Invasive exotic plant monitoring at Fossil Butte National Monument, 2008 pilot field season
Perkins DW and Weissinger R. 2009. Invasive exotic plant monitoring at Fossil Butte National Monument, 2008 pilot field season. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/NCPN/NRTR—2009/234. Natural Resource Program Center. Fort Collins, Colorado
Invasive exotic plant (IEP) species are one of the biggest threats to natural ecosystem integrity and biodiversity, and controlling them is a high priority for the National Park Service. The Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) selected the early detection of IEPs as one of 10 monitoring protocols to be implemented as part of its long-term monitoring program. This report represents work completed during the pilot field season at Fossil Butte National Monument (FOBU) in 2008, when methods were tested at FOBU and Golden Spike National Historic Site (GOSP). These methods included (1) rapid monitoring routes that focused on locating the highest-priority IEPs, (2) monitoring plots that provided more quantitative information on a wider range of IEPs, and (3) extra-area surveys that focused on an area of immediate management concern. On July 14–15, 2008, 23 IEP species were detected on monitoring routes, plots, and extra-area surveys of two burned areas at FOBU. IEPs were widespread along the Main Park Road at FOBU, but much less prevalent elsewhere. Generally, the further a route was from areas of high visitation, the fewer IEPs detected. Many IEPs were present in small, localized invasions that have a promising chance of successful management control and eradication. Based on the results from this season, the NCPN will make two changes to the protocol in order to make quantitativecollection of plot data more efficient and enable field crews to cover more area at a given park. In 2009, the NCPN will return to FOBU to sample the remaining monitoring routes. In addition, the network will test the revised protocols in other network parks with different plant communities than those in FOBU and GOSP.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Perkins, Dustin; Weissinger, Rebecca
- Date of Issue
- 2009-07
- Publisher
- Natural Resource Program Center
- Units
- FOBU , NCPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Exotic Species, Exotic/Invasive Species - Plants, Invasive Species, Monitoring, NCPN Invasive Plants Monitoring, Plant Studies