A.T. MEGA- Transect

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A.T. MEGA- Transect
Laura Belleville Appalachian Trail
Conservancy Elizabeth Crisfield Penn State
University Fred Dieffenbach National Park
Service Matt Stevens Appalachian Trail
Conservancy
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A.T. MEGA- Transect An Introduction

• Monitor Collect and synthesize existing (and
  new) data on key indicators of environmental
  health from agencies, organizations, researchers,
  and citizen scientists
• Understand Transform data into knowledge about
  the status and trend of ecological health through
  analysis, synthesis, and modeling
• Communicate Engage, educate, and involve
  decision makers, stakeholder organizations,
  researchers, agencies and citizens

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Collaboration

• ATC and NPS land management
• Data management
• Analysis and Synthesis
• Coordinate Conservation actions
• Academic researchers
• Monitoring protocols
• Case studies along the trail
• Help plan conservation actions
• Volunteers
• Full scale monitoring
• Help implement conservation actions

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Citizen Science
From the days of Benton MacKaye, Myron Avery and
the thousands of trail builders, to the current
network of trail clubs, volunteers have played a
key role in creating the Appalachian Trail and
collectively contribute nearly 200,000 hours of
labor annually. 75 years later, the A.T.
MEGA-Transect initiative invites citizen
scientists to explore the environmental health
of the Appalachian Trail.
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Ongoing Activities

• Acid Deposition
• American Chestnut
• Brook Trout
• Elevational Landscapes
• Forest Health
• Invasive Species
• Mountain Birds
• NASA Decision Support System
• Phenology
• Rare Plant Monitoring
• Vegetation Mapping
• Visitor Use
• Volunteer Database
• Water Quality
• Wildlife Surveys

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Show and Tell

• Brief project snapshots
• Many topics
• Minimal detail
• Questions at the end

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Acid Deposition

• USGS Proposal
• Investigating soil ANC recovery process
• 3-4 year start to finish
• Combines
• Intensive soil sampling
• Forest vegetation
• Water
• Possible citizen science component

USEPA
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American Chestnut

• Two types of data were collected
• Total number of American chestnut trees three
  feet in height or taller within fifteen feet on
  either side of the trail, per defined trail
  segment, and 
• Location and description of large individual
  trees eight inches or greater in circumference at
  4.5 feet above ground, per defined trail segment.

Flowering tree data assists in increasing the
genetic diversity of a backcross breeding
program, which aims to produce an American
chestnut with the blight-resistant
characteristics of an Asian chestnut. Density
and location data will be used to determine the
environmental variables that affect the growth
and survival of chestnut trees, which will help
inform future reintroduction of blight-resistant
American Chestnut trees in the Appalachian
region.
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
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Brook Trout

• National Climate Change and Wildlife Science
  Center (NCCWSC) funding sought
• Collaboration between USGS and Eastern Brook
  Trout Joint Venture
• Modeling for change in habitat suitability

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Topography and Ecological Vulnerability

• Migration in response to climate change is
  northward and upslope
• Some topographies along the trail facilitate
  migration, others inhibit it.

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Forest Health

• Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) is a national
  program designed to determine the status,
  changes, and trends in indicators of forest
  condition on an annual basis.
• Collect, analyze, and report information on the
  status and trends of Americas forests
• How much forest exists
• Where it exists
• Who owns it
• How it is changing
• How the trees and other forest vegetation are
  growing and how much has died or has been removed
  in recent years.
• - Forest Service, 2005

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Invasive Species

• Monitoring along the Appalachian Trail serves
  several objectives
• Help track the spread of problematic species.
• Implement management action on Appalachian Trail
  lands to limit the spread of invasives and
  protect rare, threatened and endangered species
  as well as other critical habitats such as high
  elevation communities.
• Raise public awareness and support to address
  the issue.

G.A. Cooper _at_ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
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Mountain Birds

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies
• Apply the Mountain Birdwatch methodology
• Complete field manual needed to build and
  maintain volunteer network
• Construct GIS layers that identify survey
  locations
• Develop database, including online entry system
  for volunteer observers, that is NPS- and
  AKN-compliant
• Conduct avian field surveys at approximately 40
  routes.

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NASA Decision Support System

• Received funding May 2009
• Integrates satellite imagery with ecological
  models, GIS data and on-the-ground projects to
  assist resource managers
• Four year time frame.

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Phenology

• Biologically timed events
• Frog calling
• Bud Break
• Fall foliage
• Ice out
• Bird migration
• Insect hatch
• Fire

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Phenology

• Collaboration between
• ATC
• AMC
• NPS
• National Phenology Network (NPN)
• Develop a citizen science based data collection
  network

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Rare Plant Monitoring

• Longest running A.T. environmental monitoring
  program
• Citizen driven
• 1759 occurrences
• 531 species
• 22 monitored

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Rare Plant Monitoring Program Review New
Protocol

• 96 recommendations (7 categories)
• Program (2)
• Monitoring priorities (12)
• Coordination with relevant organizations (14)
• Data collection, reporting, management sharing
  (36)
• Management priorities (8)
• Volunteer management (20)
• Implementation (4)
• ATPO / NETN debated and prioritized
  recommendations
• 20 to be implemented ASAP, others over time

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Visitor Use

• Identify and assess vital sign indicators of
  visitor impacts to vegetation and soils
  associated with A.T. hiking and camping
• Field staff will integrate highly trained college
  students with A.T. trail club citizen scientist
  volunteers.

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Vegetation Mapping

• Aerial photography beginning
• 2009
• Mapping and field work
• 2010
• Finished product
• 2017

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Volunteer Database
The ATC volunteer clearinghouse database is an
online searchable database of all volunteer
opportunities related to the Appalachian Trail.
The database has two primary purposes
Recruitment volunteer program management.
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Water Quality

• Baseline documentation on a great diversity of
  water resources along the Appalachian Trail.
• Geographic and climatic diversity adds to the
  challenge.
• Need consistent protocols, data quality and
  volunteer training.
• Tiered approach provides greatest value.

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Wildlife Survey

• VA, WV, MD
• ATC partnered with the Smithsonian Institute to
  develop and carry out a wildlife survey on the
  Trail using motion-sensitive infra-red cameras.
• Form a more complete inventory of the large
  mammals
• Associate species presence with habitat size and
  condition

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Questions / Discussion