SCPN Monitoring

Monitoring

Preserving the national parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations is the fundamental purpose of the National Park Service. Critical to this endeavor is knowing the condition of natural resources in the national parks. To provide park managers with the information they need, the NPS has embarked on a new era of science-based management. An essential component of the strategy is park vital signs monitoring, a national effort to characterize and determine trends in the condition of park natural resources. Trend information is essential to assess the effectiveness of management and restoration activities, and to provide early warning of impending threats.

"Vital Signs" are selected physical, chemical, and biological elements or processes of park ecosystems that represent the overall health or condition of the park.

SCPN Monitoring Plan
[PDF File- 6.79MB]

During a three-year planning process, NPS scientists and resource managers synthesized existing information, developed conceptual models of key ecosystems, and drew on expert recommendations to determine the most important vital signs for network parks. The resulting vital signs provide complementary information to form an overall assessment of the condition of park ecosystems. The monitoring plan for the Southern Colorado Plateau I&M Network is intended to guide long-term monitoring of natural resources in 11 parks. Natural resource monitoring provides park managers with site-specific information needed to understand and identify change in complex, variable, and imperfectly understood natural systems. Understanding the dynamic nature of park ecosystems and the consequences of human activities is essential for management decision-making aimed to maintain, enhance, or restore the ecological integrity of park ecosystems and to avoid, minimize, or mitigate ecological threats to these systems.

Currently, network staff is working with scientists from universities and the U.S. Geological Survey to develop detailed monitoring protocols and monitoring began in 2007. The following table shows the vital signs chosen by our network.

	NPS Ecological Monitoring Framework (Level 1: Level 2)	Vital Sign(s)
Air & Climate	Air & Climate: Air Quality	Ozone, wet & dry deposition, visibility & particulate matter
Air & Climate	Air & Climate: Weather & Climate	Climate conditions & soil moisture
Riparian & Aquatic Ecosystems	Water: Water quality	Aquatic macroinvertebrates
	Water: Water quality	Stream water quality
	Water: Water quality	Spring water quality
	Biological Integrity: Focal Species or Communities	Spring, seep & tinaja ecosystems
	Geology & Soils: Geomorphology	Channel morphology
	Water: Hydrology	Stream flow & depth to groundwater
	Biological Integrity: Focal Species or Communities	Riparian vegetation composition & structure
	Biological Integrity: Focal Species or Communities	Riparian bird communities
Upland Ecosystems	Geology and Soils: Soil Quality	Soil stability & upland hydrologic function
	Biological Integrity: Focal Species or Communities	Vegetation composition & structure
	Biological Integrity: Focal Species or Communities	Upland bird communities
	Biological Integrity: Focal Species or Communities	Ground-dwelling arthropods
Landscape	Biological Integrity: Invasive Species	Invasive exotic plants (early detection)
	Ecosystem Patterns & Processes: Landscape Dynamics	Land use – land cover & landscape vegetation pattern
	Ecosystem Patterns & Processes: Landscape Dynamics	Vegetation condition & disturbance patterns
Wildland Values	Ecosystem Patterns & Processes: Soundscape	Natural soundscape condition
Wildland Values	Ecosystem Patterns & Processes: Viewscape	Night sky condition

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Southern Colorado Plateau Network

Monitoring