Introduction- June 2004 Update

This document describes a conceptual plan for monitoring natural, human, and cultural resources in North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA). In 1993, the park complex was selected as a "prototype park" within the framework of the National Park Service (NPS) Long Term Ecological Monitoring (LTEM) program (see "Long Term Ecological Monitoring Prototype Proposal for Lakes and Rivers," on file at NOCA). A number of monitoring activities are ongoing in designated watersheds.Funding for an Inventory and Monitoring program that includes the North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA) arrived in 2001, although at a much reduced level than originally planned and anticipated. Additionally, although the role of NOCA as a “prototype” park continues, the placement of NOCA within a broader network of parks, called the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) has altered the approach and direction of the NOCA program.

The seven parks within the NCCN network (Mount Rainier NP, Olympic NP, North Cascades NP Complex, Fort Clatsop National Memorial, Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, and San Juan Island National Historical Park) are working together to develop a suite of “vital signs” that will be monitored to gauge the health of high priority resources and to track external ecosystem influences across the network. Examples of these vital signs across the network include tracking the health of lakes and streams, subalpine vegetation communities, intertidal communities, glaciers, and exotic plants, to name but a few. Broad influences on park resources, such as climate and air pollution, will also be included. Limited funding severely limits how many resources or issues can be monitored, but the vital signs concept of determining the most sensitive indicators capable of characterizing ecosystem health for an unpredictable future is being followed to set monitoring priorities.

The NCCN is directed to complete the network-wide planning requirements for its Vital Signs Monitoring Plan by late December, 2004. Extensive scientific peer-review of that plan will follow. Protocols – the explicit methods for how specific resources will be monitored – still need to be researched and developed for several of the proposed vital signs.