Resource Inventories

Species Lists

• NPSpecies is the National Park Service's biodiversity database that documents the vertebrates and vascular plants of more than 270 National Park units through a compilation of evidence including vouchers, scientific documents and observation records.

Water Body Location and Classification

• The locations of streams, lakes, and wetlands are being documented digitally to create a high-resolution (1:24,000, 1:63,360 in Alaska ) National Hydrography Dataset for 8-digit hydrologic units/subbasins containing national park units.

Baseline Water Quality Data

• Baseline water quality data inventory and analysis reports have been developed to summarize publicly available physical, chemical and biological water quality data available through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's STORET database and the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Information System.

Air Quality Data

• Where the National Park Service does not have its own monitoring stations, data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality monitoring stations near parks are being summarized into an air quality atlas to assess air quality conditions in parks.

Air Quality Related Values

• Air quality related values include those resources sensitive to air quality (e.g. vegetation, soils, fish, wildlife and visibility).

Vegetation Inventory

• All parks will be provided maps of their vegetative communities based on recent aerial photography and following a standard classification.
• To date for the Southeast Coast Network, vegetation maps have only been completed for Congaree National Park through a partnership with U.S. Geological Survey.

Natural Resource Bibliography

• Bibliographies of existing research are made available to all parks to help them identify inventory needs.
• The Natural Resource Bibliography (NatureBib) has been developed by the National Park Service to catalog, search, and manage natural resource-related information sources pertaining to national parks.

Base Cartography Data

• The Base Cartography Inventory is tasked with acquiring, processing, and distributing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data layers that are needed for most GIS mapping and analysis projects.

Soil Resources Inventory

• Soils maps are being created for parks through a partnership with the Natural Resource Conservation Service. Additional products include data about physical and chemical properties of those soils and information derived from those data about potentialities and problems of use on each kind of soil.

Geologic Resources Inventory

• Geologic maps and digital products for parks are being completed through partnerships with the U.S. Geological Survey and state geologic agencies. Also included are an on-site evaluation of park geologic maps, resources and issues and a geologic report with basic geologic information on geologic setting and history, geologic hazards, and other geologic related issues.

Climate Inventory

• The primary objective of the first climate inventory was to identify and compile basic meteorological data to provide a baseline of climate information useful to NPS biologists, hydrologists and resource managers.