Colorado National Monument: Natural resources condition assessment

Benck, Kevin; Allen, Kathy; Nadeau, Andy; Davis, Anna; Gardner, Sarah; Randerson, Matt; Robertson, Andy

The Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program aims to provide documentation about the current conditions of important park natural resources through a spatially explicit, multi-disciplinary synthesis of existing scientific data and knowledge. Findings from the NRCA will help Colorado National Monument (COLM) managers to develop near-term management priorities, engage in watershed- or landscape-scale partnership and education efforts, conduct park planning, and report program performance (e.g., Department of the Interior’s Strategic Plan “land health” goals, Government Performance and Results Act). The objectives of this assessment are to evaluate and report on current conditions of key park resources, to evaluate critical data and knowledge gaps, and to highlight selected existing stressors and emerging threats to resources or processes. For the purpose of this NRCA, staff from the National Park Service (NPS) and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota – GeoSpatial Services (SMUMN GSS) identified key resources, referred to as “components” in the project. The selected components include natural resources and processes that are currently of the greatest concern to park management at COLM. The final project framework contains 21 resource components, each featuring discussions of measures, stressors, and reference conditions. This study involved reviewing existing literature and, where appropriate, analyzing data for each natural resource component in the framework to provide summaries of current condition and trends in selected resources. When possible, existing data for the established measures of each component were analyzed and compared to designated reference conditions. A weighted scoring system was applied to calculate the current condition of each component. Weighted Condition Scores, ranging from zero to one, were divided into three categories of condition: low concern, moderate concern, and significant concern. These scores help to determine the current overall condition of each resource. The discussions for each component, found in Chapter 4 of this report, represent a comprehensive summary of current available data and information for these resources, including unpublished park information and perspectives of park resource managers, and present a current condition designation when appropriate. Each component assessment was reviewed by COLM resource managers, NPS Northern Colorado Plateau Network staff, or outside experts. Existing literature, short- and long-term datasets, and input from NPS and other outside agency scientists support condition designations for components in this assessment. However, in some cases, data were unavailable or insufficient for several of the measures of the featured components. In other instances, data establishing reference condition were limited or unavailable for components, making comparisons with current information inappropriate or invalid. In these cases, it was not possible to assign condition for the components. Current condition was not able to be determined for nine of the 21 components (43%) due to these data gaps. For those components with sufficient available data, the overall condition varied. Only two components (riparian habitats/large dry washes and bighorn sheep) were determined to be in good condition. Five components (pinyon-juniper woodlands/savannas, seeps, springs and tinaja habitats, birds, air quality and paleontological resources) were of moderate concern. Birds were the only component where the available data were sufficient enough to assign a trend. At this time, the bird community exhibits a stable trend. Three components were determined to be of significant concern (kit fox, dark night skies, and viewscape). The high concern for kit fox was due to the species likely being extirpated from the region; as it is unlikely to return on its own, a stable trend was assigned.

Colorado National Monument: Natural resources condition assessment

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