Stewardship &

Vital Signs Monitoring

Gary E. Davis, Science Advisor

Channel Islands National Park

Presentation Objectives

Describe the need for natural resource monitoring

Relate natural resource monitoring to National Park Service stewardship

Explain the Natural Resource Challenge monitoring network strategy

Natural Resources Stewardship

Program Functions & Structure

National Park Service Stewardship Mission

Conserve the parksProvide for their enjoymentLeave them unimpaired for the

enjoyment of future generations

Early National Park Managers

Relied on Beliefs

Fires were put out & predators killed to ‘save’ the parks

Stewardship Program Functions

KNOW & understand resource conditions

RESTORE impaired ecosystems PROTECT resources & ecosystems,

and mitigate threatsCONNECT people to parks

Stewardship Program Structure

RESEARCH SCIENCE-USGS, University

APPLIED SCIENCE-Resource Management

FIELD OPERATIONS-Rangers, Interpreters, & Maintenance

KNOW & UNDERSTANDResearch

Conduct InventoriesDesign Monitoring ProtocolsAnalyze Monitoring ResultsDetermine Causes of Abnormal

Resource Changes

KNOW & UNDERSTANDApplied Science

Monitor ResourcesModify & Refine Monitoring ProtocolsAnalyze Monitoring Results Identify Research Needed to Determine

Causes of Abnormal Resource Changes

KNOW & UNDERSTANDField Operations

Identify EmergenciesDisseminate InformationCoordinate Field ActionsManage Emergency Operations

NPS Stewardship ProgramStructure & Function

Research Science

Applied Science

Field Operations

KNOW Design Protocols

Monitor Resources

Observe Conditions

RESTORE Develop Techniques

Apply Techniques

Explain Needs

PROTECT Evaluate Efficacy

Mitigate Impacts

Enforce Laws

CONNECT Test Methods

Diagnose Issues

Describe Effects

Vital Signs Monitoring Cornerstone of Stewardship

Know resource conditions Understand how resources interactPredict ecosystem behaviorProject consequences of intervention or

lack of action

“You would be surprised at the number of years it took me to see clearly what some of the problems were which had to be solved…looking back, I think it was more difficult to see what the problems were than to solve them.”

Charles Darwin

Four-Step Vital Signs Monitoring Design Process

Set Goals – Why monitor?

Conceptual Model – What is it?

Protocol Development – How to do it (SOPs + Rationale)

Implementation Plan – Where, when, who?

Why MonitorNatural Resources?

THE ANSWER DETERMINES:What to measureWhen to measureWhere to measureHow to measureAccuracy and precision neededHow to report results

Factors Driving the Need to Monitor–Stressors

Habitat fragmentationUnsustainable uses Altered air, water, soilAlien species

Goals of MonitoringVital Signs

Identify status & trends in ecosystem health Define normal limits of variation Provide early warnings to reduce costs

and increase treatment success Suggest remedial treatments Frame research hypotheses Determine compliance with law/regulation

Conservation Is Health Care

For The Environment

and Ecosystems

William Harvey in 1628 showed that the heart was a pump and that its function was to pump blood to the body through a series of circles-the circulatory system

Ecology Is Still In The 17th Century Relative To Medicine

A Healthy Ecosystem

Has all its partsHas no extra partsResponds normally to perturbation Is resilient, resists alien invasions

The Land Ethic

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

Aldo Leopold, 1949 A Sand County Almanac

MonitoringEnvironmental Vital Signs

Reduces UncertaintyReduces Cost Increases Success Increases Effectiveness

Feral animals removed from Channel Islands National Park

Pigs & cattle- Santa Rosa

Burros-San MiguelRabbits-Santa Barbara

Sheep & horses-Santa Cruz

Cats-Anacapa

Coreopsis “Reclaimed” Islands After Rabbits & Pigs Removed

Monitoring Documented Recovery

Monitoring Alien Species

Guides feral animal removals– Estimate total cost (How Much!?)– Define end point (Are we there yet?)– Measure partial success (Atta Boy)

Provides early warnings of invasions– First invaders easy to eliminate– Time to mobilize support

DDT contaminated marine food webs…

Reduced brown pelican, bald eagle, & peregrine falcon reproduction

SEWAGE CRISIS at Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California!

City sewer pipe broke next to monument tide pools

11 billion gallons treated effluent spilledMonument tide pools closed to visitors

February-April 199263 days, $15 million repairDamage to NPS resources?

Monitoring showed surprising effects:

Respite from visitor trampling, with nutrients and sediment from effluent, benefited intertidal ecosystem

Monitoring Pollution & Effects

Early warnings help avoid extinctionMeasures mitigation success Identifies limits of concernHelps garner public & agency

support

Unsustainable Fishing Greatest Threat to Ocean Health

Traditional fisheries monitoring is like recording checks written

Vital signs monitoring measures account balance and deposits

Pink Abalone

White Abalone Haliotis sorenseni

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Serial Depletion

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After Abalones… Red Sea Urchins

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Monitoring Exploitation & Effects

Early warnings help avoid extinctionMeasures management efficacyReveals hidden impacts of serial

depletion Identifies risks from fragmentation

Monitoring Won’t Solve All Environmental Issues

Persistence Is Critical

Press OnNothing in the world can take the place of

PERSISTENCE Talent will not…

– Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent

Genius will not…– Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb

Education alone will not…– The world is full of educated derelicts

PERSISTENCE & DETERMINATION ARE OMNIPOTENT

Monitoring Will…

Facilitate persistence– with rewards for partial success

Encourage mitigation– By giving confidence & reducing

uncertainly

Provide critical early warnings Reduce cost of restoration

– By identifying problems when they are small

Biggest Impediments ToVital Signs Monitoring Denial that it’s necessary Denial that it’s cost effective It’s different and requires change in

established routines Requires sustained collaboration—

investigators, practitioners, agencies Sustained commitment—some would rather

fix things than identify more ‘problems’

“…there is nothing more difficult…than to initiate a new order of things.”

Niccolo Machiavelli

1525

“Denial is not just a river in Egypt”

Dire Straits

Bargain

National Park Service Policy

to assemble baseline inventory data describing the natural resources under its stewardship, and

to monitor those resources forever

National Park Service Policy

to detect or predict changes that may require intervention, and

to provide reference points to which comparisons with other more altered parts of the home of mankind may be made

The Natural Resource ChallengeProgram Strategies for 20% IncreaseBuild ConfidenceGive Every Park SomethingIntegrate With Other Park Operations

Build Confidence

Analyze experience—Science & Ecosystem Management in the National Parks

Lay a foundation—synthesize and complete resource inventories

Demonstrate efficacy—10 prototype programs in a variety of parks (large, small/ desert, mountain, coral reef/ single, network)

Give Every Park Something

32 Networks of parks with shared features

Establish shared, quasi-independent, monitoring program with CEO & Board of Directors

Provide technical critical mass (~25% of network needs) initially to foster cooperation and collaboration

Integrate with Park Operations

Embed Vital Signs Monitoring in larger stewardship program—Natural Resource Challenge

Integrate with Learning Centers, Ecological Restoration Teams, CESUs, etc.

Begin with resource inventories Phase in budget increase of $100 M over 5

years