Integrated upland monitoring in Arches National Park: annual report 2010 (non-sensitive version)
Witwicki D. 2012. Integrated upland monitoring in Arches National Park: annual report 2010 (non-sensitive version). Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/NCPN/NRTR—2012/525.N. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
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 Arches National Park (NP) in 2010. This report also 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 Arches NP in 2010. Based on discussions with park resource staff, blackbrush shrublands, pinyon-juniper (PJ) and blackbrush shrublands, and grasslands were selected for monitoring. The sampling frame was delineated using the soils map units where each ecological site type occurred in the park. Eight plots were established and monitored in each ecological site type in 2010. Early monitoring data describe status of ecological site types. Interpretation will be limited until additional data are acquired and more rigorously analyzed. In this report, measures were summarized for each ecological site type. The only analysis performed was an ordination of species and biological soil crust cover. Results of this ordination indicated good separation between the grassland sites and the other two ecological site types. There was some overlap between the deep blackbrush and PJ/blackbrush sites; this was expected, because blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) was a dominant species at both sites, and soil properties were more important in distinguishing these ecological site types. In addition, grassland sites were split into two distinct clusters, which correlated well with alternative ecosystem states of the Semidesert Sandy Loam (fourwing saltbush) ecological site.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Witwicki, Dana
- Date of Issue
- 2012-01-12
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ARCH , NCPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Monitoring, NCPN Uplands Monitoring, Plant Studies, Upland, Uplands