SECN Highlights March 2016

Newsworthy Stuff

Data Management

Southeast Coast Network’s new Sharepoint site has gone live! Network staff will be acclimating to its use over the next month, including populating it with useful materials and executing further refinements. Park points-of-contact and superintendents can access the site.

Coastal

• Jason Gardner provided boat assistance for the contractors performing vegetation ground control field work at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve marsh areas.
• During the salt marsh maintenance field work, SECN coastal staff had the opportunity to meet with Steve Theus (Fort Frederica National Monument) and Candice Wyatt (Fort Pulaski National Monument). Introductions and briefings of the coastal projects were performed in addition to discussions of upcoming Centennial Bioblitz at Fort Pulaski.

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This cap protects the receiver at a rod surface elevation (RSET) table at Fort Frederica National Monument.

NPS photo

What does THAT do?

This month’s “what does that do?” comes from Lisa in coastal monitoring. This cap protects the receiver at a rod surface elevation (RSET) table at Fort Frederica National Monument. The RSET is part of the salt marsh elevation protocol, which monitors the impact of sea level rise on salt marsh habitats.

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Field Work

Field Work Completed in February

• Maintenance was completed at the Cumberland Island National Seashore and Fort Pulaski National Mounument salt marsh sites using new materials consisting of molded fiberglass planks and teeth made of PVC and wood.
• Maintenance was started at the Fort Frederica National Monument salt marsh site, and will be completed later in the summer.
• The RSET receiver angles were collected at Cumberland Island NS and Fort Frederica NM to assist in the fabrication of an adapter to attach to the rod surface elevation table (RSET) receivers to make them straight.

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Citizen science at it’s finest: A brown pelican, visiting Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, helps Brian Gregory with a vegetation mapping accuracy assessment. Way to get involved!

NPS photo

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Communications

Lots happening in the communications department, starting with this newsletter! These will be sent out every month around the first of the month. If you have any comments or suggestions, let Brian or Wendy know!

Printed Reports

• Timucuan Ecologoical and Historic Preserve represented the Southeast Coast Network at the regional and national level in February, with our new I&M Program brief, and a video on our I&M website. If you’d like your park showcased, send videos or pictures to the communications department at [e-mail].

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Brian Gregory, SECN Program Manager

From the Program Manager

I hope this first SECN news letter finds you warm and cozy as winter heads out the door. Spring is approaching in Athens, as trees are starting to bloom and peepers are singing at night along the river. February marked the official end of the Southeast Coast Network’s year of transition. One year ago, our former program manager moved on to a leadership role in Fort Collins, and I took the helm, as acting, and then permanent, program manager. This past year has been a year of change—for me as well as those on my staff—as we adjusted to changes within, and dealt with new directives from the National I&M office.
During 2015, I had the opportunity to visit each of your parks. Some of my trips were to keep the water program moving forward, and other times I assisted in collecting vital information about vegetation, water quality and changes along the coast and in saltmarshes. I have meet with and discussed management issues with many of you as we planned new monitoring efforts for inland rivers and streams. We also discussed how I&M data might help inform your park as to how your natural resources are changing. Back in the office, I worked with SER staff on projects designed to provide better access to data about your park, as well as to update and increase the accuracy of the vegetation studies within your park. More recently, I have been assisting regional and WASO staff with the new Resource Stewardship Strategy (RSS) process at Ocmulgee. More recently, I was able to meet with most of you at the annual SECN Steering Committee and Board meeting in Athens, where we discussed our path to move forward. With help from my staff, Steering Committee’s feedback, and the Boards approval, my first I&M network workplan was approved and is now being implemented.
This SECN monthly newsletter is part of our plan to improve our communication strategy and keep you and your staff better informed about what’s going on in I&M, and what we are doing to serve your parks. The newsletter will feature fieldwork updates, links to recently published reports, some humor, an occasional interesting story or article, as well as short biographic sketches of folks on our staff—some of the interns, students and seasonal workers we will highlight are people that you may never get to meet, but are working hard to serve the needs of your parks. Our new Sharepoint site (http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/nrss/div/imd/networks/secn/Pages/Home.aspx), recently redesigned by Paula, will continue to be the best place for you to find detailed specifics such as who is doing what, where and when. The newsletter will give you a quick look at the past month’s activities and work that is happening in the next 4 to 6 weeks. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions and we’ll be seeing you at your park soon.

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For More About the SECN: https://www.nps.gov/im/secn/index.htm