SUMMARY OF SESSIONS:
Natural Resource Stewardship
Tuesday, Sept 12 (10:00 am - 11:30 am)
N-01 -- Key Trends in the Near Future -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 280; Summary: Examine the influences of societal change -- altered population migration patterns, an increasingly fragmented landscape, an aging population, emerging technologies, and new cultural attitudes -- that will impact the NPS through the year 2015.
N-02 -- Institutional Memory -- Now Where Did We Put It? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 64; Summary: Examine the significant knowledge about park resources embodied in the experience of NPS employees and lost when they leave employment; how do we acquire the usable, accessible, and enduring institutional memory the NPS needs?
N-03 -- Homogenization of Nature: Do We Bail Forever? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 280; Summary: Explore changes in NPS management that may be necessary to address the ever-expanding threat exotic species pose to the preservation of park resources.
N-04r -- Direct Dealings: Working with Park Neighbors of the Future -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 36; Summary: Examine a desired future where park managers have developed collaborative relationships with park neighbors that minimize negative external impacts and maximize protection of park resources and the experience of park visitors. (Repeated as L-05r)
N-08r -- Resources First: Arriving at Sustainable Levels of Visitor Use -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 36; Summary: Assess the complexities of defining sustainable visitor use, examine best practices relevant to sustainable use, and define a desired future that includes visitor use levels commensurate with preserving park resources. (Repeated as L-09r)
N-10 -- The National Park Model: Vestige of the Past -- Or Foundation for the 21st Century? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 140; Summary: Examine the National Park Service's traditional approach to preserving natural resources based on a "hands off, natural processes at work" notion. Is this assumption valid for the future?
N-12r -- Natural Resources: Winning in the Parks, in the Courts, and for the Public -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 36; Summary: Addresses the means by which parks can develop sound, knowledge-based decision-making processes -- the key to dealing aggressively with complex resource preservation issues. (Repeated as N-13r)
N-14r -- The Test: What is Impaired? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 30; Summary: Explore legal, policy, and scientific issues affecting park resource decisions and values. Discuss information park managers need to make informed assessments of whether existing or projected impacts will impair a resource. (Repeated as N-15r)
N-16 -- Issues that Hinge on Information: The Roles of Generalists and Specialists -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 20; Summary: Examine how future resource issues will be won or lost through the availability of information. How can parks with subject matter experts draw on a systematically accumulated understanding of park resources through research and adaptive management?
N-19 -- Preservation as Though the Future Matters: The Role of Non-governmental Conservation Efforts -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 280; Summary: Consider the roles non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play in conservation and historic preservation: their increasing numbers, diversity of interests, and growing effectiveness. What potential relationships and collaborations are available to the NPS?
N-21 -- The 21st Century: The NPS leads the Age of Restoration -- Or What? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 72; Summary: Explore the need for the NPS to pursue an aggressive program of ecological and natural resource restoration in the 21st century. How can the NPS provide world leadership in resource restoration?
N-24 -- Predicting the Landscapes on our Borders -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 140; Summary: Examine how decisions affecting land use around parks can influence relationships that are not readily evident, and assess technological tools available to park mangers to anticipate such impacts and effectively inform others.
N-30r -- Science-based Decision-Making: How Much Information is Enough? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 20; Summary: Can park ecosystem management based on science succeed as the basis for decision-making in an agency that has traditionally promoted aesthetics, visitor services, and tourism over managing for ecological principles? (Repeated as N-31r)
N-32 -- Are The Only Inappropriate Park Uses Those that Impair Park Resources and Values? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 280; Summary: Investigate the different perceptions as to what use constitutes impairment of park resources, values, and purposes, and whether uses should only be permitted when they have a meaningful association with park purposes and values.
N-35r -- Treasure Troves -- or Temples? -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 25; Summary: Explore alternative futures that relate to the roles and status of parks as conspicuous examples of untapped resources sought by many, or repositories of the last intact resources accessible to only a few. (Repeated as N-36r)
N-37 -- Ceremonial and Religious Use of Park Resources -- Consistent or Conflict with Preservation -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 40; Summary: Consider the potential ceremonial and religious uses of parklands by Native Americans, Alaskans, and Hawaiians, while simultaneously insuring resource preservation and the retention of park values.
N-38 -- NPS Wilderness: Preserving the Very Best of America's Public Lands -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 40; Summary: Investigate the management challenges in protecting wilderness within the National Park System while facing increased public demand for wilderness values and a world increasingly dependent on basic resources protected within wilderness.
N-43r -- Keep the Torch Burning Bright: Personal Reflections on Natural Resource Stewardship -- Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am; Capacity: 20; Summary: Take time for thoughtful conversation with your colleagues, personal reflection, and journal writing. Join nationally acclaimed writers and peers to examine how we draw inspiration from places, people, and experiences to sustain our energy and leadership.
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