TURNER PUBLISHING • December 18, 2020
Maintaining national park infrastructure and built environments, such as roads, information kiosks and visitor centers, is a known challenge, but a new study led by Kathryn Miller, UMaine alumna and quantitative ecologist for the National Park Services’ Northeast Temperate Network, suggests that undeveloped areas within national parks also require capital investments to protect their natural flora. Since 2006 the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program has been gathering forest health data from more than 50 eastern national parks. Analysis revealed that invasive species are widespread and increasing in the parks.