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Inventory and Monitoring Program

The Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) was established by the US National Park Service (NPS) to monitor ecological conditions in 11 parks located in seven northeastern states as well as six additional states through which the Appalachian National Scenic Trail passes. The NETN operates with the mandate to preserve park natural resources "unimpaired for future generations." These resources include water, air, geological, faunal and floral, and the various ecological, biological, and physical processes that act on these resources. The broad-based, scientifically sound information obtained through long term natural resource monitoring will have multiple applications for management decision-making, research, education, and promoting public understanding of park resources.

Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the Service’s ability to manage park resources. Historically, managers and scientists have sought a way to characterize and determine trends in the condition of parks and other protected areas to provide early warning of impending threats and to assess the efficacy of management practices and restoration efforts. The challenge of protecting and managing a park’s natural resources relies on a partnership based ecosystem approach because most parks are open systems, where threats such as air and water pollution, and invasive species, originate outside established park boundaries beyond the control of park managers. Natural resource monitoring provides site-specific information needed to understand and identify change in complex, variable, and imperfectly understood natural systems and to determine whether observed changes are within natural levels of variability.

New Reports, Breifs, and Summer Monitoring Staff 05-01-2009 - In April, the Northeast Temperate Network released the Boston Harbor Islands Coastal Breeding Bird 2008 Monitoring Summary Report; it is available on the NETN web site, and is currently being printed. Breeding landbird and forest health reports are currently being peer reviewed and will be released in May. Sarah Lupis Kozlowski, NETN's Science Communication Specialist, has been making steady progress developing program and resource briefs for NETN projects. She has completed resource briefs about tree condition, coarse woody debris and snags, invasive plants, and BOHA's coastal breeding birds. She has completed program briefs for salamander monitoring, citizen science, landscape change, invasive/exotic plants, and forest health. These briefs will be available shortly on NETN's web site. Two NETN protocols were submitted to the regional I&M coordinator for final approval: forest health and breeding landbirds. A third protocol, for BOHA coastal breeding birds, will be submitted in early May. Kate Wilkin joined NETN as the seasonal vegetation crew leader, and Andrew Vincello returned to NETN as a seasonal vegetation crew member. They will join the MIDN crew members, Nicole Lightle and Erika Gorczyca, for crew training at Valley Forge in May. Y.Q. Wang at the University of Rhode Island has received a grant from NASA for his proposal, "A decision support system for monitoring, reporting and forecasting the ecological conditions of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail". Fred Dieffenbach, NETN's A.T. Environmental Monitoring Coordinator, is a co-investigator on this project. NASA received 142 proposals in response to their funding announcement, and the this project was one of 31 selected for funding. Dr. Wang will work with Fred and others to develop a web-based system for exploring and analyzing monitoring data, including access to NASA imagery for the Trail.

Forest Monitoring Program Featured in April Issue of Science 04-01-2009 - Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) staff attended the biennial George Wright Society meeting in Portland, Oregon. Brian Mitchell gave a presentation on the network's forest monitoring program, "Monitoring and reporting of forest ecological integrity." Brian, Steve Faccio (Vermont Center for Ecostudies), and Adam Kozlowski presented a poster about landbird monitoring in the network, and Fred dieffenbach presented a poster about the Appalachian Trail MEGA-Transect. Two peer-reviewed journal articles directly related to NETN projects have been digitally released and are available on the NETN web site: 1) a paper in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment about the network's forest monitoring program: Tierney, G. L., D. Faber-Langendoen, et al. (2009). "Monitoring and evaluating the ecological integrity of forest ecosystems." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7; and 2) a paper in a special issue of Remote Sensing of Environment about the network's landscape change inventory: Wang, Y., B. R. Mitchell, et al. (2009). "Remote sensing of land-cover change and landscape context of the National Parks: A case study of the Northeast Temperate Network." Remote Sensing of Environment. The Northeast Temperate Network is also pleased to announce that its forest salamander project is being featured in an upcoming issue of Science, including the cover photo--an eft under a coverboard. The editors were thrilled to see the perfect correlation obtained by the regression of two data points, and confessed that they were "just sick of publishing all that bio-medical stuff on things you can't even see." Plus, they thought the eft was "darn cute." The staff of the Northeast Temperate Network has been tapped by President Obama to reform the banking industry, starting with the colossal company AIG. Obama was impressed by the results of the Network's recent 3-year review, and felt that the NETN team has the skills needed in these trying times. "They've proven themselves adept at multi-tasking and thinking for the long-term; other than the people who created the credit default swaps, this team is our best hope of defusing the crises - and they're a lot cheaper to pay than bankers," said the President. NETN staff will continue to perform their normal duties in addition to taking on their new economic recovery duties. "I know we told NETN to try to scale back a bit, but they really have been doing a great job and I dont think this extra duty will be too hard on them. Plus I've promised to make the Annual Report easier this year, so they should have some free time," said Steve Fancy, the National Inventory and Monitoring Program Leader. And finally, the NETN Program Manager has put his career on the line for a dare. When asked about this and the previous two highlights due on April 1, he would only say, "Hey, it wasn't just a dare - it was a double-dog dare. There was no way I could back down."

02-28-2009 - NETN made progress on finalizing several protocols in February. The external review of the forest monitoring protocol was completed, and NETN staff and cooperators are working to address reviewer comments. The NETN coastal bird monitoring protocol was submitted for external review, and reviews are due back by mid-March. In addition, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies is finishing the review draft of the breeding bird protocol, which should be ready for external review in March. NETN staff have been preparing for the biennial George Wright Society meeting in early March. NETN staff will be giving a presentation about the network's forest ecological integrity scorecard, and posters about the Appalachian Trail MEGA-Transect and breeding bird monitoring.

Successful 3-Year Operational Review 02-02-2009 - The Northeast Temperate Network's (NETN's) 3-year operational review was held during the last week of January. The goals of this meeting were to share information about the network with superintendents, resource managers, and regional science staff, and to determine if the network is set up to succeed. The participants felt that the network was indeed doing well; Steve Fancy, the National Inventory and Monitoring Program Leader, said that NETN is one of the best networks in the country and that the network has a track record of exceeding expectations. Information about this meeting, summary comments from the review panel, and copies of all of the presentations are available at http://www1.nrintra.nps.gov/im/monitor/networks/NETN/NETN_review.cfm. Congratulations to the network staff for their contributions to this meeting and their hard work over the past several years! NETN staff also held annual reviews for several vital signs monitoring protocols in January: coastal birds; land birds; and lakes, ponds, and streams. These annual reviews are an opportunity for network staff to discuss the previous field season, plan for the next season, and discuss potential changes to monitoring protocols.

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Northeast Temperate Network

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