One of the primary goals of the Inventory & Monitoring program is to assess and document the natural resources in the parks and thus provide a solid baseline for management and long-term monitoring. As part of this effort, the program is completing 12 basic datasets for each park including:
While much of this work is being coordinated through the NPS Washington Support Office (WASO), the NCBN is tasked with documenting the parks biodiversity through biological inventories.
An important function of the National Park System is that of protecting and maintaining the level of biological diversity found within parks. To accomplish this goal, park managers must have an accurate assessment of what species of biota occur within the park and the location of those species requiring special management consideration. Biological inventories establish such baselines of understanding about organisms and systems.
Two of the 12 core inventories are intended to provide parks with a Documented Species List of Vertebrates and Vascular Plants and information on Species Distribution and Status of Vertebrates and Vascular Plants. The goals of the two biological inventories are to:
Current certified species lists for NCBN parks can be generated by clickinghere.