Natural Resource Assessments: Approaches for Evaluating Resource Condition

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• Natural Resource Assessments Approaches for
  Evaluating Resource Condition

William G. Knight Chair
Session 106 100-305 p.m. Great
River I/IV
April 19, 2007
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Presenters/Panelists
Donald McLennan, Ph.D. - National Ecological
Integrity Monitoring Ecologist Stephen
Woodley, Ph.D. - Chief Scientist
Stephen Fancy, Ph.D. - National Monitoring
Program Leader Jeff Albright, M.S. - Program
Manager, Watershed Condition
Assessment Program
William Knight, Ph.D. - Director, Center for the
State of the Parks
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Assessing Natural Resource Conditions in Our
National Parks

• With emphasis on promoting accurate
  understandings, effective communication and
  responsive advocacy

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Background

• Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks
  Conservation Association has been the leading
  voice of the American people in protecting and
  enhancing our National Park System.

NPCA works collaboratively with our members and
partners, who understand that preserving our
national parks means preserving our nations
heritage.
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Center for State of the Parks

• NPCA initiated the State of the Parks program in
  2000 with the goal of developing the first
  complete and informed understanding of resource
  conditions in our national parks.

Olympic National Park, WA
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CSOTP Mission

• To provide an accurate, comprehensive
  understanding of resource conditions in Americas
  National Parks.
• In direct support of NPCAs Mission
• To protect and enhance Americas National Park
  System for present and future generations

Canyonlands National Park, UT
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Objectives

• To identify and understand park-specific and
  system-wide issues and threats that challenge
  both the immediate and long term integrity of
  park resources through initial assessments and
  re-assessments.
• To foster and promote awareness of national park
  resource conditions within NPCA and among policy
  makers, the public, and the National Park
  Service.
• To provide a credible and defensible basis upon
  which NPCA can organize constituencies and
  strategies to effectively address identified
  concerns and promote the National Park Service's
  capacity to contain or mitigate them.
• To help achieve positive, measurable change in
  the condition of resources in our national parks.
  

EVALUATE
INFORM
ACT
PROTECT
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Approach
Strategies
Abatement

• In brief, our assessment approach involves the
  evaluation of impacts (principally anthropogenic)
  on park ecosystem(s) as modified by remedial
  actions.

Sources
SYSTEMS
Stressors
Threat Analysis
Synthesis
State of the Parks Natural Resources Assessment
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Information
Our assessments rely on existing background
information, environmental and ecological data to
describe natural resource conditions in their
unique context.

• Park Unit and Resources Context
• Bio-geographic and Physical Setting
• Regional and Historical Context
• Unique Park Resources and Designations
• Park Science and Resource Management
• Assessment Criteria
• Ecosystems Measures
• Environmental Quality and Biotic Health Measures

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Criteria

• The assessment criteria address those ecosystem
  attributes, environmental metrics, and biotic
  stressors which are most indicative of biotic and
  ecosystem(s) integrity.

• Ecosystem Measures (ESM)
• Ecosystem Extent and Function
• Species Composition and Condition
• Environmental Biotic Measures (EBM)
• Water Resources
• Air Quality
• Soils and Sediments
• Biotic Health

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Ecosystem Measures (ESM)
Species Composition Condition
Terrestrial
Ecosystem Extent Function
Freshwater
Marine
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Environmental Biotic Measures (EBM)
Biotic Impacts and Stressors
Environmental Quality Factors
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Data Sources
NPCA- Center for the State of the Parks
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University Partnerships
CSOTP has developed strategic partnerships to
more efficiently and economically accomplish our
resource assessment work.

• Duke University
• University of North Carolina (Greensborough)
• University of Idaho
• Washington State University
• Southern Illinois University
• Oregon State University
• Utah State University
• Colorado State University

NPCA- Center for the State of the Parks
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Synthesis
The integration of myriad inventory/monitoring
qualified anecdotal information into
categorical holistic understandings of general
resource condition is accomplished through a
threats-based treatment.
Threats/Issues/Concerns-Based Ratings Approach
SOILS
ECOSYSTEM
EXTENT
WATERS
Overall Park NR Rating
FUNCTION
AIR
WORKSHEET
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BIOTA
SPECIES
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WORKSHEET
COMPOSITION
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CONDITION
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---------
Over 120 discrete worksheet elements are
evaluated and scored.
WORKSHEET
-----------------
-----------------
-----------------
-----
------------
-----------------
-----------------
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SPECIES
----------------
-----------------
INVENTORY
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Worksheets
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Ratings Guidelines
For a given ratings element, data indicate or
observation(s) are made, or persuasive
inferential evidence exists to the effect of
Level Benchmark 3--------No net loss,
degradation, negative change or alteration
2--------Limited, isolated, episodic, contained
or restored loss, degradation, negative change
or alteration 1--------Pronounced,
widespread, chronic, uncontained and/or key
species/critical process degradation, negative
change or alteration 0--------Complete and
irreparable loss, absolute degradation,
negative change or alteration  
In the event that insufficient information or no
data or persuasive evidence exist to make a
reasonable determination , the level should be
marked IND Insufficient or No Data. In the
event the ratings element is not a feature or is
not relevant to the site assessment, the level
should be marked NA Not Applicable
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Summary Ratings
For Olympic National Park (OLYM)
Rating is on a 0-100 scale and reflects resource
condition Basis is on a 0-100 scale and reflects
the information adequacy upon which the ratings
are formulated
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Roll-up and Reporting
Resource protection concerns and constraints of
34 NPS units (to date) elegantly articulated in
28 published reports.
Findings and reports are widely disseminated
within NPCA, to congressional representatives,
regional and local decision makers, the NPS and
the public via hand-drops, mailings, radio,
press and television.
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National Parks Resource Index
A collective measure of the state of resource
conditions in our National Parks
The NPRI
It is intended to reflect the resource health
of the National Park System as a whole and to
provide a means of tracking system-wide change
over time.
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Threats Analysis
Emissions and Climate Change Land and Water
Use Visitation, Funding and Management
Adjacent
The World at Large
National Park
Lands
Energy Use Development Population Demographic
Change Politics Policy
Internal External Direct Indirect
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Population Demographics
PDC Module
Multiple geographies, times and measures
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Thank You!