National Capital Parks-East natural resource condition assessment: National Capital Region
Walsh BM, Campbell JP, Costanzo S, Dennison WC, Lehman M, Milton M, Nortrup M, Syphax S. 2016. National Capital Parks-East natural resource condition assessment: National Capital Region. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NACE/NRR—2016/1197. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Assessment of natural resource condition within National Capital Parks-East was carried out using the Inventory and Monitoring Division’s National Park Service Vital Signs ecological monitoring framework. Twenty-five metrics were analyzed in four categories: Air Quality, Water Resources, Biological Integrity, and Landscape Dynamics. The assessment of condition was based on the comparison of available data collected between 2002 and 2014 to ecological threshold values. Park units with significant natural resources will be the focus of this natural resource condition assessment. Air quality data is interpolated across all park units, and there will be an air quality assessment and discussion for all sites within NACE. Water resources and fish are monitored at four sites by the NPS National Capital Region Inventory and Monitoring group at Greenbelt Park, Suitland Parkway, Oxon Cove Park, and Piscataway Park. Biological integrity is sampled at 47 sites throughout the park (Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Greenbelt Park, Suitland Parkway, Piscataway Park, Oxon Cove Park, Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Civil War Defenses of Washington), with the exception of deer population counts that are estimated only in Greenbelt Park and Piscataway Park. Landscape dynamics data from the 2011 National Landcover database are available for all park areas. Based on very degraded air quality and landscape dynamics; moderate biological integrity; and good water resources, the natural resources of NACE are in degraded condition overall.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Walsh, Brianne; Campbell, J.; Costanzo, Simon; Dennison, William; Lehman, Mark; Milton, Mikailia; Nortrup, Megan; Syphax, Stephen
- Date of Issue
- 2016-04
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ANAC , BAWA , FODU , FOFO , FOWA , GREE , KEAQ , NACE , NCR , NCRN , NRSS , OXHI , PISC , SUIT
- Keywords
- NACE, NACE NRCA, National Capital Region Network, natural resource condition assessment, NCRN, NRCA