Inventory & Monitoring

Monitoring

To understand and protect natural resources in order to leave them “unimpaired for future generations to appreciate and enjoy…” (Organic Act of 1916, 16 United States Code 1 § 1), park managers must identify ecological threats and stressors, including those originating from outside park boundaries, understand the condition of existing resources, determine the pathways of impacts from stressors, and evaluate the effects of stressors on natural resources.  Recognizing the vast potential of ecosystem threats including introduction of non-native invasive species, declining fresh and marine water quality, fragmentation of habitat, altered fire regimes, as well as the need to monitor resource condition and trends for better management decision making, Mediterranean Coast Network parks began a fundamental exercise in developing a long-term monitoring program to provide data on the status and trends of selected Mediterranean-type ecosystem and coastal marine environment components, identify potential mechanisms of resource change, and suggest research activities or management actions required to help clarify understanding and mitigate resource impacts.