Amistad National Recreation Area: Natural resource condition assessment
Valentine-Darby P, Struthers K, Chambers N, Mathis A, Folts-Zettner T, Sosinski H, Bennetts RE. 2016. Amistad National Recreation Area: Natural resource condition assessment. Natural Resource Report. NPS/CHDN/NRR—2016/1300. 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. Fourteen focal study natural resources were chosen for Amistad National Recreation Area’s NRCA. These resources were organized into three categories: landscape-scale, supporting environment (i.e., physical resources), and biological integrity, which included wildlife, mussels, small native fish, and vegetation topics. The landscape scale resources included only night sky, which was assessed to be in moderate condition. The national recreation area’s supporting physical environment resource topics included air quality, geology, surface water quality, and groundwater. The condition of these resources were primarily either good or moderate, except for surface water, which was of moderate to significant concern due to Amistad National Reservoir being listed on Texas Commission of Environmental Quality’s 2014 impaired waterbodies due to high levels of total dissolved solids and chloride. The biological integrity resources included riparian habitat, uplands vegetation exotic plants, mammals, jaguarundi, landbirds, herpetofauna, fish, and exotic mussels. The riparian habitat was in good condition, however, the uplands vegetation and exotic plants were of significant concern. The conditions for the wildlife topics, including mammals, jaguarundi, and herpetofauna are all unknown at this time. The exotic mussels are in good condition since Amistad’s waters have yet to be invaded, but the small native fishes are of significant concern due to the extinction of one species and continuing loss of species.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Valentine-Darby, Patricia; Struthers, Kimberly; Chambers, Nina; Mathis, Allyson; Folts-Zettner, Tomye; Sosinski, Heidi; Bennetts, Robert
- Date of Issue
- 2016-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- AMIS , CHDN , NRSS