Natural Resource Condition Assessments NRCA

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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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• Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCA)
• Status Report
• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
• Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
• Nez Perce National Historical Park
• Whitman Mission National Historical Site
• October 15, 2008
• Jack Bell, NMI Project Manager

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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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• Purpose of the NRCA
• In 2003, Congress directed the NPS to assess the
  environmental conditions in park units and
  identify threats to their natural resources.
• Describe the regional context of the Park
• Evaluate overall condition of key natural
  resources in targeted areas
• Document critical data and knowledge gaps
• Identify existing/emerging threats and stressors
  to natural resources

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• Proposed Uses for the NRCA
• Near-term Strategic Planning
• General Management Plan and Resource Stewardship
  Strategy Development
• Reporting for the DOI Land Health Goals
• Communication with Partners and Stakeholders

Jeff Albright, 2008 They (Parks) will also gain
improved knowledge, or at least better
documentation, regarding current condition
status, critical data gaps, and existing/emerging
threats and stressors relative to a strategic
subset of important park natural resources. Each
assessment will also strive to develop
interdisciplinary summaries or rankings of
overall resource condition status by park areas
(e.g., by watersheds, ecosystem/habitat types,
and/or park management zones). Spatially based
evaluation and report out is emphasized to
maximize usefulness of the products for park
planning, decision making, and to help parks
report to performance goals like the Department
of Interiors Strategic Plan land health goals.
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• Park and Resources Context
• Task 1. Establish study areas for each of the 4
  parks.
• Identify 5th and 6th Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC)
  watersheds for each site (10,000-20,000 acres).
• Identify smaller watersheds determined to be
  important to individual park management.
• Delineate buffers that include areas of potential
  impact to the park.

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• What is a HUC?
• Hydrologic Unit Code
• First developed by USGS to identify all surface
  water drainages in the United States
• Developed a hierarchical numbering system using 2
  digits for each level (number in US)
• 17 Region (21), Pacific Northwest
• 1706 Subregion (221), Lower Snake River
• 170602 Basin (378), Salmon River Basin
• 17020209 Subbasin (2264), Lower Salmon Subbasin
• 1706020906 Watershed, Whitebird Creek Watershed
• 170602090603 Subwatershed, Lower Whitebird Creek

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• Current Condition Status
• Phase 1 - Current Park-wide Condition Status
  Assessment
• Task 1. Collect all existing reports, databases,
  and GIS layers available for each park
• available from the public domain.
• Task 2. Organize all information into the
  following categories for analysis using
• GIS and other database management
  tools.

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Task 2 (list of possible GIS data types)

• Geologic and Geomorphologic resources soils,
  geologic structure, faults, mass wasting
• Air Resources air sheds, air quality studies
  Water Resources streams, lakes, ponds, riparian
  maps, 303d listed streams, flow, water quality
  studies
• Fish, Wildlife, Amphibians and Reptile Resources
  big game, threatened and endangered species,
  species of special concern
• Land Uses historic and current
• Land Process flood zones, past floods, fire,
  insect and diseases
• Plant Resources vegetation maps, threatened and
  endangered species, species of special concern,
  noxious weed infestations
• Stressors/threats land development, climate,
  noxious weeds, fire, air and water quality, human
  access

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ArcMap Project File for LARO
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ArcMap Project File for JODA Sheep Rock Unit
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Example of a map produced by ArcMap
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Access Database for downloadable GIS data on the
Internet
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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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• Current Condition Status
• Phase 2 Focused Site-specific Condition
  Assessment
• Upland Resources
•  
• Task 1. Establish field schedule for conducting
  site-specific resource condition
• assessments following the BLM PFC methodology ,
  Pellant et al. 2005 Interpreting Indicators of
  Rangeland Health
•  
• Task 2. Conduct site-specific resource condition
  assessments at each park
•  
• JODA Juniper-sagebrush steppe burned and
  disturbed areas
• LARO 6 Grazing Allotments and Fort Spokane
• NEPE Old Chief Joseph Gravesite, Buffalo Eddy,
  Weippe Prairie, and White Bird Battlefield
• WHMI Rangelands

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• Example of the evaluation sheet used in the
  upland rapid assessment of an ecological site
  (Pellant et.al., 2005)
• 17 Indicators used to evaluate 3 major natural
  resource functions
• Soil/Site Stability
• Hydrologic Function
• Biotic Integrity
• Each indicator is rate in the degree of departure
  from a reference (climax) condition using an
  evaluation matrix, which have been developed by
  the NRCS for each ecological site

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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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Example of the NRCA upland plots at JODA
Painted Hills Unit with the underlying ecological
sites based on the NRCS soil maps.
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• Current Condition Status
• Phase 2 Focused Site-specific Condition
  Assessment
• Aquatic Resources
•  
• Task 1. Establish field schedule for conducting
  site-specific resource condition
• assessments following the EPAs Rapid
  Bioassessment Protocol (RBP), BLMs Proper
  Functioning Condition (PFC) Assessment Strategy
  for Lotic Habitats, or BLMs Proper Functioning
  Condition (PFC) Assessment Strategy for Lentic
  Habitats.
•  Task 2. Conduct site-specific resource condition
  assessments at each park
•  
• JODA Bridge Creek riparian zone, Rock Creek,
  John Day River
• LARO Spokane River riparian zones, Columbia
  River, Kittle River, special use zones, Moccasin
  Bay, Laughbon Bay and beach clean-up sites
• NEPE Spalding, Jim Ford Creek
• WHMI Mill Creek, Doan Creek

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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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• Example of the evaluation sheet used in the BLMs
  Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) Assessment
  Strategy for Lentic Habitats used to evaluate 3
  major resource functions
• Hydrology
• Vegetation
• Erosion/Deposition
• Each indicator is rated by the presence/absence
  of different items. This is then used to
  determine the condition
• Properly Functioning
• Functional At Risk
• Nonfunctional
• Unknown

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Example of the NRCA aquatic sample sites at LARO.

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Potential Threats/Stressors

• Natural Disturbances
• Fire
• Diseases
• Flooding
• Earthquake/volcanoes
• Global warming
• Anthropogenic Disturbances
• Invasive species
• Plants
• Animals
• Insects/invertebrates
• Pollution
• Air quality
• Water quality
• Heavy metals

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Potential Threats/Stressors (continued)

• Anthropogenic Disturbances (continued)
• Development on adjacent lands
• Roads
• Home sites
• Recreation sites
• Commercial sites
• Land use changes
• Agricultural activities
• Livestock grazing activities
• Timber management activities
• Human use
• Hunting/fishing
• Artifact collection
• Air traffic

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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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Stressors identified in the UCBN Monitoring Plan,
2007.

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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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Timeline for NRCA - North Projects
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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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Example of Key Resources Status Report JODA
Painted Hills Unit
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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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Science Information Pyramid (From Marsha Davis,
NCCN)
Policy makers, Non-Scientists
Effective Communication
Resource Briefs Condition Summary
Tables Models, Synthesis Reports, Assessment
Reports, Integrated GIS Analysis Technical
Reports, Inventory Reports, Maps, Trend
Analyses, Data Summaries Databases, GIS
Products, Spreadsheets, Metadata, Catalogs, NPS
Data Store
PUBLIC ENVIRONMENT
Use Assessment by experts to translate scientific
findings for policy and decision-making
SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT
Scientists, Field-level Practitioners
Sound Science
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National Park Service - Upper Columbia Basin
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Thank you for your time Questions?

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