Long-Term Monitoring Protocol for Cobble Bar Communities: Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BISO) and Obed Wild and Scenic River (OBRI).

摘要

The NPS has initiated a long-term ecological monitoring program, known as Vital Signs Monitoring, to provide the minimum infrastructure to allow more than 270 national park system units to identify and implement long-term monitoring of their highest-priority natural resources (Fancy et al. 2009). The term 'vital signs' refers to a relatively small set of physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems that are selected to represent the overall health or condition of park resources, known or hypothesized effects of stressors, or elements that have important human values (Fancy et al. 2009). Information from a welldesigned, systems-based monitoring program should have multiple applications for management decision-making, research, education, and promoting public understanding of park resources. NPS Vital Signs Monitoring is implemented programmatically through 32 ecoregional networks, or groupings of parks, linked by geography and shared natural resource characteristics. The network approach, through shared funding and professional staff, also facilitates collaboration, information sharing, and economies of scale. To be relevant to current management issues and anticipate future issues, monitoring programs must be scientifically credible and produce quality data that is readily accessible and explicitly linked to management decision-making processes. To meet those criteria, explicitly stated goals and objectives are critical. The NPS established (Fancy et al. 2009) programmatic goals for all 32 networks as they plan, design, and implement integrated natural resource monitoring.