NPS Mission - National Park Service

National Park Service FY 2013 Budget Justifications
work together to achieve common goals
and strategies, with success defined in
terms of mutually agreed upon
performance measures.
The NPS effort to assist parks with
wildlife disease management continues
as new emerging diseases put native
wildlife species at risk. The purpose of
the Wildlife Health Team is to provide
professional veterinary consultation and
technical assistance that will directly aid
parks in conserving wildlife by identifying
and achieving wildlife health goals. This
team provides assistance and training on
wildlife handling, health monitoring,
preventative medicine disease
investigation, wildlife-livestock pathogen
interactions, fertility control, animal
welfare, and other wildlife management
needs. These efforts work directly with
Biodiversity discoveries at the National Geographic/National Park
Service BioBlitz, Biscayne NP
parks to facilitate communication with States, other Federal agencies, and professional organizations on
a wide range of wildlife health issues. Among the priority wildlife diseases receiving on-going attention are
the surveillance and management of such diseases as Chronic Wasting Disease, Plague, Rabies, Highly
Pathogenic Avian Influenza, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, and White Nose Syndrome. The NPS is
working in close collaboration with the FWS, USGS Biological Resource Discipline, and other Federal and
State agencies in coordinating a range of wildlife disease detection, surveillance and management efforts.
This effort also focuses on ecosystem management needs of park managers by providing the policy, tools
and technical guidance necessary to restore disrupted ecological processes, highly disturbed lands and
degraded ecosystems. The NPS focus on restoring degraded areas includes addressing the complexities
and impacts of climate change on threatened and endangered species, together with both migratory and
resident species of management concern, and their habitats, In response to the emerging need for
improving resiliency and adaptation to the effects of climate change on park ecosystems and their
diversity of plant and animal species, the NPS will actively collaborate across state and Federal agencies
to establish and delineate critical wildlife migratory and movement corridors.
Find more information about aspects of biological resource management at
http://www.nature.nps.gov/biology
Cave Research: In partnership with the State of New Mexico, through the New Mexico Institute of Mining
and Technology (NMT), and the City of Carlsbad, New Mexico, the NPS jointly partners with the National
Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI). Founded in response to Public Laws 101-578 and 105-325,
the Institute’s purpose is to facilitate speleological research, foster public education and awareness, and
assist land managers dealing with cave and karst resources. Since 2006, NMT has assumed oversight of
the Institute through a cooperative agreement with the NPS and beginning in 2007 retained a non-federal
executive director who has assumed responsibilities for the day-to-day administration of the Institute,
including the development of a broad array of partnerships to facilitate carrying out NCKRI’s mission. To
facilitate ongoing operations, NMT established a non-profit corporation as the organizational home, and
the primary partners assembled an advisory Board of Directors. The NPS, City of Carlsbad, and NMT are
standing board members with an additional ten representatives from partner organizations, including
professional societies and other Federal agencies.
Find more information online about the NCKRI at http://www2.nature.nps.gov/nckri/
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