El Morro National Monument: Natural resource condition assessment
Valentine-Darby P, Mathis A, Struthers K, Baril L, Chambers N. 2016. El Morro National Monument: Natural resource condition assessment. Natural Resource Report. NPS/ELMO/NRR—2016/1192. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program, administered by National Park Service’s (NPS) Water Resources Division, 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. The NRCA for El Morro National Monument began November 2015, and nine focal study natural resources were chosen for the park’s NRCA. These resources were organized into three categories: landscape-scale, supporting environment (i.e., physical resources), and biological integrity, which included wildlife and vegetation topics. The landscape scale resources included viewshed, night sky, and soundscape. The viewshed and night sky resources were in good condition, given the fact that the monument is located in a rural setting. However, New Mexico State Highway 53 bisects the park, contributing to a moderate condition rating for soundscape. The monument’s supporting physical environment resource topics included air quality, geology, and historic pool. The condition for each of these resources varied between moderate for air quality and geology, and significant concern for the historic pool, which has been highly altered from its original hydrologic condition. The biological integrity resources included vegetation, exotic plants and wildlife. The vegetation resources were in good to moderate condition, even though exotic plants were considered to be of significant concern. The wildlife condition was unknown due to lack of recent data to assess current condition.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Valentine-Darby, Patricia; Mathis, Allyson; Struthers, Kimberly; Baril, Lisa; Chambers, Nina
- Date of Issue
- 2016-04
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ELMO , NRSS
- Keywords
- Air Quality, Climate Change, Cryptobiotic, Exotic Plants, Fire Ecology, Geohydrology, Geology, Grassland, Historic Pool, Inscriptions, Juniper-Pinon Savanna, Microflora, Night Sky, Sedimentology, Soundscape, Vibration Study, Viewshed, Wildlife, Zuni Sandstone
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Windblown Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Groundwater Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Desert Communities , Ecological Framework: Human Use | Cultural Landscapes | Cultural Landscapes , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Viewscape | Viewscape/Dark Night Sky