Mojave Desert Network Inventory and Monitoring streams and lakes monitoring protocol: Protocol narrative version 1.0.
Caudill CC, Moret G, Chung-MacCoubrey A, Baker G, Tallent N, Hughson D, Burke J, Starcevich LH, Steinhorst R. 2012. Mojave Desert Network Inventory and Monitoring streams and lakes monitoring protocol: Protocol narrative version 1.0.. Natural Resource Report. NPS/MOJN/NRR—2012/593. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The mission of the National Park Service is “to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations” (NPS 1999a). To uphold this goal, the Director of the NPS approved the Natural Resource Challenge to encourage national parks to focus on the preservation of the nation’s natural heritage through science, natural resource inventories, and expanded resource monitoring (NPS 1999a). Through the Challenge, 270 parks in the national park system were organized into 32 inventory and monitoring networks. The Mojave Desert Network (MOJN) includes seven units of the National Park system: Death Valley National Park, Great Basin National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Manzanar National Historic Site, Mojave National Preserve, and Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. Collectively, these parks comprise 3.3 million hectares or 9.7% of the total land area managed by NPS. MOJN I&M has identified 20 priority park vital signs, indicators of ecosystem health, which represent a broad suite of ecological phenomena operating across multiple temporal and spatial scales. This protocol addresses monitoring of Surface Water Dynamics and Chemistry in streams and lakes. Monitoring will be restricted to streams and lakes at Great Basin National Park (GRBA) and Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAKE) because these habitats are limited or absent at other parks and because monitoring resources are limited. Monitoring of groundwater and springs, significant aquatic resources in MOJN, are covered in a separate set of protocols. The monitoring in this protocol addresses: 1. Regulatory status of surface waters at LAKE and GRBA. 2. Surface water dynamics and quality in GRBA streams and lakes. This protocol details the why, where, how, and when of the monitoring program. As recommended by Oakley et al. (2003), the protocol consists of a narrative and a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs), which detail the steps required to collect, manage, and disseminate the data representing the status and trend of water quantity and water quality parameters in the network. Collected data, in combination with other vital signs monitoring, will provide a context for the interpretation of status and trends in water resources within the network. The protocol is intended to be a “living” document that evolves as new information emerges and methodologies are refined. Changes to the protocol are carefully documented in SOP 20: Protocol Revision and Review. The first few years of monitoring will address outstanding questions related to the sampling design, such as site variability, inter-annual variability, and baseline conditions. From there, the focus will shift toward trend analysis, in which ecologically meaningful declines or increases will be detected, and appropriate management strategies can be developed.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Caudill, Christopher; Moret, Geoff; Chung-MacCoubrey, Alice; Baker, Gretchen; Tallent, Nita; Hughson, Debra; Burke, Jennifer; Starcevich, Leigh Ann; Steinhorst, R. Kirk
- Date of Issue
- 2012-11
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRBA , IMDP , LAKE , MOJN , NRSS
- Keywords
- 303(d), Acid Neutralizing Capacity, benthic macroinvertebrate, Clean Water Act, Discharge, Dissolved Organic Carbon, Dissolved Oxygen, Great Basin National Park, ice-out, ice-over, Ions, LAKE, Lake Level, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Mojave Desert Network, Monitoring, nitrate+nitrite, Nutrients, Outstanding National Resource Waters, Perennial, pH, regulatory status, Secchi depth, specific conductance, Stream, Stream and Lake Protocol, Subalpine, Sulfate, Surface Water, Temperature, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, Water Quality, Water Quantity
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Water Chemistry , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Nutrient Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Aquatic Macroinvertebrates and Algae