Monitoring Protocols
After vital signs are selected, methods must be specified for their monitoring. These methods are documented in monitoring protocols that describe the background, approach, and detailed methods for conducting the monitoring, and establish how information will be analyzed and reported. Protocols are detailed study plans designed to ensure that changes detected by monitoring actually are occurring—that is, that they do not stem from measurement variability introduced when different people or methods are used. Protocols must be thoroughly documented, periodically reviewed, updated as necessary, and archived.
Each monitoring protocol also includes a narrative providing the rationale for vital-sign selection and a history of the protocol’s development; a framework for making necessary decisions or revisions relative to that protocol and its development; and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that explain, in a step-by-step manner, how each procedure identified in the protocol narrative will be accomplished. At a minimum, SOPs address personnel and training requirements, sample and response designs, equipment operations, data collection techniques, data management, data analysis, reporting, and any activities required at the end of a field season (e.g., equipment maintenance and storage).
Finally, monitoring protocols identify supporting materials critical to their development and implementation. Supporting materials are any materials developed or acquired during the protocol’s development phase; examples may include databases, reports, maps, geospatial information, species lists, species guilds, analysis tools tested, and any decisions resulting from these exploratory analyses.
For efficiency and to enhance interpretation, some ROMN vital signs will be monitored at the same time and place as others, and thus are included in the same protocol(s). Other vital signs appear in more than one protocol. Therefore, there are 14 protocols for the 12 high-priority vital signs.
Monitoring development and implementation are staggered through time and parks.The ROMN initiated protocol development for Vegetation Compostion, Structure, and Soils: (with Alpine as a separate protocol), and Wetland Ecological Integrity in FY2006. Development of the Stream Ecological Integrity protocol began in FY2007. Snow Chemistry (as a key part of our Wet and Dry Deposition vital sign) monitoring is being integrated with the USGS Snow Monitoring Network. Through this partnership, the ROMN will begin receiving and analyzing data on snowpack (snow–water equivalent; SWE) and snow chemistry (concentrations of chemical ions) in FY2007.
Weather and Climate data are collected by other agencies, especially NOAA–NWS. Methodology and analyses may vary as dynamics and other vital signs dictate, but core data on weather and climate (e.g., daily temperature and precipitation derivatives) will be collected, analyzed, and reported with all vital signs. The ROMN investigated development of the Alpine Lake Ecological Integrity protocol (e.g., at the Alpine Monitoring Workshop), and an approved protocol exists (i.e., the NCCN’s), but ROMN implementation of alpine lake monitoring will occur only as financial resources permit or natural resources demand it.
Immediate implementation of one component of Invasive/Exotic Plants monitoring will begin in FY2007, when data collection for target species is added to the Vegetation Composition, Structure, and Soils methods. A second phase of invasive plant monitoring, using models and field data for rapid detection of new arrivals, is targeted for future development, based on the methods and recommendations of several ongoing research programs funded by the NPS. The GRSA Endemic Insects protocol is being developed through cooperative agreements, and will take several years to develop. The Focal Species–Beaver protocol is integrated with the Stream, Wetland, and Alpine Lake Ecological Integrity protocols. Elk and grizzly focal-species protocols are currently not targeted for priority implementation due to costs associated with wildlife monitoring and the ongoing efforts by GLAC, GRSA, and ROMO relative to these species.
Go to Vital Sign Description Page(ROMN Vital Sign Monitoring Plan, 2007, pages 67and 70)