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Threats to Biodiversity
The loss of biodiversity affects everything that lives on this planet. Unfortunately this loss is increasing at an alarming rate. Major causes of biodiversity loss are population growth, increased consumption and pollution of national resources, and habitat destruction. Loss of biodiversity doesn't just affect cities, national forests, marine systems, or prairie lands, but it affects national parks, wilderness areas, and other protected lands as well. National Parks are where you go to see animals in the WILD! The delightful opportunities to see native wildlife offered in National Parks lead many people to believe that they are little islands where nature is untouched by the outside world. Unfortunately, National Parks may be among our most wild 
landscapes, but many are affected by what happened before they were established, and what happens to lands adjacent to them.
Although certain activities such as logging and mining are no longer allowed in the parks, impacts of these activities continue to alter biodiversity. Cattle trespass on parklands, trampling plants and soil and affecting water quality. Pollutants from nearby cities add unwanted chemicals to mountain lakes, and logging on adjacent lands causes fragmentation in park habitats. Because native plants and animals don’t recognize park boundaries, they are often affected by these activities. Although we have no control over what happened in the past, we can control negative impacts in the present. Often negative influences on National Parks by humans are unintentional and hard to prevent. But it is only by understanding how humans threaten biodiversity that we can hope to conserve it. National Parks in the Klamath Network are currently monitoring park natural resources to track changes in park environments and to try to prevent irreversible damage to biodiversity.
Click on the links below to find out more about threats to biodiversity in this region:
Crater Lake NP | Oregon Caves NM | Redwood NP | Lassen Volcanic NP
Whiskeytown NRA | Lava Beds NM | NPS Klamath Network | SOU Home
An Outreach and Education Project made possible by the National Park Service, Klamath Network Inventory and Monitoring and Southern Oregon University
