Shenandoah National Park Forest Vegetation Monitoring Protocol: Version 2.3

Cass, Wendy; Hochstedler, Wendy; Fisichelli, Nicholoas

Shenandoah National Park (SHEN), a member of the Mid-Atlantic Network (MIDN) and part of the National Park Service’s (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program, has identified forest vegetation and several associated vital signs as high priority for long-term monitoring. Development of the SHEN forest vegetation monitoring program began in 1987, with staffing increases and field sampling commencing in 1989. Reviews of the forest vegetation monitoring program’s objectives, statistical power, and sampling design were completed from 2000 – 2003. In response to these reviews, the forest vegetation monitoring program protocol was revised to address concerns about program sampling objectives, statistical power to detect changes in forest community composition and growth, plot design, and field sampling efficiency. The current forest vegetation monitoring protocol was initiated in 2003 and assesses the status and trends of forest plant communities, including herbaceous and exotic vegetation, downed woody debris and snags, and soils. The current protocol has been designed to sample the 160 forest sites within the program over a four year sampling rotation. Sites are stratified according to elevation, aspect and bedrock geology. Site locations were randomly chosen within forested areas of the park occurring beyond the influence of roads, trails, and developed areas. Each site consists of a 24 x 24 m slope corrected square plot where all woody vegetation with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 10 cm are identified, measured, tagged, and marked, and their conditions assessed. Woody vegetation with a DBH < 10 cm and a height ≥ 1.5 m are identified and measured in two nested 24 x 2 m subplots. Woody vegetation with a DBH < 10 cm and a height < 1.5 m are identified and measured in two nested 12 x 0.5 m subplots. A complete species list, and percent cover classes of dominant herbs and all exotic plant species are also recorded for the entire plot. Coarse woody debris is measured along two 15 m transects. Certain other metrics, such as soil composition, and tree height and age, have been sampled once over the course of the program, and may be sampled again if data are needed. Additional metrics such as evidence of deer browse and leaf damage may be incorporated in future protocol versions to assess the impacts of stressors such as white-tailed deer, exotic plant diseases and pathogens, and native forest pests, and to allow greater comparability with the MIDN forest vegetation monitoring program (Comiskey, Schmit and Tierney 2009), and other protocols in the region. This report makes reference to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that outline detailed steps for conducting specific aspects of the monitoring protocol. The latest versions of the SOPs can be accessed at the National Park Service’s Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network website (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/midn/) in the Forest Vegetation Monitoring Protocol section. The SOPs are updated on an as-needed basis and all changes are identified in individual Revision History Logs.

Shenandoah National Park Forest Vegetation Monitoring Protocol: Version 2.3

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