The US National Park Service (NPS) has finalized its policy explaining how its public parks should negotiate for money from researchers who profit from park specimens. “If research activities involving research specimens collected from units of the National Park Service result in useful discoveries, inventions, or other commercially valuable applications, NPS will consider whether a benefits-sharing agreement will be required,” says the recent record of decision.

“Implementing these changes is not about commercializing the parks,” says Jon Jarvis, director of the NPS. “This decision is about the public receiving some benefit from commercial projects that result from analysis of samples collected in national parks.”

The idea of this agreement is not new. A congressional act in 1998 had authorized the NPS to enter into agreements with researchers, the record of decision explains. But in 1999 there was a legal challenge over the benefits-sharing agreement between Yellowstone and biotechnology firm Diversa Corporation, which extracted the heat-extremist microbe Thermus aquaticus from the park’s thermal pools for potential commercial use. (A heat-stable DNA polymerase was extracted from this bacterium, and subsequently aided the development of the multimillion dollar polymerase chain reaction). After this, a federal court told the NPS to review potential impacts of the agreement; the NPS decided to evaluate the impacts of rolling out such agreements across its system. An environmental impacts statement on benefits sharing was released last year.

Approximately 270 national park sites issue research permits under current policies, but only a small portion of permittees are expected to lead to useful discoveries, inventions, or any commercially valuable applications. The agreements themselves will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Some advocacy groups disagree with the decision. “The Park Service is intent on doing the wrong thing, turning our national parks over to private corporations to benefit corporate shareholders rather than the American public,” says Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies (Greenwire).

But the NPS says that any compensation received will be dedicated to the conservation of resources that it manages.