Inventory and Monitoring Program

NPS and Rocky Mountain Inventory & Monitoring Network

The National Park Service (NPS)’s Vital Signs Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program was established as part of the Natural Resource Challenge, which called for the NPS to substantially increase the role of science in decisionmaking, revitalize and expand natural resource programs, gather baseline data on resource conditions, strengthen partnerships with the scientific community, and share knowledge with educational institutions and the public. The purpose of the Vital Signs Program is to provide scientifically credible, long-term ecological information for natural resource protection and management through natural resource inventories and monitoring of vital signs of ecosystem health. Having this information will allow park managers and scientists to assess the efficacy of management practices and restoration efforts and receive early warning of impending threats to the resources and systems that the NPS was created to protect. In this way, the I&M Program helps the NPS to fulfill its mission “to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations.”

The Rocky Mountain Network (ROMN) is one of 32 vital signs monitoring networks across the NPS. Six units comprise the ROMN: Glacier National Park (GLAC), Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site (GRKO), and Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (LIBI), Montana; and Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (FLFO), Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA), and Rocky Mountain National Park (ROMO), Colorado. The six ROMN parks are located in the central and southern Rocky Mountain Cordillera, roughly along a NNW–SSE axis that follows the Continental Divide. Although this is an extremely diverse region, all six ROMN parks share ecological similarities. These units also have a tradition of working together and are within the same NPS region. The ROMN includes core staff who conduct the day-to-day activities of the ROMN, a Technical Committee that makes recommendations and advises the ROMN, a Board of Directors responsible for program accountability, scientific and technical partners, and Intermountain Region (IMR) and Washington Office (WASO) I&M staff. (Rocky Mountain Network Vital Sign Monitoring Plan, Executive Summary, 2007)

Rocky Mountain Network parks share funding and professional staff for the planning, design, and implementation of an integrated, long-term vital signs monitoring program. The network facilitates this collaboration, coordination, communication, and information sharing. The ROMN also works with other NPS networks, the Intermountain Region, the Natural Resource Program Center, and the Office of Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation to achieve its inventory and monitoring goals. (Rocky Mountain Network Vital Sign Monitoring Plan, Who We Are, 2007)

Rocky Mountain Network Vital Signs Monitoring Plan and Appendicies