Parks Stewardship Forum

National Park Service Director’s Order 100 (DO-100), issued December 20, 2016, and rescinded in August 2017, acknowledged that the National Park Service (NPS), as it embarked on its second century, was facing a world of increasing complexity and “continuous change.” DO-100 focuses on four areas to provide NPS with a policy framework to meet its resource stewardship responsibilities in the context of these challenges: (1) increased integration of natural and cultural resource programs to support an interdisciplinary approach to resource stewardship; (2) emphasis on resilience and connectivity by collaborative management at land/seascape levels; (3) application of the “precautionary principle” in responding to threats to resources; and (4) adaptive management to provide flexibility in responding to “continuous change.” This essay focuses on DO-100’s emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach to resource management, with the understanding that adaptive management, the precautionary principle, and ecosystem management are all dependent on the availability of the most complete data. It traces the evolution of interdisciplinary stewardship in NPS and makes a series of recommendations for incorporating it into any future ‘refounding’ discussions involving NPS and other protected areas.