Sound, credible science is the foundation for collaborative air resource management. The National Park Service (NPS) uses science to:
- Identify potential air pollution stressors on park resources.
- Evaluate whether those stressors may lead to damage.
- Analyze the sources of pollutants causing stressors.
- Collaborate to reduce those air pollutants.
The NPS supports and/or collaborates with government agencies and university researchers nationwide to gather peer-reviewed scientific information through long-term monitoring programs, studies and experiments, effects analyses and assessments, and modeling. Extensive long-term monitoring and research projects within park areas has been essential for initiating and supporting regulatory actions that help protect park resources.
Air Science in Parks
Showing results 1-10 of 107
- Locations: Yellowstone National Park
- Offices: Air Resources Division
Motorized access to Yellowstone National Park during the winter season has been historically contentious, with continual concerns regarding potentially affected resources, including air quality. The culmination of the air quality monitoring aimed at understanding the impacts of OSVs in Yellowstone National Park provides an excellent example of how balancing policy and public interests can result in positive environmental impacts. NPS, Intermountain Park Science, 2025.
- Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate
Teaming Up for Science
- Offices: Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate
A new partnership began in October 2021 and supports science and stewardship activities that benefit both parks and their local communities. Over the next five years parks and their communities will collaborate to identify and address their scientific priorities. Projects in the first year will focus on water quality, marine biodiversity, and preservation of night skies.
- Locations: Acadia National Park, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Amistad National Recreation Area, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Appalachian National Scenic Trail, more »
- Offices: Air Resources Division, National Natural Landmarks Program, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate
Read the abstract and get the link to a published paper on a model to predict mercury risk park waterbodies: Kotalik, C.J. et al. 2025. Ecosystem drivers of freshwater mercury bioaccumulation are context-dependent: insights from continental-scale modeling. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c07280
The amount of tree cover around a lake may be more responsible for mercury in fish than contaminated rain or snow.
- Locations: Glacier National Park
- Offices: Rocky Mountain Inventory & Monitoring Network
In 2007, the Rocky Mountain Inventory and Monitoring Network—a small team of NPS scientists—began monitoring natural resources, called “vital signs,” in Glacier and nearby parks. Vital signs indicate park health and serve as red flags if conditions deteriorate. Results from monitoring these vital signs support park managers’ efforts to make science-based management decisions. Learn about the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program and its work in Glacier National Park.
- Air Resources Division
Data from the Citizen Science Dragonfly Mercury Project Support Strengthened Emissions Standards Nationwide
- Offices: Air Resources Division
Sometimes citizen science can inform big improvements in environmental protection. Data from the Dragonfly Mercury Project in dozens of national parks were recently used to support new EPA rules for lowered industrial emissions of mercury.
- Locations: Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Offices: Air Resources Division
Read the abstract and get the link to a published paper on how ozone concentrations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park are tired to oil and natural gas development in the Permian Basin: Marsavin, A., Pan, D., Pollack, I. B., Zhou, Y., Sullivan, A. P., Naimie, L. E., et al. 2024. Summertime ozone production at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico: Influence of oil and natural gas development. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129, e2024JD040877. DOI: 10.1029/2
- Locations: Acadia National Park, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Amistad National Recreation Area, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Big Bend National Park, more »
- Offices: Air Resources Division, National Natural Landmarks Program, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Wild and Scenic Rivers Program
Read the abstract and get the link to a published paper on how dragonfly mercury studies uncover unexpected atmospheric delivery pathways: Janssen, S.E., C.J. Kotalik, J.J. Willacker, M.T. Tate, C. Flanagan Pritz, S.J. Nelson, D.P. Krabbenhoft, D. Walters, and C. Eagles-Smith. 2024. Geographic Drivers of Mercury Entry into Aquatic Foods Webs Revealed by Mercury Stable Isotopes in Dragonfly Larvae. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c02436
- Great Basin National Park
Series: The Midden - Great Basin National Park: Vol. 24, No. 1, Summer 2024
- Type: Series
- Locations: Great Basin National Park
The Midden is the Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park, published each summer and winter. Find out the latest going on at Great Basin National Park, Nevada in resource management and research. The Midden - Great Basin National Park: Vol. 24, No.1, Summer 2024. https://www.nps.gov/grba/learn/news/midden.htm
- Locations: Glacier National Park
- Offices: Air Resources Division, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate
Spend a day at Glacier National Park with the Montana Conservation Corps. This program inspires youth and young adults to be leaders and stewards of the land. See what it's like to do hands-on conservation work, like collecting dragonfly larvae, through the eyes of a youth corps member.
Last updated: October 19, 2019