Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Exotic Plants Monitoring Summary—2022
Owen M and Valentine-Darby P. 2023. Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Exotic Plants Monitoring Summary—2022. National Park Service, Southern Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network, Pecos, New Mexico.
Each year, the Southern Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (SOPN) monitors pathways of exotic plant introduction at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (NRA) (LAMR) and other network parks. The areas sampled are typically linear transects along roads, trails, boundary lines, and stream channels that are at high risk for exotic plant invasion and infestation. The transects for each park are divided into three panels, with one panel sampled each year. At LAMR, one of the panels is located within Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. In select years, exotic plant data are also collected at predetermined grid points spaced 150 meters (m) apart at three regions within the park (Bates Canyon, Plum Creek, and north of the dam). Grid-point surveys are done to determine the extent and distribution of exotic plants within the park interior landscape. The new monitoring list for LAMR was drawn from the park’s Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA), completed by Struthers et al. (2015). In the NRCA, exotic plants found in 2012–2014 LAMR surveys were ranked across a series of factors, following a system designed by Hiebert and Stubbendieck (1993). Factors were based on the plant’s innate pest potential, and included reproductive abilities, germination requirements, and competitive abilities. The rankings were then used to classify plants into the following categories: highest concern, high concern, medium concern, or low concern. The ten highest ranked plants were designated as high priority species for the park, all of which are included in our monitoring. For further detail, see the LAMR NRCA (Struthers et al. 2015).
- Type
- Resource Brief
- Authors
- Owen, Merran; Valentine-Darby, P.
- Date of Issue
- 2023-02
- Publisher
- National Park Service, Southern Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network, Pecos, New Mexico.
- Units
- LAMR , SOPN
- Keywords
- Exotic Plant Brief, Exotic Plant Monitor, exotic plant monitoring, Exotic plants, monitoring
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Invasive Species | Invasive/Exotic plants