Northeast Temperate Network Vital Signs Monitoring Plan
Mitchell BR, Shriver G, Dieffenbach F, Moore T, Faber-Langendoen D, Tierney G, Lombard P, Gibbs J. 2006. Northeast Temperate Network Vital Signs Monitoring Plan. Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR—2006/059. National Park Service. Northeast Temperate Network
Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park Service’s ability to manage park resources and fulfill the goal put forth in the Organic Act: “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Funded by the Natural Resource Challenge, the National Park Service has implemented a strategy to develop a program for longterm monitoring of “Vital Signs” of ecological health and condition within the parks. This Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) program program is being implemented within 270 parks, which have been grouped into 32 networks using a consistent framework and process. The Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) consists of 10 parks, and is also coordinating I&M activities for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Service-wide Goals for Vital Signs Monitoring for the National Park Service are: • Determine status and trends in selected indicators of the condition of park ecosystems to allow managers to make better-informed decisions and to work more effectively with other agencies and individuals for the benefit of park resources • Provide early warning of abnormal conditions and impairment of selected resources to help develop effective mitigation measures and reduce costs of management • Provide data to better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems and to provide reference points for comparisons with other, altered environments • Provide data to meet certain legal and Congressional mandates related to natural resource protection and visitor enjoyment • Provide a means of measuring progress towards performance goals The challenge of protecting and managing a park’s natural resources requires an ecosystem approach and a broad-based knowledge of the status and trends of park resources. An ecosystem approach is needed because no single spatial or temporal scale is appropriate for all system components and processes. National parks in the Northeast are open systems vulnerable to threats that originate outside of park boundaries, such as air and water pollution and invasive species. Northeast Temperate Network parks are part of larger ecosystems, and they must be managed in that context. The majority of the parks in the NETN were established for cultural and historical reasons and are located in increasingly urbanizing landscapes. The parks protect natural resources located within their boundaries and are comprised of a diverse array of ecological systems including terrestrial, wetland, and intertidal systems, plus a variety of lakes and streams. Land use change surrounding parks, habitat fragmentation, and invasive species are high priority management issues for the parks. Detailed vital sign monitoring protocols will document step-by-step guidance for collecting, analyzing, and reporting information for each vital sign. Centralized staffing, agreements with cooperators, and park supported programs are some of the mechanisms that will be used for implementing monitoring efforts. In some cases other agencies are already monitoring vital signs (for example air and climate) and the NPS monitoring program will focus on acquiring data, interpreting, and reporting results. Below this line are tags for ACAD use: /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /ACADIA NATIONAL PARK/
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Mitchell, Brian; Shriver, Greg; Dieffenbach, Fred; Moore, Theresa; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Tierney, Geri; Lombard, Pam; Gibbs, James
- Date of Issue
- 2006-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ACAD , APPA , BOHA , MABI , MIMA , MORR , NETN , ROVA , SAGA , SAIR , SARA , WEFA
- Keywords
- Acadia National Park, Air, Air Quality, Air Temperature, Amphibians, Amphibians (Amphibia), Assessment, Atmosphere, Biodiversity, Biomass, Birds, Birds (Aves), Climate, Cultural Resources, Cumulative impacts, Density, deposition quality, Estuary, Evaluation, Exotic, Exotic Species, Fish, Forest, Forest Structure, Forest Types, Historical Resources, Human Use, Invasive Species, Inventory, LAKE, Lakes & Ponds, Littoral Zone, managing, Map, Marine: intertidal, measuring progress, Monitoring, Natural Resources, Ozone (O3), Permanent Plots, Phenology, Plants, Plants (Plantae), Pond, protecting, Quantity, Recovery, Relative Humidity, River, Rivers & Streams, Soil Chemistry, Soils, Stream, Terrestrial, Trees, Trends Abundance, Vascular Plants, Visitors, Water Quality, Weather, Wetland, Wind