Inventory of the herpetofauna of Shiloh National Military Park

Accipiter Biological Consultants

Shiloh National Military Park (SHIL) was established December 27, 1894 to preserve the site of the largest Civil War battle during the Union’s 1862 campaign. It was a two-day battle resulting in nearly 24,000 casualties and a decisive victory for Union forces, who later went on to seize control of the Confederate railway system in Corinth, Mississippi and military control of the lower Mississippi River Valley. In 1933 Shiloh was brought into the National Park System and is managed under the guidance of the 1916 Organic Act. The National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for the preservation of native wildlife, including amphibian and reptile species, within Shiloh National Military Park in accordance with the 1916 NPS Organic Act, as amended and this direction is re-enforced through both NPS policy and guidelines affecting natural resource management. The Cumberland/Piedmont Inventory and Monitoring Network was established by the NPS Natural Resource Challenge Initiative. Among the goals set forth by this initiative are documentation of the occurrence of at least 90% of the species of vertebrates and vascular plants that occur within each National Park unit containing “significant natural resources” and documenting relative frequencies of occurrence by habitat type and descriptions of the distribution and relative abundance of species of special concern. Following a preliminary review of the existing inventory data within each network park, the Inventory and Monitoring Network for the Cumberland/Piedmont determined that the largest and most pressing data gaps involved amphibian and reptile species. This lack of information was targeted as one of the network’s highest priorities for funding. It is therefore necessary to conduct a baseline inventory of the herpetofauna resources within these NPS Parks, because the existing information is either non-existent or poorly defined.

Inventory of the herpetofauna of Shiloh National Military Park

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