Natural resource condition assessment: Dinosaur National Monument

Jones, David; Cook, Roy; Sovell, John; Ley, Matt; Handwerk, Jill; Shepler, Hannah; Kemper, John; Weinzimmer, David; Linares, Carlos; Maynard, B.

doi:10.36967/nrr-2285165

The National Park Service (NPS) Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program administered by the NPS Water Resources Division evaluates current conditions for important natural resources and resource indicators using primarily existing information and data. NRCAs also report on trends in resource condition when possible, identify critical data gaps, and characterize a general level of confidence for study findings. This NRCA complements historic resource assessments, is multi-disciplinary in scope, employs a hierarchical indicator framework, identifies and develops reference conditions/values for comparison against current conditions, and emphasizes spatial evaluation and display of conditions. Dinosaur National Monument (DINO) was established by Presidential Proclamation in 1915 as a 32-hectare (80-acre) monument to preserve the outstanding fossil resources at the dinosaur quarry north of Jensen, Utah. In 1938, the monument was enlarged to 82,510 hectares (203,885 acres) as an area to be administered for purposes of preservation of natural resources and public use. A major focus of expansion of the land base was protection of river corridors and adjacent viewsheds for the major canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers. In 1960, Congress passed legislation enlarging the monument to 85,447 hectares (211,142 acres). The purpose of the monument is to protect, study, and provide access to extraordinary fossil deposits of dinosaurs and other life, a record of thousands of years of human occupation and use, and the wild and ecologically diverse landscape shaped by the Green and Yampa Rivers. Proposals have been submitted to Congress for designation of wild and scenic rivers and for wilderness, but neither proposed designation has been approved. In the meantime, most of the monument continues to be managed to protect wilderness values. The NRCA for DINO began in 2015, employing a scoping process involving Colorado State University, monument and NPS staff to discuss the NRCA framework, identify important preserve resources, and gather existing information and data. Indicators and measures for each resource were then identified and evaluated. Data and information were analyzed and synthesized to provide summaries and address condition, trend and confidence using a standardized but flexible NPS framework that compared current condition to a reference condition. A total of 15 focal resources were examined: five addressing landscape context – system and human dimensions, three addressing chemical and physical attributes, and seven addressing biological attributes. Landscape context – system and human dimensions included land cover and land use, dark night skies, natural sounds, visual resources, and climate change. Climate change and land cover/land use were not assigned a condition or trend – they provide important context to the monument and many natural resources, and can be a source of stress and management concern. Some of the land cover and land use-related stressors at DINO and in the larger region are related to historical land uses, grazing and the expansion of gas and oil exploration and production in the region. Nationwide modeling of anthropogenic sound level impacts indicates that modern noise intrusions are moderately increasing the existing ambient sound level above the natural ambient sound level near DINO. Dark night skies are high quality. Indications are that the climate in this region is already becoming hotter, possibly wetter, and is potentially more prone to more frequent and extreme weather events. Trends in the indicators are projected to continue or accelerate by the end of the century. There are opportunities to mitigate the effects of local landscape context stressors through planning, management and mitigation. Stressors driven by more distant factors such as haze from population centers hundreds of miles away, or the effects of Flaming Gorge Reservoir on water quality and river function are...

Natural resource condition assessment: Dinosaur National Monument

Series

Collections