Policy and Governance of Water Resources in the National Park System: A Case Study of First State National Historical Park Along the Brandywine River
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2017-04
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Abstract
The United States National Park Service is required to manage the parks water resources in accordance to all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, and many programs have been established to assist in the management of the park’s water resources. The Inventory and Monitoring Program is responsible for the inventorying and monitoring of natural resources under the National Park Service. There are 32 program networks that are responsible for performing Natural Resource Condition Assessments, which are used by park managers and employees to complete a State of the Park Report. The condition and reporting of water resources and approaches to water resources management of The First State National Historical Park will be compared to Valley Forge, Minute Man, and Harpers Ferry National Historical Parks. The policies, approaches to water resources management, and how complex scientific information on water resources is conveyed in Natural Resource Condition Assessments and State of the Park Reports differs among First State and the other historical parks due to their location and classification. All four national historical parks are affected by activities outside of the park, so they depend on public and private partnerships to help manage the park’s resources. In Minute Man and Valley Forge, the condition status/trend of water resources were displayed pictorially using
traffic-like symbols, that were colored either red, yellow, or green, and included either a up, down or sideways arrow. Harpers Ferry did not use traffic-like symbols to illustrate their results, but used a similar color scheme to communicate the water resources condition.