Stewardship & Vital Signs Monitoring Gary E. Davis, Science Advisor Channel Islands National Park.
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Transcript of Stewardship & Vital Signs Monitoring Gary E. Davis, Science Advisor Channel Islands National Park.
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
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
65 75 85 95YEAR
LA
ND
ING
S (
ME
TR
IC T
ON
S)
1
10
100
1000
10000
AB
AL
ON
E P
ER
HE
CT
AR
E
Catch Rate & Abundance
1
10
100
1000
1
10
100
1000
10000
1982 19971985 1988 1991 1994
log
Kg/
Div
er
log
aba l
one/
ha
Commercial LandingsCalifornia Abalone Fisheries
0
1
2
3
Met
ric T
ons
X 1
000
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Serial Depletion
0
5
10
15
20
Met
ric T
ons
Aba
lone
X
100
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
After Abalones… Red Sea Urchins
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 20000.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
199 9
Dol
lars
(M
illi
ons)
YEAR
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