Phase 1 - Inventory and Monitoring Status of Natural Resource Inventories for the North Atlantic Region

Minushkin, Janice

During FY 1990, The National Park Service (NPS) began an initial Service-wide assessment of natural resources under its stewardship by compiling existing inventory information about vascular plants, vertebrate groups, and geographic information in five databases. The databases were designed by a NPS interregional working group under the direction of the Wildlife and Vegetation Division at the Washington Office (WASO). The goal of the project was to form an empirical basis for future program strategies as well as to help parks and regions assess and organize their inventory information. The purpose of this project was not to point out individual park deficiencies, or lack of research effort. The goal was to help direct future research endeavors and funding initiatives to fill the holes in knowledge of the natural resources in the parks of the NPS. The collection and evaluation of inventories was completed for the following 11 parks in the North Atlantic Region (NAR): Acadia National Park (ACAD), Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO), Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (FRLA), Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE), Minute Man National Historical Park (MIMA), Morristown National Historical Park (MORR), Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site (ROVA), Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site (SAGA), Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (SAHI) and Saratoga National Historical Park (SARA). Information was gathered and evaluated for five databases: the Biological Inventory Status (BIS), Thematic and Cartographic (THEM), Imagery (IMAG), Flora (FLOR), and Fauna (FAUN). Parks were visited for three to five days which consisted of interviewing resource management personnel and key staff, as well as reviewing park files and data bases. Cape Cod National Seashore: The IMAG database consists of 14 complete sets of aerial photography. The THEM database has 161 records including GIS information. There are boundary, erosion, geology, historic, hydrologic, wildlife, wetlands, archeologic, infrastructure, topographic, land use, land ownership, and fire management maps. The FLOR database includes 493 species and there is a park herbarium with about 850 specimens. The FAUN database lists 497 species, including 362 species of birds, 42 mammal species, 12 amphibian species, 17 reptile species, and 61 fish species.

Phase 1 - Inventory and Monitoring Status of Natural Resource Inventories for the North Atlantic Region

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