Condition of vegetation communities in Bluestone National Scenic River, Gauley River National Recreation Area and New River Gorge National River: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network summary report 2007–2009
Perles SJ, Callahan KK, Marshall MR. 2010. Condition of vegetation communities in Bluestone National Scenic River, Gauley River National Recreation Area and New River Gorge National River: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network summary report 2007–2009. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/ERMN/NRDS—2010/036. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natural Resource Program Center. Fort Collins, Colorado
Beginning in 2007, the Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network (ERMN) of the National Park Service (NPS) began monitoring vegetation communities and soil in eight of its nine parks. The objective of this monitoring program is to provide information on the condition of the parks’ vegetation and soil, and how this condition is changing through time. Permanent long-term monitoring plots have been established in New River Gorge National River (NERI, 74 plots), Gauley River National Recreation Area (GARI, 30 plots), and Bluestone National Scenic River (BLUE, 30 plots). Within the permanent plots, data are collected on forest stand structure; tree health, growth, and mortality; tree regeneration; coarse woody debris; shrubs; groundstory diversity; invasive species; and soil. The last panel of plots will be established in 2010, and in 2011 the first panel of plots will be revisited, providing data on how the vegetation is changing through time. This report summarizes vegetation monitoring data collected between 2007 and 2009 in NERI, GARI, and BLUE and presents the condition of the parks’ vegetation based on those data. These data provide a snap-shot of the status of the vegetation communities and are compared to expected ranges of variability for eastern forests. The results reported here provide highlights of the available data, but additional measures are being investigated and may be reported in the future.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Perles, Stephanie; Callahan, Kristina; Marshall, Matthew
- Date of Issue
- 2010-03
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natural Resource Program Center
- Units
- BLUE , ERMN , GARI , NERI , NRSS
- Keywords
- BLUE, Forest, GARI, Monitoring, NERI, Vegetation