Natural resource condition assessment: Cabrillo National Monument (February 2020 Revision)

Hudgens, Brian; Abbott, Jessica; Cummings, Tonnie; Lombardo, Keith; Harbert, Melissa; Duquette, Jared; Armstrong, Amon

The Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program provides documentation about the current conditions of important natural resources within National Park Service (NPS) units through a spatially explicit, multi-disciplinary synthesis of existing scientific data and knowledge. This NRCA provides managers of Cabrillo National Monument (CABR) with an assessment of ecologically important natural resources within the unit, in addition to references that will assist in future designations of natural resource conditions. Further, this NRCA was designed to provide CABR managers with comprehensive insight to develop near-term management priorities, engage in partnership and education efforts, conduct park planning, and report program performance. Primary objectives of this NRCA were to evaluate the current conditions and trends of key CABR resources, identify important knowledge gaps, and determine key stressors and threats to resources. CABR resource managers requested that the assessment be focused on five key resources: native vegetation, native terrestrial vertebrates, rocky intertidal communities, fog, and air quality. We evaluated the condition of these resources based on information gathered from existing reports, theses, and journal articles. Chapter 4 describes the specific indicators and reference conditions the Team used to assess each of the five natural resources of interest to CABR resource managers. We completed assessments of vegetation communities, rocky intertidal communities, terrestrial vertebrate communities, fog dynamics, and air quality conditions. After assessing each resource, the Team depicted the overall condition and trend of resources using indicators of vital signs. These symbols have been used previously in the State of the Park report for CABR and provided a clear comparison between this NRCA and that report. The Team assessed the condition of vegetation, rocky intertidal and vertebrate communities relative to the estimated reference condition of each natural resource prior to European settlement using a set of ecological indicator metrics for each natural resource. For assessment of fog dynamics and air quality, the Team used regionally available information to best evaluate the trend in these resources. For each resource assessment, the Team described the metrics and associated measures, reference conditions/values, data and methods, current condition and trend, knowledge gaps/management recommendations, and persons providing expertise to the assessment. The cumulative condition, trend and confidence in information available were used to determine the overall condition and trend for each natural resource. Literature and data used for resource assessments in this NRCA were compiled by the Team and provided to NPS for future reference. This NRCA provides a descriptive background of CABR in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes background of the natural resources in CABR and Chapter 3 describes the methodological approaches used to assess each natural resource. Details of the indicators used to assess each natural resource is provided in Chapter 4 and the overall summary of each natural resource assessment is described in Chapter 5. Most of the assessed resources at CABR are either in good condition or warrant moderate concern. The current vegetation is similar to descriptions of the historic vegetation on Point Loma. Non-native vegetation is declining following NPS removal efforts. There are numerous unusual succulents, plants of special concern, narrow endemics and plants at the edges of their species range found within CABR. Fog remains a common occurrence on the peninsula, though the annual frequency of foggy days has become more variable in the past decades. The current condition of both terrestrial fauna and intertidal organisms Warrants Moderate Concern. Most groups of terrestrial fauna showed..........

Natural resource condition assessment: Cabrillo National Monument (February 2020 Revision)

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