SEAN Monitoring

The overall goal of natural resource monitoring in the national parks is to develop scientifically sound information regarding the current status and long-term trends in the composition, structure, and function of park ecosystems. We have specifically chosen to focus the Southeast Alaska Network monitoring program on general ecological function and several key species of management concern. We did this because our parks are primarily concerned with effects of anthropogenic and large-scale environmental influences on park-level resources and populations.

Monitoring of selected resources has occurred in Southeast Alaska parks for decades. The Southeast Alaska Network augments these historic projects by monitoring certain carefully selected elements, or "vital signs." These vital signs are critical indicators of long-term, system-wide trends. The Southeast Alaska Network has identified and ranked its vital signs based on both ecological and management significance. Ecological significance was ascertained through careful deliberation and development of conceptual ecological models. Management significance was assessed through consideration of what we currently know about resource status, stressors, risks, legal requirements, and policy directives.

For more information on how vital signs were identified, selected, and prioritized – and how these are implemented in our monitoring plan – please see the Southeast Alaska Network’s Vital Signs Monitoring Plan and the National Inventory & Monitoring Program's documentation on the organizational framework for long-term Vital Signs monitoring.