Southeast Coast Network News May 2016

Newsworthy Stuff

• Lisa attended a sea level rise pilot project recon meeting at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, working with Lynda Bell (WRD, OCRB, SLR Specialist) and Shauna Allen (TIMU, Chief of Resource Stewardship and Partnerships).
• Jake will be be collaborating with Nicole Rankin (Fish and Wildlife Service) at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge to resurvey one of their RSET sites to determine how reproducible the coordinate and elevation data is using a new standard operating procedure (SOP.) The new SOP will provide instructions for the use of survey-grade GPS equipment to determine the absolute location (latitude, longitude, and elevation) of salt marsh relative surface elevation tables. The results of this partnership will ultimately lead to more accurate methods for SECN salt marsh monitoring.
• Brian visited Congaree National Park this month and met with Liz Struhar and Tracy Stakely to discuss the recommissioning of the water-quality monitoring site on Cedar Creek.

A green sea turtle at Cape Lookout National Seashore.

NPS photo / Emily Milbauer

The network's Briana Smrekar fills out a worksheet for variable point counts for bird populations.

NPS photo

What does THAT do?

In this picture, the network’s wildlife biologist, Briana Smrekar, is filling out a worksheet for variable point counts for bird populations This information verifies that our primary monitoring technique­—the use of automated recording devices—effectively detects all the species present. The first two years of data suggest that ARDs detect more species than point counts. This is the last year point counts will be collected.

Field Work

Completed in April

• Automated recording devices were deployed at Cape Lookout National Seashore. The ARDs collect recordings for landbird and vocal anuran monitoring protocols.
• Variable point counts were conducted at Cumberland Island Island National Seashore, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Fort Sumter National Monument, and Cape Lookout National Seashore.
• The coastal team collected salt marsh data at Canaveral National Seashore and Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.
• Lisa and Jason conducted shoreline surveys at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Bodie, North Hatteras, South Hatteras, and Ocracoke).

Upcoming In May

• Sarah and Emily will be conducting vegetation monitoring at Cumberland Island National Seashore in early May and Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in late May–early June.
• Pete will be collecting water-quality data in Georgia and Florida parks May 2–5.
• For more detailed information on I&M field schedules, see the field operations calendar on our SharePoint site (steering committee and superintendents only).

Citizen Science: A juvenile box turtle supervises point-count bird surveys at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.

NPS photo / Emily Milbauer

Communications

• The following reports have been completed.
• Kurimo-Beechuk, E. A., and M.W. Byrne. 2016. Landbird community monitoring at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area: 2011 data summary.
• Kurimo-Beechuk, E. A., and M.W. Byrne. 2016. Landbird community monitoring at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park: 2011 data summary.
• Kurimo-Beechuk, E. A., and M.W. Byrne. 2016. Landbird community monitoring at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park: 2011 data summary.
• Kurimo-Beechuk, E. A., and M.W. Byrne. 2016. Landbird community monitoring at Ocmulgee National Monument: 2011 data summary.
• Heath, S. C., and M. W. Byrne. 2016. Vegetation community monitoring at Congaree National Park: 2014 data summary.
• In May, we’ll be working on 2014 landbird community monitoring reports, as well as 2014 vegetation monitoring reports. We’ll also be moving Natural Resource Condition Assessment reports forward for both Cape Lookout National Seashore and Congaree National Park.
• On May 4th, Wendy will be attending training for “Audience Engagement Through Park-Produced Media” to enrich her education and outreach skills. The training is presented by the Interpretive Development Program at Harper’s Ferry Center.

Brian Gregory, SECN Program Manager

From the Program Manager

Although it is still spring, the heat is definitely on in Athens, and we have a couple of big pushes for the summer. This month, in addition to the ongoing monitoring work mentioned in this issue, I wanted to call attention to a couple of bigger efforts that fall outside of the normal routine work that we report. First, we will be on-boarding a new employee next month. Eric Starkey will take over as aquatic ecologist in June. After a few of weeks of mandatory SECN/SER indoctrination, Eric will assist with the implementation of two new protocols which are designed to assess river and stream habitat conditions in SECN parks. Second, after a period of down-time, we will be restarting two continuous water-quality monitoring sites—­one in CONG and the other in CAHA. These sites had were originally decommissioned due to storm damage, and later fell victim to personnel changes that inhibited the continuation of the work—mostly my fault for the delay —but these two sites should be back up and collecting data within the month. On the office-y side of things, we are continuing to work on the Natural Resource Condition Assessment draft documents, and are formulating a plan based on feedback I received from the involved parks. You’ll be hearing back from me on this effort soon. As always keep in touch with me and my staff and we will see you in your park soon.

A ring-necked snake at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

NPS photo / Emily Milbauer

For More Information

https://www.nps.gov/im/secn/index.htm