Natural resource condition assessment: Ocmulgee National Monument

Burkholder, JoAnn; Allen, Ellen; Kinder, Carol; Flood, Stacie

The two major goals of this report were (i) to locate and assess existing information pertaining to the natural resources in the Ocmulgee National Monument (Ocmulgee NM, or the monument), including synthesis of available information and collection of geospatial data layers and maps; and (ii) to develop a set of indicators, quantitative insofar as possible, for natural resource conditions that can be tracked over time. The evaluated natural resources included climate, air quality, geology and soils, groundwater, surface water, and terrestrial and wetland biota. Ocmulgee National Monument is in Bibb County, central Georgia, within the Ocmulgee River basin. It consists of two small tracts of land that encompass 284 hectares (ha, 701.5 acres [ac]) in total and are separated by four kilometers (km; 2.5 miles [mi]): the main unit (265.7 hectares [656.5 ac]) and the much smaller Lamar Mounds Unit (18.2 hectares [45 ac]). Monument natural resources include mixed hardwood/pine forests mixed with grassy fields, two perennial streams, and numerous wetlands. Ocmulgee National Monument is a national historic treasure because it is the only known site in the eastern United States with a continuous history of American Indians over the last 12,000 years, including rich archeology of the first agrarian civilization in eastern North America. About 130,000 visitors per year come to see its historic features; including a reconstructed prehistoric ceremonial American Indian earth lodge, burial mound, other temple mounds, and prehistoric trenches. They also come to enjoy the monument greenspace—its hiking trails, diversity of bird species, and other natural resources. In fact, the monument is the most popular tourist destination in mid-Georgia, and it is projected to become increasingly important to the rapidly growing, greater Atlanta Metropolitan Area (hereafter referred to as Atlanta area) as a greenspace. The monument already sustains high visitation pressure, averaging 51 visitors per kilometer of trail per day (83/mi of trail/day) during the April–October period. The overall assessment of this report is that the natural resources of this national park are threatened by encroaching urbanization, and by the multitude of water and air pollutants and other stressors associated with rapid human population growth and land development especially of the Atlanta Metropolitan area. The monument lies 80 kilometers (50 mi) downstream and down-airshed from Atlanta. In addition, the main unit of Ocmulgee National Monument is also located on the eastern edge of the City of Macon; the monument is partly within Macon city limits. The adjacent urbanization has directly affected the monument through illicit dumping of trash and other refuse, erosion/ washout of hiking trails that receive heavy use, potential adverse effects from application of herbicides to maintain the railroad bed, and spillover crime from the City of Macon. From a broader perspective, the Ocmulgee River watershed is about 15% developed more than a decade ago, and is increasing in development at a rate of 1% per year mostly as the Atlanta metropolitan area continues to expand southward. The airshed is in violation of federal ozone and fine particulate standards that threaten the health of park staff and frequent visitors, and the high ozone concentrations may be damaging terrestrial plant foliage (GA DNR 2007d, 2012). Visibility is sometimes poor because of the air quality. The monument also lies in an area that is moderately prone......

Natural resource condition assessment: Ocmulgee National Monument

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