Monitoring

The seven parks within the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) constitute a distributed network of parks, geographically as well as by virtue of their characteristics and the spectrum of challenges they face, now and in the future.  Three of the largest parks are essentially wilderness in character; they face issues stemming from visitor use and threats from outside the park boundaries.  The remaining four parks are largely historic in nature; by virtue of their size and proximity to rapidly urbanizing areas, they face pressures from a rapidly growing visitor base, as well as development impinging upon nearby land and water resources.

In response to these challenges, the parks within the network are working closely to develop an integrated program for monitoring natural resource conditions under their jurisdiction that will provide timely and relevant information about the nature and proximity of threats to these ecosystems.

A fully integrated, thorough monitoring program cannot be implemented with the limited funds available.  However, these funds do provide an extraordinary opportunity to define the priorities of a monitoring plan, and addressing those areas of greatest concern.   Defining the elements of such a program will provide an opportunity for individual parks to seek additional funding from outside sources. This may allow the park network to supplement whatever core monitoring work is done under this program through collaboration with other scientific and educational organizations.  It will also allow all member parks to gain expertise and a level of knowledge about natural resources that will pay dividends to park management well into the future.

This program is envisioned as having a decidedly ecological focus. The intent is to better understand the interplay of elements of ecosystems that support natural resources within the parks.  An appreciation for the key processes and ecological functions encompasses not only biotic but also abiotic components such as climate, soils, landscape processes, geological features, hydrologic regime and hydraulic characteristics.  Altogether these considerations integrate into a comprehensive program during the design and protocol development phase.