Booker T. Washington National Monument: Natural resource condition assessment

Lookingbill, Todd; Courtenay, Heather; Finn, John; Gifford, Regan; Hatchell, Nadia; Mulroy, Meghan

Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCAs) are reports formulated to assess and record park resource conditions, as an accompaniment to more targeted threat-based assessments. NRCAs report on the current and trending conditions, data gaps, and confidence levels for selected park natural resource indicators. The report can be used by park managers to address park priorities, identify data needs for resources, and further communicate park resource conditions to wider audiences. The goal of the report is to provide information based on scientific data and analysis, which can then be used in park planning and partnerships. Booker T. Washington National Monument (BOWA) memorializes the birthplace of one of America’s most influential African Americans, Booker T. Washington. The site was established as a National Monument by Congress in 1956. Today, BOWA is a 239-acre park that contains many interpretive replicas of buildings and farm installations, as well as a visitor’s center and an old school building. The park is located within the Piedmont physiographic region of Virginia, and is situated within the Roanoke River and Albemarle-Pamlico Sound watersheds. Both of these watersheds cover portions of Virginia and North Carolina. Threats to the park’s natural resources are found inside the park (e.g., invasive species, erosion), outside the park boundaries (e.g., water contamination), and throughout the greater region (e.g., air pollution). Data were assembled from multiple divisions within the National Park Service (NPS) including BOWA park staff, the Air Resources Division (ARD), and the Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. Additional data were collected by volunteers, state agencies, and academic researchers. Condition scores were calculated for the entirety of the park, utilizing the broad spectrum of data available from all sources. Collaboration with park staff was integral to the success of the collection and analysis of the data. An initial scoping meeting, site visits, and follow-up meetings allowed for a continual exchange of data and background information. These meetings helped identify the natural resources that were to be included as indicators, assign metrics for assessment, and provide context on factors impacting natural resources within the park. Efforts were made to integrate NPS I&M ecological monitoring metrics associated with the following ‘Vital Signs’ into the assessment: Air Quality, Water Quality, Biotic Integrity, and Landscape Dynamics. A total of 19 indicators were analyzed in this report. Assessing resource condition within BOWA required setting a reference or threshold level for each metric. These thresholds were derived from scientific literature, where possible. However, when information was not available to support peer-reviewed ecological thresholds, regulatory and management-based thresholds were used. A metric attainment score of 100% indicated that the metric met the threshold identified to maintain the resource in all instances. Once all the attainment scores were calculated, an unweighted mean was calculated to assess the condition of each Vital Sign category for the park as a whole. The quantitative score corresponded to a qualitative rating: Significant Concern (0-33%), Moderate Concern (34-66%), and Good (67-100%). Scores were color-coded according to standard NPS NRCA symbology: red (Significant Concern), yellow (Moderate Concern), and green (Good Condition).

Booker T. Washington National Monument: Natural resource condition assessment

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