Great Basin National Park: Natural resource condition assessment

Comer, Patrcik; Braun, David; Reid, Marion; Unnasch, Robert; Hak, Jon; Schulz, Keith; Baker, Gretchen; Roberts, Ben; Rocchio, Judith

Executive Summary The Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program aims to provide documentation about current conditions of important park natural resources through a spatially explicit, multi-disciplinary synthesis of existing scientific data and knowledge. For a given NPS unit, NRCAs evaluate conditions for a representative subset of natural resources and resource indicators, reporting where possible on trends in resource condition. They also identify critical information gaps, and characterize a general level of confidence in study findings. The resources and indicators emphasized in a given NRCA project depend on the park’s resource setting, status of resource stewardship planning and science in identifying high-priority indicators, and availability of data and expertise to assess current conditions for a variety of potential study resources and indicators. Great Basin National Park was established as a national park in 1986 providing a high quality and characteristic representation of the basin and range region. Such characteristic features include the gradient of cold desert shrubland to montane forests and woodlands to alpine environments. Ancient bristlecone pine woodland occurs up along the alpine fringe of the park. Given its relatively remote location, high air quality, visibility, and brilliant night skies are also featured. The park encompassed the Lehman Caves National Monument which was created in 1922 to preserve its outstanding cave resources. The NRCA for Great Basin National Park began in 2012 and 16 focal natural resources and ecological stressors were chosen for assessment. These assessments were arranged into four categories including landscape resources, upland resources and ecological integrity, aquatic resources and ecological integrity, and future landscape conditions. This project used a structured ecological integrity assessment framework to evaluate conditions of ecological resources. The framework applies most directly to two of the four thematic resources categories – upland resources and aquatic resources – because these are categories of ecological resources. Primary steps to apply this framework include: identifying the key ecological attributes for each focal resource on which to further focus assessment and subsequent management, identifying indicators for each key attribute for each resource, identifying an expected or reference range of variation for each indicator for each resource, and documenting the status and trends of each focal resource based on indicator data, comparing measured conditions to expected or reference conditions. Landscape Resources Upland Resources and Ecological Integrity Aquatic Resources and Ecological Integrity Future Landscape Conditions Results of the NRCA will assist park staff with objectives including prioritzed management actions, Resource Stewardship Strategies and other management plans, support to interpretation of park resources and issues, and engagement in landscape-scaled partnership efforts.

Great Basin National Park: Natural resource condition assessment

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