Are We Loving Our National Parks to Death? A Call for Research on Crime and Law Enforcement in the U.S. National Park System

• Author: William Andrew Stadler,Cheryl Lero Jonson,Brooke Miller Gialopsos
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/07340168211015726
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Are We Loving Our National

Parks to Death? A Call

for Research on Crime

and Law Enforcement in

the U.S. National Park System

William Andrew Stadler

1

, Cheryl Lero Jonson

2

,

and Brooke Miller Gialopsos

3

Abstract

Despite a recent surge of visitation and frequent media accounts of lawlessness in America’s national

parks, little empirical research has been dedicated to crime and law enforcement in the U.S. national

park system. The absence of systematic crime and justice research within these protected spaces

should raise concern, as recent park service data and intra-agency reports suggest visitor growth,

funding and personnel declines, operational shortcomings, and technology constraints may endanger

the capacity of the National Park Service (NPS) to adequately address anticipated crime threats

in the 21st century. This call for research aims to raise awareness of the contemporary law

enforcement challenges facing this federal agency and encourage the study of crime and justice issues

within the U.S. national park system. We briefly examine the evolution and current state of NPS law

enforcement and its associated challenges and conclude with a conceptual road map for future

research occurring in these protected spaces.

Keywords

U.S. national park system, National Park Service, law enforcement, visitor and resource protection

More than a century ago, the National Park Service (NPS) was created to protect, preserve, and

promote America’s public lands. However, as the popularity of U.S. national parks has grown, so too

have threats to the artifacts, plant, and animal life that inhabit these spaces, as well as the humans

who visit them. Increased public attention toward environmental and conservation issues has

1

Department of Society and Social Justice, Saint Martin’s University, Lacey, WA, USA

2

Department of Criminal Justice, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, USA

3

Department of Criminal Justice, Seattle University, WA, USA

Corresponding Author:

William Andrew Stadler, Department of Society and Social Justice, Saint Martin’s University, 5000 Abbey Way SE, Lacey, WA

98503, USA.

Email: wstadler@stmartin.edu

Criminal Justice Review

ª2021 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/07340168211015726

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2023, Vol. 48(1) 85–105

spawned new research and aptly revealed macrosystemic threats such as climate change and

wildland fires to be clear-and-present dangers to the parks’ safety and survival (Fisichelli et al.,

2015; Gonzalez et al., 2018; Monahan & Fisichelli, 2014; Parks et al., 2016). Yet, we know

comparatively little about how prevalent and damaging illegal human behaviors are to the safety

and security of parks and the people, wildlife, and natural resources within them. Despite the NPS

(2020b) reporting recent growth in tourism, rising property crimes (U.S. Department of Justice,

2020), declines in personnel (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, 2017), and

ongoing challenges with operations, data collection, and reporting (International Association of

Chiefs of Police [IACP], 2000; Repanshek, 2010; U.S. Department of the Interior [DOI], 2002),

researchers have largely neglected the contemporary study of crime and law enforcementas social

phenomena in national parks. According to former Yellowstone National Park Superintendent,

Dan Wenk, humans remain the least studied but most abundant and impactful animal in U.S.

national parks (Simmonds et al., 2018).

This scarcity of research is somewhat unexpected, given the extant literature on conservation-

oriented crime and policing in other protected spaces in the United States and around the world. For

example, researchers have examined crime and law enforcement in African and Asian rural and

national park spaces (Cowan et al., 2019; Freund et al., 2016; George, 2010; Warchol & Kapla,

2012); fish, wildlife, and natural resource areas in several state jurisdictions (Carter, 2004; Eliason,

2003, 2006a, 2006b, 2008, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2014, 2016; Forsyth, 1993a, 1993b; Shelley &

Crow, 2009; Sherblom et al., 2002; Walsh & Donovan, 1984); U.S. national forests (Baur &

Cerveny, 2019; Chavez & Tynon, 2000); general leisure, park, and recreation settings (Pendleton,

2000; Snyder & Evans, 2017); and rural areas (Falcone et al., 2002; Payne et al., 2005). And while

these protected public places might share ecological similarities with the U.S. national park system,

the latter is unique, with its own mission, system, and challenges. Crime incidents and their formal

responses in national parks also represent real-world challenges with significant implications to

public and wildlife safety, administrative functioning, and the ecological preservation of public

lands. Thus, the study of crime and law enforcement within U.S. national parks is important to

theory and policy across many disciplines such as criminal justice, conservation science, and travel

and tourism.

Our goals with this research note are to confront the notable gap in literature, raise awareness of

the threats looming over the NPS, and encourage new research to contribute knowledge on crime

and law enforcement in U.S. national parks. We begin with a brief historical background of national

park stewardship and examine four specific challenges facing the NPS with potentially hazardous

implications to law enforcement and visitor and resource protection. Using data and findings from

within the NPS, we argue growth in visitation, workforce pressures, operations and management

constraints, and data collection and reporting challenges hold the potential to inhibit the future

capacity of the NPS to preserve and protect public lands, visitors, and wildlife from the conse-

quences of criminal behavior. Finally, informed by other conservation-oriented crime and justice

research, we conclude with a call for new research in U.S. national parks across five domains which

hold clear policy or practice implications for the NPS.

U.S. National Park Stewardship

The country’s national parks are collectively known as “America’s best idea” because they were

intentionally created to preserve and protect some of America’s most sacred places (Burns, 2009).

However, fulfillment of this promise has been challenging throughout history, beginning in 1872

when Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, was created by an Act of Congress (The Yellow-

stone National Park Protection Act of 1872). Shortly after its creati on, initial management and

protection was bestowed to civilian appointees by the DOI, which held responsibility for the

86 Criminal Justice Review 48(1)