPS Miscellaneous Publications #8. 9. 

 and 10. 



The Northern Yellowstone Elk, Parts I and II: History and 

 Demography. Douglas Houston. Research Report YELL/N/ 

 298. Yellowstone National Park. 185 pp.. April 1974. 



The Northern Yellowstone Elk. Parts III and IV: Vegetation 

 and Habitat Relations, Douglas Houston, Research Report 

 YELL/N/29B. Yellowstone National Park, 444 pp., May 1976. 



The Bison of Yellowstone National Park, Margaret M. Meagh- 

 er. 1973. NPS Sci. Monog. #1. 



National Cave Management Symposium Proceedings. James 

 Quinlan. editor. Speleobooks. Albuquerque. N. M.. 1977. 106 

 PP 



Ecology of the Barrier Islands, Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 

 Paul J. and Melinda M. Godfrey. 160 pp.. 1977. NPS Sci. Mo- 

 nog. #9. 



Some Parallels Between Natural and Human Ecosystems, Dr. 

 Theodore W. Sudia and Ed Hessler. in mss. 



Man 's Impact On the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Robert 

 Dolan. 1972. and Shore Zone Land Use and Land Cover. Cen- 

 tral Atlantic Regional Ecological Test Site. Robert Dolan et al., 

 1974, Nos. 3 and 8 respectively of the NPS Natural Resources 

 Report series. 



The Environment of South Florida. A Summary Report. Geo- 

 logical Survey Professional Paper 101 1. 1976. 82 pp. 



Current and Future Research 

 Emphasis 



Among the more interesting agency projects 

 involving basic research in the national parks at 

 the present time are the ongoing efforts to develop 

 a valid urban ecology and inquiries into naturally 

 occurring radionuclides in caves, grizzly bear ecol- 

 ogy, and barrier island dynamics. 



Research priorities for the next 3 and the next 10 

 years are the same, namely, to continue trying to 

 understand the basic ecology of the national park 

 system that the Service is mandated to perpetuate. 



High on the priority list in this regard is the assem- 

 bling and continuous updating of retrievably stored 

 basic resource inventories for all natural areas in 

 the national park system. 



Ethological studies of the major animal species 

 occurring in the national parks (e.g., bears, goats, 

 elk, moose, wolves, and birds) are among the 

 promising areas of research not now supported but 

 involving basic research and deserving of support. 



Organization and Management of 

 Research Activities 



The Washington Office of the National Park 

 Service is where policy formulation, analysis, and 

 program evaluation occur. Regional offices are the 

 operating arms of the Service. Research is carried 

 out either by research scientists within the Park 

 Service or through contracts with universities. 



Research decisions emanate from resources 

 management plans (RMP's) for each individual 

 park area. RMP's are devised to carry out the in- 

 tentions of the enabling acts for parks as described 

 in each park's statement for management. RMP's 

 are developed at the regional and/or park level. 



Since by definition the National Park Service 

 must engage in basic research in order to fulfill its 

 legal mandate to manage parks in their natural 

 condition, this thrust is best incorporated into the 

 ongoing mission of the National Park Service by 

 incorporating basic research into the execution of 

 all RMP's, interpretation plans, and visitor use 

 plans. Each of these action documents requires 

 managerial approval, and subsequently all are used 

 as programing documents for budgeting and fund- 

 ing. 



Widely different criteria are used throughout the 

 Service for initiating and terminating specific basic 

 research projects, so no generality can be made in 

 this area. In the National Park Service, basic re- 

 search competes with operations for dollars, but 

 this competition occurs during the initial budgeting 

 process. To date, no basic research funds have 

 ever been reallocated for any other purpose. The 

 basic problem, however, remains: To obtain fund- 

 ing for basic research in the first place. 



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