MIDN, NCBN, NETN Monitoring Long-term Forest Health (2005-Ongoing)

Northeast Temperate Network and Mid-Atlantic Network. MIDN, NCBN, NETN Monitoring Long-term Forest Health (2005-Ongoing). 2005. National Park Service

Supporting documents and datasets associated with implementing the NETN and MIDN's Long-term Forest Health Monitoring Protocol. The overall goal is to monitor status and trends in the structure, function and condition of NETN and MIDN park forested ecosystems in order to inform management decisions affecting those systems. The plot-based approach collects a variety of landscape structure, stand structure, tree, understory, and soil metrics. First year of data collection was 2005 for NETN and 2007 for MIDN. Annual protocols were produced starting in 2005, but were first published as part of a NPS reporting series starting in 2009. Our overall goal is to monitor status and trends in the structure, function, and condition of NETN and MIDN forested ecosystems in order to inform management decisions affecting those systems. To do so, both networks will interpret and report the ecological integrity of their forested systems from monitoring data. The “ecological integrity” of an ecosystem is a measure of the structure, composition, and function of an ecosystem as compared to pristine or benchmark ecosystems operating within the bounds of natural or historic disturbance regimes (Karr and Dudley 1981, Parrish et al. 2003). Ecological integrity can be assessed by comparing key elements or attributes of an ecosystem to a reference area or to historical measurements or modeling efforts. In this way, our networks hope to provide reliable data to inform management decisions relevant to park forested systems, including NPS land management and forest harvest plans, exotic species control, deer population management, NPS internal development, and national pollution control legislation. This protocol primarily addresses our networks' Forest Vegetation Vital Sign. However, some measures also address related Vital Signs selected as high priority. These include Acidic Deposition & Stress, White-tailed Deer Herbivory, Exotic Plants—Early Detection, Exotic Animals—Early Detection, Landcover and Landuse. Implementation of this protocol is a joint effort between NETN, MIDN, and NCBN. These three I&M networks share a seasonal field crew to collect the data and a Microsoft SQL database to store the data.

Type
Project
Authors
Northeast Temperate Network; Mid-Atlantic Network
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
ACAD , APCO , ASIS , BOWA , COLO , ELRO , FRSP , GETT , GEWA , HOFR , HOFU , MABI , MIMA , MORR , PETE , RICH , ROVA , SAGA , SAHI , SARA , THST , VAFO , VAMA , WEFA
Keywords
Forest Health, Forest Vegetation, x#forestHealth, x#MIDN, x#NCBN, x#NETN
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Invasive Species | Invasive/Exotic plants , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Vegetation Complex

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