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Southeast Coast Network News August 2023

People standing around listening to two men in orange shirts sitting on a boat
Katie Dagastino and Eric Starkey listen to instructors during a session of the Swift Water Incident Management Training Course held last month in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.

NPS photo

Swiftwater Rescue Training for Katie and Eric

Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey and Hydrologic Technician Katie Dagastino spent a week in July in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve participating in the second Swift Water Incident Management (S.W.I.M.) course. The course provides potential swift water rescue technicians with the fundamentals of survival in moving water and is recommended for anyone who may be called upon to enact in-water rescues. Some of the top NPS swift water rescue instructors came together to pass on their knowledge to students from around the country. Katie and Eric gained knowledge in hydrology, hazards, risk management, incident size-up, and scene management as well as practical skills such as self-rescue, swift water swimming, and the fundamentals of shore, boat, and in-water rescues. Additionally, they were introduced to the basics of paddle boat handling, basic rope rescue techniques, and mechanical advantage systems.

two photos of four people padding in a raft with helmets and lifejackets. Two photos of people with helmets and lifejackets jumping in water
Clockwise from top left, Katie helps navigate a rescue raft; Katie practices a swift water entry; Eric Starkey helps steer the boat; and Eric performs a swift water entry.

NPS photos

man in hat and glasses holding a bird
SECN Wildlife Intern Wayne Ryan holds a pileated woodpecker while conducting research in the mountains of Western North Carolina this summer.

NPS photo / Wayne Ryan

Wayne Tracks Birds in North Carolina

Wayne Ryan, SECN Wildlife CESU Intern, recently conducted field research involving bird banding, mist-netting, and point count surveys at the USDA Forest Service Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. With the use of mist-nets he was able to capture and take different measurements on birds. For the network, Wayne has been assisting with vocalization classifications, field season preparations, ARD deployments and retrievals and data entry. He is working on his masters this semester at UGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Part of his research will be to compare the various types of bird sampling methods including ARDs to see how well each method performs relative to each other.

Two people in sunglasses driving a boat
Katie, left, and Abby, right, navigate the waters during MOCC Training last month at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge HQ in Titusville, Florida.

NPS photos

Abby and Katie Get Boating Skills

Abby Gonzalez, SECN Coastal Technician, and SECN Hydrologic Technician Katie Dagastino, recently completed Motorboat Operator Certification Course (MOCC) Training at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters in Titusville, Florida. The training was conducted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and consisted of motorboat safety requirements in preparations, navigation, operations, emergency procedures, rescue, fire suppression, and seamanship. Abby and Katie learned how to make safe and informed decisions about their own safety and safety of the crew, familiarized themselves with watercraft safety equipment and gear, and demonstrated proper motorboat operations in the work environment.

FY2023 Monitoring Updates

The FY2023 fieldwork season continues for the Southeast Coast Network. In addition, data collected in FY2022 is being processed with reports and data packages getting prepared for publication.

Vegetation Communities

The second round of vegetation community monitoring at SECN parks continued with plots surveyed at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Fort Matanzas National Monument and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Monitoring at Fort Pulaski National Monument is scheduled for later this month.

Data collected in FY2022 at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Moores Creek National Battlefield and Canaveral National Seashore is being processed. Reports for data collected during FY2021 at Congaree National Park, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park are in review and should be published this year. The report for Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park was published last month. See the link below under Recent Publications.

Water Quality

Park-wide assessments were conducted at Fort Pulaski National Monument and Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve last month. Water-quality data were collected at Fort Pulaski National Monument, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Canaveral National Seashore, Fort Matanzas National Monument, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Congaree National Park in June at fixed sites. Monthly visits to parks will continue in 2023 with assistance from park staff and partners at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Data collected during last summer's park-wide water-quality assessments at Cumberland Island National Seashore and Fort Matanzas National Monument will be reported later this year. The updated protocol for estuarine water and sediment quality monitoring was published this spring. The revised version of the protocol brings the instructions in line with updated data handling and publication guidance as well as updates to instrumentation and software that have occurred since this protocol was published in 2013.

Wadeable Streams

Wadeable stream habitat monitoring surveys started at three parks in May. Standard transects at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park were completed, but equipment issues left the detailed transect surveys unfinished. Two sites at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park were completed but high water conditions at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park postponed survey work there. Work at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park and Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park will be completed in the coming weeks.

Processing continues for data collected from wadeable stream monitoring surveys conducted in FY2022 at Congaree National Park and a summary report from the previous year's data collection at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area will be published later this year.

Coastal Wetlands

Surface Elevation Table (SET) sites at all coastal parks including Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Canaveral National Seashore, Fort Matanzas National Monument, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Fort Frederica National Monument and Cumberland Island National Seashore received a first reading this spring. Second readings will be conducted this fall.

A revised monitoring protocol has been approved and publication of the narrative and associated SOPs expected later this year.

Shorelines

Fall (FY2023) shoreline surveys were completed at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Canaveral National Seashore, Fort Matanzas National Monument. Fort Pulaski National Monument, and Fort Frederica National Monument . These data have been processed and published in a geodatabase.

Data collected during spring surveys in FY2023 at Canaveral National Seashore, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Fort Matanzas National Monument, Cape Lookout National Seashore and Cape Hatteras National Seashore have been processed with reports coming soon.

Thanks to park staff at Cape Lookout National Seashore and Cape Hatteras National Seashore for their assistance with data collection.

Landbird and Anuran Communities

Automated recording devices (ARDs) for the FY2023 field season have finished collecting vocalizations at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Fort Matanzas National Monument and Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. Recordings began in March and continued through mid-June. The ARD retrievals are underway.

Data summaries and species distribution maps for FY2021 landbird monitoring data at Cape Lookout National Seashore, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park were published last month. Reports and maps for 2021 vocal anuran monitoring at those same parks were also published. Data summaries and species distribution maps for 2017 vocal anuran monitoring data at Canaveral National Seashore, Congaree National Park, Fort Frederica National Monument, Moores Creek National Battlefield and Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park were also published last month. Data packages for all of these reports were published as well. See Recent Publications below for links.

In addition to completing the scheduled monitoring for FY 2022, landbird and anuran vocalizations collected in FY 2015 and 2016 are being processed and data sets from these monitoring events will be published in the coming weeks with reports to follow later this year.

Data Management

Data packages for SECN Landbird monitoring (2017, 2020, and 2021) and Vocal Anuran monitoring (2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021) have been published on the datastore. These cumulative data packages contain extensive metadata, and are published in an open, machine readable format. The data packages meet all current open data and open science guidelines. New cumulative data packages for landbirds and anurans will be published as the data backlog continues through the quality assurance and quality control process.

Screenshot of IRMA hoempage

Recent Publications

The Southeast Coast Network recently published the following reports:

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Last updated: August 3, 2023