It was almost a mantra of the Bush Administration's Interior Department: Best science will guide on-the-ground decisions in the national parks.

Some will argue, citing snowmobiles in Yellowstone, personal watercraft in places such as Cape Lookout National Seashore, and the two-thirds reduction in the paleontological staff at Dinosaur National Monument, that former Interior Secretary Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Bomar never closely hewed to that pledge. But new Park Service Director Jon Jarvis hopes to put some teeth into that statement.

His ambition should be welcomed by those who view the parks not only as recreational destinations but also landscapes steeped in science, both that already probed and that which has remained hidden. And yet, despite these scientific founts, the National Park Service has never had a specifically assigned science mission, points out Richard West Sellars in his seminal book on the agency and its preservation mandate, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, A History.

In truth, the leadership culture of the Park Servie has been defined largely by the demands of recreational tourism management and the desire for the public to enjoy the scenic parks. Since the establishment of Yellowstone and other nineteenth-century parks, managers have had to deal not only with planning, development, construction, and maintenance of park facilities, but also with ever more demanding political, legal, and economic matters such as concession operations, law enforcement, visitor protection, and the influence of national, state, and local tourism interests. Such imperatives have driven park management. .... Indeed, even though the Organic Act of 1916 called for the parks to be left "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations," it did not mandate science as a means of meeting that goal.

Surprisingly, when you consider Yellowstone with its thermal waters, Great Smoky with its dense forests, and Mammoth Cave with its subterranean passages, as well as the Park Service's nearly 100 years in existence, not until Jon Jarvis came to its helm has the agency had a director with a professional background in natural science, according to Mr. Sellars.

To help him address science in the parks, something that could be foiled at any turn by politics, Director Jarvis has hired a science advisor.

Dr. Gary Machlis, a professor of conservation science at the University of Idaho, comes to his role as the first science advisor to a Park Service director with strong views that the agency needs to polish its scientific credentials. The Park Service's science mission long has been underfunded, he told the Traveler, and that has hindered the agency in both research and educational outreach.

"Advancing science in and for the NPS needs to happen on several fronts simultaneously," said Dr. Machlis. "We need to confront the challenge of climate change, and develop the NPS response as an effective mix of mitigation, adaptation, and education. We need to respond to the recent Second Century Commission's recommendations, including the call for the NPS to direct its in-house science program. We need to take advantage of the park's extraordinary value as places for kids of all ages to learn science, and to make science education an enjoyable part of the visitor's experience. And we need to deal with a range of technical issues--from collection policies to ungulate management to peer-review of NPS science. Each of these requires creativity and initiative on the part of the Service."

When it comes to adequate funding for science, Dr. Machlis believes that the agency "has been chronically underfunded." Without adequate funds, he explained, it is difficult to understand not only what is being preserved, or what needs to be preserved, across the 84-million-acre National Park System, but also how the system functions, "particularly at the ecosystem scale."

While the decision by Dinosaur Superintendent Mary Risser to cut two-thirds of her paleontological staff due to budget constraints drew harsh criticism, she was optimistic that science wouldn't suffer because the national monument's lone remaining paleontologist could be aided by outside groups, such as universities and colleges. Dr. Machlis agrees that such a mix can be useful ... if properly administered.

"I think a mix of in-house scientists, USGS researchers, and university faculty with specialized expertise is worth looking at. The trick will be to get the balance of these right, and that is likely to differ for different parks and/or regions," he said.

Beyond conducting science in the parks, Dr. Machlis believes there's a need to provide NPS employees with continuing science education.

"The NPS has access to some outstanding training options; we need to develop science training that takes advantage of these options in ways that improve our use of scientific knowledge, makes training a key part of advancement (particularly to the superintendency), and saves money and resources," he said. "The focus should be on how to best use science to make good decisions, and for that, I am intrigued with using a case study approach, similar to top business and management schools--only in this instance the cases are science-based."

In the months ahead Dr. Machlis plans to travel about the country, visiting units of the park system to familiarize himself with the current state of science affairs.

"I'll be traveling to parks and regional offices, both to learn in the field and at the conference table. Some outstanding science is underway, in fields from archeology to wildlife zoology, and I'm excited to learn first-hand about the work. I'm a journaler, and my field notebook won't be far from me on the visits," he said.

Dr. Gary Machlis received his B.S. and M.S. in forestry at the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. in human ecology at Yale University. He is Professor of Conservation at the University of Idaho and has served as the NPS Visiting Chief Social Scientist, and as the National Coordinator of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Network. He has written several books on conservation, and his recent research has been published in journals as varied as Climatic Change, Society and Natural Resources, BioScience, and Conservation Biology. Gary is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) National Committee on Opportunities for Women and Minorities in Science, and the Advisory Board to the AAAS Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity.