Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Frank "Boss" Pinkley

As we reflect on 2023, we offer you a list of 23 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From a dazzling “ring of fire” annular eclipse to celebrating conservation wins with the help of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, 2023 was filled with amazing moments.

The National Park Service (NPS) was only 26 years old when the United States entered World War II. The young bureau faced very real threats to its mission, with increasing pressure to contribute its natural and cultural resources to the war effort even as its budget and staff were slashed. Under the leadership of Director Newton B. Drury, the NPS was able to do its part for the war while maintaining its public trust responsibilities to the American people.

Travel any distance on America’s road system today and you will see vehicles of every size and shape decorated with national park decals, stickers, and magnets; license plate frames; and custom and state-issued national park license plates. Proudly advertising places visited on cars is a tradition that began with license plate toppers in the 1920s and 1930s. As many of America’s favorite destinations, national parks quickly became part of the trend.

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.

Both the Clean Air Act and the National Park Service Organic Act protect air resources in national parks. Park resources affected by air quality include scenery and vistas, vegetation, water, and wildlife. Over the past three decades, the National Park Service has developed several internal and cooperative programs for monitoring various measures of air quality.

Three park units in the Chihuahuan Desert Network, Big Bend National Park (NP), Carlsbad Caverns NP, and Guadalupe Mountains NP are designated as Class I air quality areas under the Clean Air Act. Class I areas receive the highest protection under the act, and degradation of air quality must be minimal. Air quality concerns include atmospheric deposition effects and visibility impairment from fine particle haze.

The rich fossil record at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, was the focus of a recent paleontological resource inventory. Paleontologist Scott Kottkamp dedicated three months at the park researching and reporting on the fossils from the Permian marine reef system and Ice Age fossils founds within park caves at the park.

An auxiliary field at the Carlsbad air base was the site of one of the war’s stranger experiments as a secret government project envisioned captured bats strapped with bombs dropped over Japan. In Olympic National Park, Japanese Incendiary Balloons fell across the pacific northwest, trigger