# Presentation: 093563

## Slide 1

## Long-Term Goal: 

** ****Implement ecological monitoring in all units of the ****	****	****NPS**

***Short-Term Goals:***

-   **Complete baseline resource inventories**
**   ****Learn how to design and conduct monitoring programs**

**National Park Service**
-  **Inventory and Monitoring Program**

## Slide 3

## Prairie Cluster Prototype

- Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program

** ****Agate Fossil Beds**

** ****Scotts Bluff**

** ****Homestead**

** ****Tallgrass**

** ****Wilson’s Creek**

**  ****Effigy Mounds**

**  ****Pipestone**

## Slide 5

## Slide 6

## Slide 7

## Slide 8

## Slide 9

## Slide 10

## NPS LTEM Prototypes Programs:

**A Two-Phase Approach**

**1.   Design phase:****	****funding and research support for ****	****	****	****protocol development from ****	****	****	****	****USGS/BRD**
**2.  Operational phase:****	**** NPS develops staff and funding to ****	****	****	**** implement monitoring**
** ****    ****Gradual build-up of NPS base budget and staffing ****	****	****completed in 2001**
**     ****BRD/USGS developed monitoring protocols over the ****	****	****period 1995-2001 **
**     ****Prairie Cluster Program Review  occurred in November ****	****2001**

## Data Collection Periods 

**Data Collection Periods **

## Growth of Prairie Cluster LTEM Program: 

- <date/time>

**Growth of Prairie Cluster LTEM Program: **
**FY98 through FY01**

## Slide 14

## Slide 15

## Components 

**Prairie Cluster**
**Monitoring**
**Components**** **

## Prairie Cluster Monitoring Components

## Plant Community Monitoring 

**Plant Community Monitoring **

## Prairie Cluster LTEM Program:

**Prairie Cluster LTEM Program:**
**FY2001 Field Monitoring Effort **

## We view prairie plant

**We view prairie plant**
**communities as a core**
**indicator of ecosystem**
**integrity**

**Vegetation restoration and management also makes up a **
**large proportion of resource operations within the Prairie parks **

## Objectives of Plant Community Monitoring 

**1.  What is the current species composition, structure, and diversity of remnant and restored prairies?**
- Measure vascular plant species composition and foliar cover
-     in permanent plots
**2.  Is the structure, composition, and diversity of remnant and restored ****	****prairies changing?  If so, is this change directional, cyclic, or random?**
- Initially, monitor for several consecutive years to assess inter-    annual variability and obtain a multi-year baseline
- Monitor plant communities at regular intervals with 2    consecutive years of data collection for each interval
**3.  Are trends in species composition, structure, and diversity correlated with climatic variables or management activities, such as prescribed fire or grazing regimes?**
- Log management actions and acquire climatic data for correlation with monitoring results

## Plant Community Sampling Design

***(modified from Konza LTER Program,***
*** ******Kansas State University, Manhattan KS)***** **

## Circular 10 m2 Sampling Frame

## Total Number of Plant Community Sampling Sites 

**Total Number of Plant Community Sampling Sites **

## Baseline Plant Community Monitoring Schedule

**Baseline Plant Community Monitoring Schedule**

## Vegetation Structure

**overstory mapping/dbh, vertical structure, ground cover**** **
**Community Diversity**
**	****	****richness, Shannon diversity, evenness, ****	****relative frequency and cover of exotics **
**Community Composition**
**frequency, mean foliar cover, IV**
**Community Function **
**	****	****relative frequency and cover by guilds**
** **

**Summarizing Plant Community Data**

## Fragmentation of the Natural Landscape

**To what extent are small remnant and restored prairie ecosystems sustainable?**

**1941**

**1997**

## Grassland Birds as Indicators ofEcosystem Health 

- <date/time>

**Grassland Birds as Indicators of****Ecosystem Health **

## Monitoring Objectives

- <date/time>

**Monitoring Objectives**

**Collect annual data on breeding bird ****	****	****	****populations at AGFO and TAPR**
**Monitor temporal trends in breeding bird ****	****	****	****populations**
**Characterize habitat utilized by various ****	****	****	****bird species and monitor annual trends**
**Identify how resource management efforts ****	****	****influence breeding birds**

