FOCUSED RESEARCH AND MONITORING NECESSARY TO ENSURE RESOURCE SUSTAINABILITY AND TO PROVIDE FOR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT IN AND AROUND HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK

Urban expansion within greater Garland County is beginning to impinge upon previously undisturbed upland forest to the north and east of Hot Springs National Park (HSNP); this land is thought to include the recharge zone for the thermal springs of HSNP. Anthropogenic activities associated with development and the inevitable supporting infrastructure currently are currently encroaching on the area of concern. Radical changes in surface cover and shock waves generated from heavy construction must now be considered as serious potential threats to the continued sustainability of the HSNP spring field. It is imperative that the Park enter into partnerships with other Federal agencies, State agencies, and local government as well as entrepreneurial stake holders in an effort to shape future developmental rules and regulations that may effect the integrity of the hot springs.

Hot Springs Reservation, now HSNP, was set aside by Congress in 1832. This makes the park the oldest unit within the national park system and predates the creation of Yellowstone by forty years. This Congressional action marked the first time any government in the history of the world had dedicated an area or region for the specific purpose of preserving and protecting a unique natural resource for the enjoyment of future generations. Hot Springs Reservation was formally redesignated a national park in 1921.

Early studies placed the location of the recharge area necessary to support the thermal springs largely within the park's current boundaries. Events that occurred early in 2006 caused research personnel from several agencies to re-examine that concept. The discovery of thermal water in a private well almost six miles east of the park cast doubt on the simple original model and raises the issue of needing to protect areas well outside the sheltering boundaries of the park's federally exclusive jurisdiction.

Clearly, failure to do critical research, to provide for needed monitoring, and to ignore the value of cooperative adaptive management of the hot springs--recognized as unique and worthy of protection since 1832--could result in disastrous consequences for the National Park, the infrastructure, and the municipal economy that has developed around the Park.