Air Quality Conditions and Trends in Parks, Annual Report, 2004

摘要

The National Park Service (NPS) Air Resources Division (ARD) recently completed its FY 2004 performance assessment for the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The long-term Air Quality Goal Ia3 states that by September 30, 2008, air quality in 70 percent of reporting park areas has remained stable or improved. The planned FY2004 performance target was 62 percent of reporting park areas with stable or improved air quality by September 30, 2004. Our recent servicewide assessment for FY2004 indicated a performance measure of 63 percent, thus exceeding our target goal. The results of the trend analyses for the various measures appear in Table 1; Figure 1 depicts trends geographically for all parks and indicators, and Figures 2-7 depict trends for each indicator. A park is considered to have improving or stable air quality if none of the six measures show a statistically significant degrading trend (denoted in red on the table and figures). This year, a couple measures were modified, as was the procedure used to determine whether park air quality has remained stable or improved.