Origins and Innovations of Science in the U.S. National Parks

Jerry Emory will recount the origins of scientific management of wildlife in the U.S. national parks through the history of George Meléndez Wright (b. 1904, d. 1936), a wildlife biologist who earned his Bachelor of Science degree from UC Berkeley in 1927. George Wright and colleagues published the first scientific wildlife survey of the western U.S. national parks and established the U.S. National Park Service Wildlife Division, first located on campus in Hilgard Hall from 1931 to 1935.

Alison Forrestel, Ph.D., will illustrate innovations in science for natural and cultural resource management in U.S. national parks today. Many new practices have emerged from a revisiting of the scientific work of A. Starker Leopold (more information below). She currently serves as Chief of Natural Resources and Science for Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a U.S. national park covering 320 square kilometers of land and water in and around San Francisco, California. She leads the implementation of science and management programs for landscape-scale conservation and ecological restoration.

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