Joshua Tree National Park
Planning for Climate Change: a Focus for the NPS
The protected areas in the National Park System (NPS) include representative examples of all the nation’s ecosystems and biomes. These parklands, which comprise some of the most intact natural landscapes in our nation, are dynamic systems.
Scenario Planning and the National Park Service
Why Scenario Planning for the NPS?
In order to make sure that our national parks are prepared for making ecosystems more resilient to the effects of climate change, the National Park Service (NPS) has made scenario planning one of its major goals for the next 10 years (Jarvis 2009). There are good reasons for this new focus.
Test Case: Scenario Planning for Joshua Tree National Park
Why Joshua Tree?
Visitors from around the world are drawn to California’s Joshua Tree National Park, with its iconic namesake plants and massive, rugged rock formations.
Urban Heat Island: Raising City Temperatures
The urban heat island (UHI) amplifies local temperatures and principally occurs when natural landscapes are converted to urban areas. Higher temperatures occur because dense concentrations of materials like asphalt and buildings absorb more heat during the day and release it more slowly at night than natural ground cover such as soil and vegetation (Figure 1).