The national network of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) was created to provide research, technical assistance, and education to federal land management, environmental, and research agencies and their partners. Since 1999, the CESU Network has established seventeen CESU's by biogeographic region. The Chesapeake Watershed CESU (CW-CESU) is a regional unit that fosters stewardship of the watershed through collaborative research, technical assistance, and education that support integrated ecosystem management. As a federal participant in the CW-CESU, the National Park Service (NPS) supports projects related to the cultural and natural resources within the parks of the National Capital Region (NCR). Due to the urbanized landscape of the NCR, the CESU program at the Center for Urban Ecology (CUE) collaborates with other CUE programs (Inventory and Monitoring (I&M), Urban Ecology Research Learning Alliance (UERLA), and Water Resources) to identify and support the needs of park managers.