How A Love Science Helped Save Our National Parks

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Scientific research at Yellowstone and other National Park has yielded many useful discoveries benefiting humanity.  One of the most important was the discovery of the thermophilic bacterium, Thermus aquaticus.  Later an enzyme was purified by a team led by Dr. Henry Erlich, which led to the practical use of the PCR test in covid detection and many other uses.

Science in parks is a crucial tool for the advancement of humanity.

However, if it were not for the early efforts of George Menendez Wright, science may have never taken hold in our national parks.  Today, the George Wright Society continues that effort by supporting parks, protected/conserved areas, cultural sites, and other kinds of place-based conservation by encouraging communication among and convenings of researchers, managers, educators, practitioners, and the public to facilitate informed decisions and actions that embrace our values.

Joining me to talk science in our national parks is Dave Harmon, executive director of the George Wright Society.  Dave is responsible for overseeing the George Wright Society’s operations, including co-editing Parks Stewardship Forum and helping plan workshops and other meetings. A member of the GWS since 1985, Dave began working for the organization in 1990 and served as executive director from 1998 to 2017 before returning that role in 2019. He is active in IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas.  He also maintains a research interest in the relationship between biological and cultural diversity, having co-founded the NGO Terralingua, which is devoted to that subject. Dave has co-edited several volumes on protected area conservation, including The Antiquities Act: A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature Conservation (with Francis P. McManamon and Dwight T. Pitcaithley), The Full Value of Parks: From Economics to the Intangible (with Allen D. Putney), and A Thinking Person's Guide to America's National Parks (with Robert Manning, Rolf Diamant, and Nora Mitchell).

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