In northwest Alaska a chain of five national parks extends from the Bering Sea coast to the rugged peaks of the Brooks Range. Inaccessible by road, and encompassing a quarter of all National Park Service public lands, few places on earth can offer the visitor a greater wilderness experience than the arctic parklands. Management of these beautiful public treasures is critically dependent on sound scientific information. The mission of the Arctic Network Inventory and Monitoring Program is to collect, compile and synthesize scientific information about the arctic network of parks in order to facilitate their preservation, unimpaired, for future generations.

The Inventory and Monitoring Program is a major component of the National Park Service’s strategy to improve park management through greater reliance on scientific information.

Nationwide, 270 national parks have been grouped into 32 Vital Signs Networks linked by geographic similarities, common natural resources, and resource protection challenges.  The network approach facilitates collaboration, information sharing, and economies of scale in natural resource monitoring.