Restore Full Funding and Staffing for National Park Inventory and Monitoring Program

I am writing to urge you to restore full funding and staffing for the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program. Recent cuts have disrupted critical data collection that park managers depend on to fulfill the Park Service's core mission of preserving our national parks unimpaired for future generations. The I&M Program provides scientifically credible data on the status and trends of park ecosystems through monitoring vital signs, which are selected physical, chemical, and biological elements that represent overall health of park resources. The program has organized more than 300 park units into 32 networks that share funding and professional staff to improve efficiency and reduce costs. These networks have become a significant component of the overall scientific and information management infrastructure of the NPS. Long-term datasets are essential for distinguishing natural variability from unwanted human influences. Without continuous year-over-year data collection, park managers cannot determine whether observed changes require intervention. Disruptions to monitoring degrade the quality of information and undermine decades of investment in baseline data. The cuts in staff and funding during this past year have made it impossible to conduct routine collections that inform critical management decisions. Network personnel perform vital work beyond data collection, including organizing and cataloging data, conducting analysis and modeling, and providing expertise for Natural Resource Condition Assessments and State of the Park reports. Their research has led to important conservation efforts, from protecting bat populations at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve to restoring trout populations in Rocky Mountain National Park and studying pollinator health at parks nationwide. The current funding crisis creates an appearance of dysfunction that threatens the integrity of our national park system. Americans overwhelmingly support our parks and expect them to be managed by dedicated, fully funded professional staff using sound science. I urge you to ensure the I&M Program receives the resources necessary to continue its essential work protecting our natural heritage.