Annual administrative report (FY 2011) and work plan (FY 2012) for inventories and Vital Signs monitoring: South Florida / Caribbean Network
National Park Service South Florida/Caribbean Network. 2012. Annual administrative report (FY 2011) and work plan (FY 2012) for inventories and Vital Signs monitoring: South Florida / Caribbean Network. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SFCN/NRR—2012/488. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The Annual Administrative Report and Workplan summarizes the activies of the National Park Service South Florida / Caribbean Network for FY11 and projected workplan for FY12. The South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN) includes seven national parks with significant natural resources in the southern tip of the state of Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Croix and St. John: Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY, Biscayne National Park (BISC), Buck Island Reef National Monument (BUIS), Dry Tortugas National Park, Everglades National Park, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (SARI), and Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS). In FY 2011 the SFCN received $1,983,354.43 from the Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program, the NPS Vegetation Mapping program, and the NPS Water Resources Division. SFCN also received $160,000 from the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) to assist with vegetation mapping of Everglades National Park. Together, these funding sources enabled the SFCN to construct vegetation and benthic habitat maps for several parks, to support a biological inventory of Biscayne National Park, and to continue operational monitoring for core vital signs. SFCN’s Vital Signs Monitoring Plan is focused on protocol development and monitoring for the areas that emerged as top priorities in the planning phase of the group’s establishment. Tailoring monitoring efforts to focus on key resources in each of the Caribbean parks makes SFCN’s work directly relevant to the management needs of each park. Top priorities include marine benthic community Vital Sign monitoring in Biscayne National Park (BISC), Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO), Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS), and Buck Island Reef National Monument (BUIS). Marine Fish Community monitoring is a high priority in BISC, DRTO, VIIS, and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICR). SFCN continued to support an inventory of all species in Biscayne National Park (named the BioBlitz). Supporting actions were focused on report development and data management. SFCN has successfully expanded our program by hiring a Natural Resource Condition Assessment ecologist, an Everglades Vegetation Map Program Manager, an Everglades Vegetation Map Technician, a Marine Research Assistant, a Water Quality Post Doc, as well as three Student Conservation Association Interns (SCA’s) in FY11. FY11 activities delivered completed vegetation maps for both Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (SARI) and Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO), as well as a benthic habitat map for DRTO. Work continues on vegetation maps for western BICY, EVER, BISC, and VIIS. A draft report and map for offshore BISC is currently in review.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- National Park Service South Florida/Caribbean Network
- Date of Issue
- 2012-01-27
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BISC , BUIS , DRTO , EVER , NRSS , SARI , SFCN , VIIS
- Keywords
- AARWP, Annual Administrative Report, Annual Report, Big Cypress, Biscayne, Buck Island, Dry Tortugas, everglades, Salt River Bay, SFCN, South Florida / Caribbean Network, South Florida Caribbean Network, Virgin Islands, Work Plan