Abstract

Good visibility has long been recognized as an important value in our National Parks. Congress in the National Park Service Act of 1916 directed the Service to manage the parks to "conserve the scenery and natural and historic objects … and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment" of visitors¹. In order to effectively carry out its Congressional mandate the National Park Service (NPS) needs to be able to determine how scenic landscape features effect a visitor's experience and enjoyment of a park and must assess how these scenic values will be affected by changes in air quality. With this information the decision maker can better judge the adversity of potential changes in air quality.

© 1983 Optical Society of America