Winners will be announced by 15 August 1997. Participants in the National Parks Science Scholars Program can begin their supported research during the 1997 fall academic term. The 1997 competition is focused on four research topics important to the management of the National Park System. All proposals should address, in some specific way, one of the topics stated as a research question below. Research can be conducted at a single site or at multiple sites throughout the National Park System.
Nonnative plants are both an ecological and management problem in many national parks.
Some habitats within national parks are more vulnerable to invasion than others. Research is needed to identify the ecological and management conditions that influence or determine the vulnerability of natural systems to nonnative plant invasion. The results will be useful in developing new techniques for managing nonnative plants in national parks. National parks depend on clean air. Yet they exist in developed airsheds, receiving materials transported by air masses - often from great distances.