Publications

Monocacy National Battlefield Park (Poster)

December 2006

Monocacy National Battlefield is managed as a cultural resource commemorating the Civil War battle that took place along the Monocacy River south of Frederick, MD. The 1,647 acre park is dominated by active farms with some mixed hardwood forests and field/edge habitat. Like other battlefield parks, it has the challenge of combining the preservation of a historic landscape with natural resource management. Potential threats to the park's natural resources include the release of pollutants from agriculture, industrial plants located southwest of the park, and heavy traffic on Interstate 270, which bisects the park. Suburban sprawl makes the park an important preserve for wildlife, and the spread of exotic plants and an increase in deer population have already been documented.

National Capital Parks-East (Poster)

December 2006

National Capital Parks-East includes 14 major sites covering over 8,000 acres within Washington, DC and three nearby counties in MD. The parks lie entirely within the Coastal Plain physiographic region and are managed for a variety of natural, cultural, and recreational resources. Significant natural features of the parks include sand and gravel beaches, shoreline bluffs, flood plain and upland forest, shell marl ravine forest with its associated fossil outcrops, two large river systems, and numerous streams, seeps, and wetlands. Major threats include those associated with its urban setting: overabundant deer populations, exotic species invasion, and stormwater and boundary management issues.

Prince William Forest Park (Poster)

December 2006

Prince William Forest Park is the largest protected example of Piedmont forest in the National Park System. The ~15,000 acre park in northern VA also protects the Quantico Creek watershed, and is a sanctuary for numerous native plant and animal species. Because the park includes two physiographic provinces (Piedmont and Coastal Plain) and lies in the transition zone between northern and southern climates, it has a wide range of vegetative communities, including rare seepage swamp habitat and remote stands of old-growth eastern hemlock. Major threats to park resources include adjacent land development, noise pollution, and the introduction of invasive species and disease.

Rock Creek Park (Poster)

December 2006

Rock Creek Park is one of the largest forested urban parks in the United States, containing a wide variety of natural, historical, and recreational features in the midst of Washington, D.C. The majority of the 3,000 acre park surrounds the lower watershed of Rock Creek and its tributaries as the drainage drops from the Piedmont Plateau to the Coastal Plain. The mixed deciduous forests, streams, and sensitive floodplain communities of the park represent a largely isolated natural system surrounded by urban areas, which impact park resources through traffic, flooding and pollution of park streams, introductions of invasive species, recreational demand, dumping, collecting, creation of unauthorized trails, and boundary encroachments.

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (Poster)

December 2006

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is the only National Park dedicated to the performing arts. Performance structures on the 130 acre property include a 7,000-person main stage. The park includes protected stream, meadow, and forest patches in the urban Washington, DC landscape. Noise from the Dulles Toll Road threatens the primary function of the park as a performance venue and is a major management concern. Water quality degradation, exotic species introductions, deer overabundance, and the encroachment of development against park boundaries are also issues of concern.

A Conceptual Basis for Natural Resource Monitoring (Report)

Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park Service's (NPS) mission to maintain park resources "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Most parks are open systems vulnerable to threats such as air and water pollution and invasive species, which originate outside of the park's boundaries. 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. A nationwide Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program was launched to determine status and trends of indicators (or 'vital signs') that represent the condition of park ecosystems. Vital signs monitoring is meant to provide early warning of abnormal conditions and impairment of selected resources and data to better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems. The I&M program will ultimately help managers make better-informed decisions and work more effectively with stakeholders who benefit from proper park stewardship.

An Eye Opening Approach to Integrated Environmental Assessments (Poster)

February 2006

Environmental management is not practiced in a vacuum. Effective stewardship of natural resources requires the adoption of multiple objectives set forth by diverse groups of stakeholders with varied perspectives and interests. Within this management landscape, integrated environmental assessments provide a useful framework for evaluating resources and directing management efforts. We provide a case study using examples in mid-Atlantic region national parks in which visual elements (conceptual diagrams, maps, graphs, tables, and photographs) facilitate these activities and provide an eye opening approach to more effective environmental decision-making.

Challenges to water quality monitoring in small urban parks (Presentation)

September 2005 Chesapeake Bay Seminar Series, Annapolis, MD

This 38 slide presentation explores some of the challenges to monitoring water quality in small urban parks. It discusses using conceptual diagrams to communicate ecological themes and facilitate coordination. Also outlined is a watershed approach to monitoring.

Creating a framework for reporting ecological conditions: National Capital Region Network of the National Park Service (Newsletter)

August 2005

This newsletter is the product of the May 2005 Vital Signs workshop, with participants from each of the 11 National Parks within the NCRN. The National Park Service (NPS) is implementing a series of programs designed to provide a stronger scientific basis for management actions. The Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program was initiated in 1990 to help fulfill this mission. The intent of NPS monitoring is to track a subset of resources and processes, known as "Vital Signs," that represent overall ecological health, known or hypothesized stressors, and natural elements of important human value. The information obtained through Vital Signs monitoring will have applications for management decision-making, research, education and promoting public understanding of NPS natural resources.

An approach to assessing comparative ecological condition of National Capital Region parks (Presentation)

May 2005 NPS Vital Signs Workshop, Baltimore, MD

This 20 slide presentation explores some of the challenges and potential solutions for effective monitoring of vital signs in the 11 National Capital Region parks. It identifies the key features of each park and discusses the issues relating to Air and Climate, Geology and Soils, Water, Biological Integrity, Ecosystem Pattern and Processes.