SECN Highlights October 2022

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. 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.

SECN Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey takes detailed transect measurements at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota.

NPS photo / Stephen Cooper

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.

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Recent Publications

The Southeast Coast Network recently published the following reports:

• Terrestrial Vegetation Monitoring at Cumberland National Seashore: 2020 Data Summary. Available at: DataStore - Published Report - (Code: 2294287) (nps.gov)

• Resource Brief for Terrestrial Vegetation Monitoring at Cumberland Island National Seashore: 2020 Data Summary. Available at: DataStore - Resource Brief - (Code: 2287439) (nps.gov)

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