Feeding Behavior of Great White

This essay will take a particular case study, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and attempt to provide a brief background on its history and forces of creation. The park impacts on human and non-human species alike will also be discussed. The latter part of this essay will focus on a few challenges the park faces in the future.

History/Forces of Creation/Goals

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was created on 1 August 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson making it America’s 13th national park. Lorrin Thurston, publisher of the Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser and Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar promoted the idea of making the volcanoes into a national park. Thurston who loved to explore the volcanic lands discovered a giant lava tube that can still be seen today; it is rightly called the Thurston Lava Tube. Dr. Jaggar came to the islands to establish and serve as director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Together they lobbied politicians, wrote editorials, and promoted their idea for a national park (Hamilton).

Visitors also played a vital force in its creation. In the early 1900s many visitors to the area began to suggest that the volcanic wonders should be protected in the same way as those in Yellowstone country (Park History-NPS webpage).

The park encompasses the summits and rift zones of two of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Besides an obvious haven for calderas, pit craters, black sand beaches, and fumaroles the park is home to many interesting creatures including carnivorous caterpillars, honey creepers, and a refuge for many endangered species such as the hawksbill turtle and dark-rumped petrel. In recognition of its outstanding values the park has been designated as an International Biosphere Reserve (1980) and a World Heritage Site (1987).

The parks purpose found on the National Park Service’s webpage states that “the mission of the park is to preserve for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations, the significant resources that reflect Hawaii’s geological, biological, and cultural heritage. These resources demonstrate the powerful and awe-inspiring volcanic forces that create new land and the unique adaptations of plants, animals, and people to that land” (Hawaii Volcanoes Webpage).

Some goals of the park are as follows (6): 1. Remove any alien invasive species with primary focus on highly