Three-year Start-up Review for the Northern Colorado Plateau Network

Fancy, Steve; Perkins, Dusty; DeBacker, Mike

Periodic program reviews are an essential component of quality assurance for any long-term monitoring program. The start-up review for the NCPN I&M Network was held January 8-10, 2008 in Grand Junction, Colorado. The NCPN review combined two purposes: (1) a 3-year “start-up review” that focused on the operational and administrative aspects of the network's monitoring program and asked the basic question "Is the network set up to succeed?"; and (2) a USGS “hand-off” review to determine whether the USGS has delivered to the NPS useful, scientifically credible, and complete sampling protocols and other monitoring design products, and whether any work remains for the products to be complete. The reviews were intended to help the network get off to a good start in developing a practical, sustainable monitoring program that provides parks with timely, relevant information. The NPS “start-up” portion of the review was an opportunity for Network and park staff to step back and evaluate their initial progress against the objectives and schedule set forth in the Network’s monitoring plan, to develop a “road map” for completing and implementing the first set of protocols, and to make adjustments if needed. Three years is long enough for the network to appreciate the realities of implementing the program and to determine what level of monitoring is sustainable with current funding, but short enough to make adjustments and improvements before too much has been invested. This is also an opportunity to share successes and lessons learned with other networks as they develop their monitoring programs. The USGS Status and Trends Program has traditionally held a joint USGS-NPS “hand-off” review for each of the NPS prototype monitoring programs as the USGS development research is nearing completion. USGS and NPS scientists have worked closely together and have leveraged each others’ funding and expertise to develop a series of monitoring protocols and other monitoring design products for the network, and many protocols were developed jointly by both agencies. The technical merits of individual protocols were not evaluated since they are addressed by subject-matter experts in a separate protocol review process. Key questions that were addressed by the review include the following: • Is the network on track to measure trends in the condition of selected park resources and to provide useful information to park managers, planners, and interpreters? • Are the roles and responsibilities of key groups and individuals such as the Board of Directors, Technical Committee, and Network Coordinator adequately defined, and are good communication mechanisms in place? • Which protocols have been implemented, and do protocols still in development have a reasonable timetable for completion? • Is the network following good procedures for managing and analyzing monitoring results? Are the databases and data management systems working as designed? • Is the network generating preliminary reports, and are adequate procedures in place for effectively delivering monitoring results to park managers and planners? Are managers using the information? • Are there some current or anticipated problems that the network needs to address? • What should happen to make the program better over the next 5-10 years?

Three-year Start-up Review for the Northern Colorado Plateau Network

Collections