Public lands are unique places providing diverse natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment and education of visitors. Waste and pollution can be produced by visitor activities, visitor services and maintenance of lands and facilities. Managers may sometimes feel they are putting more emphasis on managing and protecting the public than the resources. With increasing visitors and decreasing budgets, public land managers find it increasingly difficult to be either good resource stewards or provide positive visitor experiences.

Benefits of Preventive Measures

Pollution prevention can protect the natural diversity and processes contained in public lands. The ultimate benefits of this are only beginning to be understood, but this concept is an ideal that most public land managers share and are highly motivated to achieve. In an immediate context, pollution prevention also has practical benefits such as increasing compliance with regulations, increasing facility and maintenance efficiencies and freeing up precious dollars for infrastructure, interpretation, payrolls, research, etc. In short, pollution prevention identifies and eliminates long-term costs to the environment while also addressing more short-term costs.

Specific types of cost savings that can be achieved through pollution prevention include:

• reduced or eliminated hazardous product management costs
• reduced operational costs through energy, materials and water savings (e.g. install efficient equipment, put in appropriate landscapes, use conservation practices and renewable sources)
• reduced waste disposal costs (e.g. use fewer disposable products, increase durability of design, compost, etc.)
• reduced repair and replacement costs (e.g. use durable and repairable equipment and products)
• reduced safety and health costs (e.g. use less toxic products, increase day lighting, etc.)
• reduced or eliminated restoration costs (e.g. prevent development of sensitive areas, build in harmony with the ecosystem, prevent pollution with best management practices, etc.)

Unfortunately, public lands are affected by pollution in surrounding areas and communities well beyond the protection of public land managers. At the same time, they provide a unique learning laboratory for visitors and employees where there is an opportunity to develop environmental stewardship ethic with far reaching results. As public lands take a leadership role in education, they will be enhancing environmental health and visitor experience both within and outside of their boundaries.

Pollution prevention helps public lands comply with directives and regulations such as, but not limited to, the following:

• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) - environmentally sound management and reduction of both hazardous and nonhazardous wastes as implemented through EPA regulations found in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – hazard management related to construction materials and activities as implemented through regulations 29 CFR
• Executive Order 13101: Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention Recycling and Federal Acquisition (1998)
• National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA)
• Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act (Battery Act)
• Standard for Universal Waste Management
• Executive Order 13123: Greening the Federal Government Through Efficient Energy Management (1999)
• The National Park Service Organic Act – conservation of scenery, natural and historic objects and wild life within designated federal lands and provision for the enjoyment of the same while leaving them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations
• Memorandum from Director Robert Stanton (1999) - Environmental Leadership Program directing all National Park Service employees to participate
• Federal, state and local regulations pertaining to air, waste, and water

The links in this section describe regulatory issues in more detail and also provide background on some of the broader philosophical reasons to prevent pollution on public lands.