Protocol narrative: Long-term discrete water quality monitoring at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Obed Wild and Scenic River

Hughes, James; Emmott, Robert; Raskin, Evan; Witcher, Brian

doi:10.36967/2258269

Under the mandate of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act (1998), the National Park Service (NPS) developed a natural resources Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program as part of a comprehensive effort to identify key natural resources within the National Park system and to provide long term monitoring of the integrity of those resources. The NPS has grouped parks into 32 I&M networks based on ecological similarity and geographic proximity. The Appalachian Highlands Inventory and Monitoring Network (APHN) includes four NPS units: Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BISO), Obed Wild and Scenic River (OBRI), Blue Ridge Parkway (BLRI), and Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM). Natural resource inventories of APHN parks that have been completed to date indicate that these parks are among the most ecologically and biologically diverse within the National Park system. This protocol describes the background, rationale, and sampling design for monitoring water quality using discrete sampling of water at fixed and rotating sampling stations for three APHN parks: Big South Fork NRRA, Obed WSR and Blue Ridge Parkway. The main goals of this document are: (1) to describe the overall strategy for discrete water-quality monitoring that is credible and scientifically rigorous, (2) to identify the sampling design and sampling stations within each park, (3) to identify and justify key water-quality and -quantity indicators that will be monitored, and (4) to provide a specific set of instructions in the form of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that are sufficiently detailed to ensure consistent and comparable data collection for current and future practitioners. The structure of this document follows the recommended framework and suggestions of Oakley et al. (2003). This document also describes important aquatic resources within the affected parks, and briefly summarizes characteristics of geology, soils, climate and hydrology that must be considered when monitoring water quality at Big South Fork NRRA, Obed WSR, and Blue Ridge Parkway. A case is made for the relevance of this effort by highlighting known water quality issues in the parks, as well as describing some of the important linkages between water quality and park resources that may help provide early warning of changing conditions or issues of concern in the future. The objective of this long-term monitoring project is to determine annual status and long-term trends for key indicators of water resource condition. Field analyses include pH, specific conductance, temperature, dissolved oxygen, acid neutralization capacity (ANC), and turbidity. Laboratory analyses are broadly grouped into the following analytical schedules: (1) pH/buffering capacity, (2) (dissolved) solids, (3) routine anions/cations, (4) nutrients, (5) metals/metalloids, and (6) bacteriology. To complement these field and laboratory analyses, the network will make concurrent stream discharge measurements in accordance with USGS methodologies at each sampling station. The APHN Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring Protocol for Discrete Sampling provides a tiered approach to optimize assessment of water resource integrity in network parks within the constraints of available resources. Level I monitoring includes fixed stations on and adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor and at main stem rivers and key tributaries within the Obed Wild and Scenic River and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. These stations will be sampled on either a monthly (if co-located with a USGS Gage) or quarterly frequency. Level II monitoring includes a bank of sampling stations from which sites will be chosen and sampled on an annually rotating basis at a quarterly frequency. Level II monitoring is intended to supplement the long term fixed stations described above to provide more complete evaluation of water resource integrity throughout designated park lands. Data collected using this protocol

Protocol narrative: Long-term discrete water quality monitoring at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Obed Wild and Scenic River

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