Sierra Nevada Network Lake Monitoring Protocol: Standard Operating Procedures
Heard AM, Starcevich LH, Sickman JO, Cook R, Schweizer DW, Paolilli D, Fong C. 2025. Sierra Nevada Network Lake Monitoring Protocol: Standard Operating Procedures. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SIEN/NRR—2012/551.1. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The Sierra Nevada Network (SIEN) monitors high-elevation lakes throughout Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks as part of the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The purpose of the I&M Program is to develop and provide scientifically sound information on the current status and long-term trends in the composition, structure, and function of park ecosystems, and to determine how well current management practices are sustaining those ecosystems. This is accomplished through park-wide inventories and a long-term monitoring program. Sierra Nevada Network parks protect over 4,500 lakes and ponds and thousands of kilometers of rivers and streams that have some of the highest water quality in the Sierra Nevada. High-elevation lakes are critical components of the parks’ ecosystems, popular visitor destinations, and habitat for aquatic and terrestrial organisms including declining amphibian species. Lake ecosystems were selected for monitoring because they are 1) valued for their ecological importance, contribution to Wilderness character, recreational opportunities, and importance to regional water supplies, 2) threatened by multiple stressors, and 3) sensitive to environmental change. Three vital signs (i.e. ecological indicators) are sampled at SIEN lakes: water chemistry, surface water dynamics, and amphibians. This protocol describes the SIEN Lakes Monitoring program and procedures in detail. It includes background information on the resource, the rationale for monitoring lakes and selected measures, description of the sampling design, power analysis, field procedures, laboratory requirements, data analysis procedures, data management guidelines, reporting schedules and procedures, annual budget, and operational details. The protocol narrative provides an overview and detailed procedures are described in a series of Standard Operating Procedures.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Heard, Andrea; Starcevich, Leigh Ann; Sickman, James; Cook, Rosemonde; Schweizer, Donald; Paolilli, Dena; Fong, Catherine
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- DEPO , IMDP , NRSS , SEKI , SIEN , YOSE
- Keywords
- Kings Canyon National Park, Lake Protocol, Lakes, Long Term Monitoring, Monitoring, Nutrients, sampling protocols, Sequoia National Park, standard operating procedures, Water, Water Chemistry, Water Quality, Yosemite National Park
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Water Chemistry , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Nutrient Dynamics