Natural resource condition assessment: Greater Grand Canyon landscape assessment

Stortz, Sasha; Aslan, Clare; Sisk, Tom; Chaudhry, Todd; Rundall, Jill; Palumbo, Jean; Zachmann, Luke; Dickson, Brett

The National Park Service (NPS) Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) program was designed to assist park managers by providing them with key information about the condition of park natural resources, the factors influencing these resources, and the areas where critical data and knowledge gaps exist. The Grand Canyon is an area of high biological diversity and astounding natural beauty, as well as a region of great cultural significance. When Grand Canyon National Park (NP) began planning for its NRCA, park management realized that expanding upon a standard NPS NRCA would be necessary to guide the management and protection of the significant resources within the park, due to the multi-jurisdictional management needs of many resources and the origination of many stressors outside the park. This expanded Resource Condition Assessment (RCA) was christened the Greater Grand Canyon Landscape Assessment (GGCLA). The GGCLA used a trans-boundary, collaborative, and spatial approach to assess resources across an analysis area determined by watersheds rather than administrative boundaries. Given the importance of both natural and cultural resources in the region, and the common stressors they often face, the GGCLA included both in an integrated assessment, which included an extensive tribal outreach and engagement effort, and addressed the ethnographic importance of natural resources. The project emphasized the use of spatial data, conducted new analyses drawing on existing information, and produced new models and maps to address priority data needs. Outcomes of the GGCLA included the spatial prioritization of areas in the region for management attention (Ch. 4) based on participatory analysis and stakeholder engagement, the assessment of condition and trend of twenty-five focal resources and nine stressors influencing them (Ch. 5), and recommendations for research and management moving forward (Ch. 6). The GGCLA also identifies key data gaps and needs, focusing on the increasing need for actionable, management-relevant science to meet the challenges of adapting to the ongoing effects of climate change, increasing human visitation, and competing demands for the region’s limited water and other resources (Ch. 5, Appendix C). The GGCLA encompasses a 5.2 million-acre analysis area surrounding Grand Canyon National Park, defined by the intersection of all Watershed Boundary Dataset hydrologic unit code (HUC) 10 watersheds that intersect the park boundary, in addition to HUC 10 watersheds that intersect the Grand Canyon Physiographic Rim (Billingsley and Hampton 1999, Seaber et al. 1987). This area, managed by numerous state, federal and tribal entities, as well as private landowners, was the subject of a watershed-based approach to assessing resource conditions in the region. Due to the transboundary nature of the analysis area and the significance of the canyon to so many, a collaborative process was sustained throughout the life of the project. Representatives of over 35 organizations participated in workshops, open houses, and technical work groups. Over 80 individuals contributed data, expert opinions or writing to the final report. Representatives of Grand Canyon NP, other land managers, and interested stakeholders selected resources and indicators for analysis, contributed data and expert knowledge to assessments, and interacted with spatial data in order to identify priority areas for future management attention.

Natural resource condition assessment: Greater Grand Canyon landscape assessment

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