Integrated upland monitoring in Bryce Canyon National Park: annual report 2010 (non-sensitive version)

Witwicki, Dana

The goal of the Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) integrated upland monitoring effort is to provide park managers with status and trend information on vegetation and soil attributes. This information is intended to determine natural variability of upland resources and provide early warning of resource degradation. This report summarizes NCPN upland monitoring in Bryce Canyon National Park (NP) in 2010. This report outlines goals and objectives of NCPN upland monitoring, methods of the upland monitoring protocol, and procedures for defining and mapping target populations for monitoring, and describes the results of this year’s efforts and plans for future monitoring. Upland monitoring was initiated at Bryce Canyon NP in 2010. Based on discussions with park resource staff, pinyon-juniper woodlands and mixed conifer forests were selected for monitoring. The sampling frame was delineated using the elevation zone where each vegetation type occurs in the park. Ten pinyon-juniper and eight mixed conifer plots were established and monitored in 2010. One of the pinyon-juniper plots was excluded from the monitoring summaries because a spring was discovered along one of the transects. In this report, measures were summarized for each vegetation type. The only analysis performed was an ordination of species cover. Results of this ordination indicated good separation between the vegetation types. Early monitoring data describe status of vegetation types. Interpretation will be limited until additional data are acquired and more rigorously analyzed.

Integrated upland monitoring in Bryce Canyon National Park: annual report 2010 (non-sensitive version)

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