WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:18.220 The value of long term monitoring is so that we can know what's happening to the plants 00:00:18.220 --> 00:00:22.980 and animals in their habitats in the time that we can do something about it. There are hundreds 00:00:23.009 --> 00:00:28.089 of National Parks across the United States and these parks are not the same, so 00:00:28.089 --> 00:00:32.970 what the Inventory and Monitoring networks have done is divide the country into similar 00:00:32.970 --> 00:00:39.980 type ecosystems, eco-regions. And each network is charged with monitoring the parks within 00:00:39.980 --> 00:00:44.940 a particular set of ecosystems. The monitoring that we do has to be something that can be 00:00:44.940 --> 00:00:50.000 objectively quantified and then repeated several years later, and then repeated the same way. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.820 You can walk out and say "Well, it kinda looks different to me" but that doesn't count. 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:55.760 You have to have something that you can measure. 00:00:55.760 --> 00:01:03.580 The Inventory and Monitoring networks have identified vital signs that are used to take the pulse of the parks. 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:09.640 Why is water quality monitoring important to us here at Timucuan Preserve? 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:16.580 The estuary is exposed to a number of different influences. We are in a urban area, we have commercial 00:01:16.580 --> 00:01:23.300 port operations going through the park. There is commercial fishing, as well as recreational fishing, 00:01:23.300 --> 00:01:31.060 boating, kayaking, water-skiing, jet-skyiing. I think the unique thing about the preserve is that 00:01:31.070 --> 00:01:37.750 there's so much of it that is still undeveloped. That there is pristine, open view-sheds, so 00:01:37.750 --> 00:01:43.940 water quality is critically important to protect the salt-marsh ecosystem. The Park Service 00:01:43.940 --> 00:01:50.740 values this kind of information. It shows that the Park Service understands the true meaning of preservation. 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:59.020 Each year we count lemhi penstemon, a rare blue flowering plant that not many people know about. 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:02.960 We are down in our hands and knees, really crawling around, 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:08.020 looking for those seedlings, which are very hard to find, and the large showy flowering 00:02:08.030 --> 00:02:15.050 adult plants. There is one very unique wasp that actually specializes in pollinating these flowers. 00:02:15.700 --> 00:02:20.980 It's known as the pollen wasp. Unlike common wasps, which typically hunt other insects, 00:02:20.989 --> 00:02:25.879 these wasps behave more like bees. The visitation of the flowers by this wasp is essential 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:31.859 really for the long-term persistence of the plant because it is such a well-adapted pollinator. 00:02:32.220 --> 00:02:36.580 One never knows what all the connections are, what it would cost if this species were lost, 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:40.540 if this habitat-type were lost. These things might not still be here if it weren't for 00:02:40.540 --> 00:02:42.760 the protection of the National Park Service. 00:02:44.380 --> 00:02:48.340 The findings of the Inventory and Monitoring Program are reported directly to park management. 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:54.820 As a manager of the park, you can't manage the resources without having scientific data, 00:02:54.820 --> 00:03:01.500 so the scientific data associated with the monitoring program gives us the ability to understand the natural environment. 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:08.939 This river system, not just the river itself, and the aquatic creatures, the fish and the freshwater 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:14.430 mussels that live in it, but everything adjacent to it, even the forest that come down to the 00:03:14.430 --> 00:03:19.480 edge of the river, all of it is connected. If no one is watching, if they show up and 00:03:19.480 --> 00:03:23.269 they find "Wait a minute, the river is, the river's a wreck, everything that was alive, 00:03:23.269 --> 00:03:27.269 and it is gone now. What happened?" Then, it is too late, it is too late to do anything. 00:03:27.269 --> 00:03:32.529 But if someone is out here monitoring and watching, then the Park Service has a chance to take action. 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:40.879 Flowing through these cave systems are rivers and streams in which we 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:45.779 can find a unique creature, the Kentucky cave shrimp, which is a federally listed endangered 00:03:45.779 --> 00:03:52.150 species, but it is not easy to find at all. The cave rivers are big and dark and the cave 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:57.659 shrimp are small and transparent. The idea behind long-term monitoring is that Resource 00:03:57.659 --> 00:04:03.519 Managers, in any one park, can make better management decisions with good scientific data. 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:10.379 The beauty of this project is that is designed to detect change over a very long 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:15.319 period of time. It might not be something that is detectable in one year, two years, 00:04:15.320 --> 00:04:20.940 three years, even ten years. To zoom out and to see this thing in the bigger picture, it is something 00:04:20.949 --> 00:04:26.990 that I'm proud to be part of. The vision of the Park Service includes this kind of understanding, 00:04:26.990 --> 00:04:28.510 and the value for the science.