Landscape Ecology

Many National Parks in the National Capital Region are adjacent to high levels of development, as illustrated here at the boundary of Prince William Forest Park in Virginia.

NPS/Paradis

Overview

The landscape ecologist studies spatial variation of landscapes, at a variety of scales. She assists parks by facilitating large-scale natural resource projects that affect multiple parks on issues including landscape connectivity, changes in species ranges, watersheds, and interpreting the impacts of environmental change and vulnerability of natural resources.

Contact

Contact 202-339-8300 for more information. If you need assistance from Resource Stewardship and Science (RESS), you may submit a Solution for Technical Assistance Requests (STAR) request online (NPS Only).

Projects

• National Capital Region Landscape Conservation Connections. A project aimed at identifying shared conservation priorities amongst national parks in the National Capital Region and the agencies, non-governmental organizations, and municipalities who manage park-adjacent land in ecologically significant corridors. By bringing together NCR parks and their stakeholders, we hope the project will catalyze improvements in wildlife and habitats through landscape conservation actions, protecting those places most at risk at local and regional scales.
• Resource Assessments for Management Strategies (RAMS). A project to assess condition of natural resources across all National Capital Region parks based on data from the NCRN Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) network. The project builds on previous NPS Natural Resource Condition Assessments reports done for all NCR parks and a series of related NCR projects on ecological integrity and natural landscape blocks. Explore park-specific resource briefs summarizing natural resource condition assessment (NPS Only).
• Natural Landscape Blocks (NLBs). The Natural Landscape Block (NLB) project estimates landscape resilience using park condition assessments (from the RAMS project) along with ecological integrity assessments (EIAs) and data from natural vegetation community mapping. Measures of landscape resilience include climate and non-climate stressors as well as the landscape’s capacity to adapt. This estimation of resilience is mapped against natural landscape blocks (high integrity forest areas) and known plant communities. Explore park-specific Natural Landscape Block and Connectivity Maps (NPS Only).

Links

• Appalachian landscape partners
• North Atlantic landscape partners
• Southeast Conservation Blueprint