## Slide 30

## Slide 31

## Federally Threatened

**Federally Threatened**
**Black-tailed Prairie Dog,**
**Scotts Bluff NM, Nebraska**

## Two federally listed T&E plant species --

**Two federally listed T&E plant species**** --**
**fairly intensive annual censuses, demographic monitoring**

***Lesquerella filiformis ***
**(Missouri  bladderpod)**

***Platanthera praeclara ***
**(Western prairie fringed orchid) **

## 38 state listed rare plant species 

**38 state listed rare plant species **

**-- less intensive mapping and            monitoring  repeated periodically **
**    **

## Objectives of Rare Plant Monitoring Framework

**Prioritize among multiple species for monitoring**
**Create a systematic approach to monitoring diverse group of species that takes into account species **_**local distribution, life history and rarity**_

**Objectives of Rare Plant Monitoring Framework**

## Distribution Patterns Define an Appropriate Monitoring Strategy

**Species habitat:**

**Distribution within habitat:**

**Population location: **

**abundant**** or ****scarce**

**patchy**** or ****continuous**

**ephemeral**** or ****constant**

**Monitoring Strategy**

**1) Distribution mapping**

**2) Persistence monitoring**

**3) Abundance monitoring**

**Distribution Patterns Define an Appropriate Monitoring Strategy**

## Distribution of rare plant populations or their habitat

- Persistence of rare plant populations through time
- Size of rare plant populations
- Demographics of rare plant populations

**Levels of Monitoring Intensity in the Prairie Cluster Framework**

- low intensity

- high  intensity

**Notes:**
Emphasize that mapping is the lowest intensity monitoring element in each strategy.

## Monitor

- Prioritize species for monitoring

- Determine an appropriate monitoring intensity

- species’ priority

- additional cost of abundance monitoring

- relative cost of strategy

- threats

- information need

- rarity

- life history

- distribution

**The Process of Defining a Monitoring Plan**

## Good Data Collection Is Important

- (Consistency)

**Aquatic macroinvertebrates as indicators **
**of water quality**

## Importance of Data Management

**Notes:**
First is the overly ambitious principal objective.

## Prairie Cluster Staff Resources Directed Toward Data Management

**Notes:**
Relate to objective: roles and responsibilities

Responsibility for DM is shared:
Project managers generally responsible for handling and reporting, Data manager responsible for database design, archiving, dissemination

Brian has developed excellent access programming skills, and developed a network of programmers to provide assistance.  By working closely with the project managers, those skills are focused on the nuances of each dataset.  Result= well designed databases that customized to work with each dataset

DM is expensive:
Good data management has a price, nearly 1/3 of program budget.

## The Hypothetical Costs of Assuring Good Data Quality at Various Phases 

**Notes:**
Where is the emphasis

Relationships explains why at the program level, the emphasis of DM should be early in the process.

WASO is developing many tools to archive and disseminate data.  By focusing on these tools, WASO has directed their resources where the have the most utility.  Those tools are well designed, web accessible and quite useful to us.  However, that is not the end.

If you are in the process of archiving data and discover problems, the likelihood that you can resolve those problems is small, and the cost will be great.

At the program level, we feel it is most important to direct our resources towards developing processes and tools to insure data quality early in the process.  

Collectively, the two approaches make a complete system.   

## Data Types Collected and Managed by the Prairie Cluster

**Notes:**
Relate to objective: describe data

A long-term monitoring program collects or uses a variety of data.  We devised the following categories to help describe the data collected by the Prairie Cluster.  Further, data in different categories may be managed differently.

## Data Management Process and Products

**disseminate data**

***collect***

***field data***

***data acquired***

***from third parties***

***enter data into***

***Database management***

***system***

***verify and***

***validate data***

**summarize,**

**analyze and report**

**Create metadata,**

** **

**Catalog, dataset **

** **

**archive and**

**secure data**

***raw***

***data***

***working***

***data file***

***reliable***

***working***

***file***

***routine summary***

***reports***

***periodic trend***

***analysis***

***master***

***dataset***

***archived***

***copies of***

***field sheets***

***publicly***

***available***

***dataset***

***edit log***

**Notes:**
Relate to objective: develop processes and tools

The process is generally the same for all data acquired by the Prairie Cluster

Incremental products allow you to recover from corruption during the process.  

Emphasizes keeping a direct link between field data and the digital data.

## Federally Endangered

**Topeka Shiner **
**Tallgrass NP, **
**Kansas**