Article

SECN Highlights October 2022

man and woman holding a tall measuring stick
NGPN Aquatic Ecologist Anine Rosse and SECN Physical Scientist Stephen Cooper take a stream measurement at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

NPS photo / Eric Starkey

Helping Out in the Midwest Region

Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey and Physical Scientist Stephen Cooper recently provided wadeable stream channel monitoring field assistance at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Their involvement was a natural fit because the Southeast Coast Network's protocol for stream channel habitat monitoring has been adapted for implementation by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN). Helping in North Dakota allowed the SECN aquatic team to evaluate new technology (i.e., scanning Total Station) and hone skills related to the sometimes tricky identification of geomorphic features. The Southeast Coast Network hopes to invite NGPN Aquatic Ecologist Anine Rosse to join stream surveys planned at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park and Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in early summer of 2023. Cross-network collaboration allows the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Division (IMD) to leverage the expertise of staff across the country and provides on the ground educational opportunities for staff from both networks.

man in a river with tripod in the distance
SECN Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey takes detailed transect measurements at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota.

NPS photo / Stephen Cooper


FY23 Steering Committee Meeting in November will be Virtual

The Southeast Coast Network's FY2023 Steering Committee is November 16, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s meeting will again be virtual. The decision to go virtual was made after discussions with the SECN Board of Directors and with the safety of SECN and park staff in mind. Hopefully we will get back to gathering in person in the near future. The meeting's format will follow previous years with presentations from each SECN program lead highlighting our FY 23 workplan and accomplishments from FY22. You will have a chance to ask us questions and voice concerns about our program. You will also get a chance to review the workplan and annual report documents prior to the meeting. The Board meeting will follow soon after the Steering Committee meeting and more details will follow in the coming weeks.


frog
A Cuban treefrog is one of several species detected during monitoring in 2021 at Cumberland Island National Seashore. It is non-native and was not previously detected at the park.

Photo by Denise Gregoire, USGS

Finding a Frog

In September, the Southeast Coast Network augmented its regularly scheduled monitoring and deployed six automated recording devices (ARDs) on the south end of Cumberland Island National Seashore. The ARDs will help the network perform follow-up work on a Cuban treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) detection made in previous recordings. Cuban treefrogs are an invasive non-native species that can outcompete many of the native frogs and the finding marks the first documentation of this species on the island. The ARDs will record through the end of the year (Cuban treefrogs breed through October), and monitoring for this species will continue in the spring.


Recent Publications

The Southeast Coast Network recently published the following reports:

Man holding clipboard, man measuring a tree, man holding a device and a woman holding a clipboard
Vegetation monitoring at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. From left, Richard Smith, Appalachian Highlands Network Intern; Bill Moore, Cumberland Piedmont Network Ecologist; Tom Govus, private contractor; and Mallorie Davis, Cumberland Island National Seashore Intern (photo was not staged!).

NPS photo / M. Forbes Boyle

Last updated: August 27, 2025