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