Guidance for Designing an Integrated Monitoring Program

Introduction

Natural resource monitoring is a major component of park stewardship, and a cornerstone of the NPS Natural Resource Challenge - a program to revitalize and expand the natural resource program within the park service and improve park management through greater reliance on scientific knowledge. The overall purpose for natural resource monitoring is to determine the status and trend in the condition of selected park resources. Monitoring results will be used to assess the efficacy of management and restoration efforts, provide early warning of impending threats, and provide a basis for understanding and identifying meaningful change in natural systems characterized by complexity, variability, and surprises. Monitoring data may help to determine what constitutes impairment and to identify the need to initiate or change management practices.

The intent of park vital signs monitoring is to track a subset of physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems that are selected to represent the overall health or condition of park resources, known or hypothesized effects of stressors, or elements that have important human values. The elements and processes that are monitored are a subset of the total suite of natural resources that park managers are directed to preserve "unimpaired for future generations," including water, air, geological resources, plants and animals, and the various ecological, biological, and physical processes that act on those resources. In situations where natural areas have been so highly altered that physical and biological processes no longer operate (e.g., control of fires and floods in developed areas), information obtained through monitoring can help managers understand how to develop the most effective approach to restoration or, in cases where restoration is impossible, ecologically sound management. The broad-based, scientifically sound information obtained through natural resource monitoring will have multiple applications for management decision-making, research, education, and promoting public understanding of park resources.

Integration: Ecological, Spatial, Temporal and Programmatic

One of the most difficult aspects of designing a comprehensive monitoring program is integration of monitoring projects so that the interpretation of the whole monitoring program yields information more useful than that of individual parts. Integration involves ecological, spatial, temporal and programmatic aspects:

• Ecological Integration involves considering the ecological linkages among system drivers and the components, structures, and functions of ecosystems when selecting monitoring indicators. An effective ecosystem monitoring strategy will employ a suite of individual measurements that collectively monitor the integrity of the entire ecosystem. One approach for effective ecological integration is to select indicators at various hierarchical levels of ecological organization (e.g., landscape, community, population, genetic; see Noss 1990).
• Spatial Integration involves establishing linkages of measurements made at different spatial scales within a park or network of parks, or between individual park programs and broader regional programs (i.e., National Park Service or other national and regional programs). It requires understanding of scalar ecological processes, the collocation of measurements of comparably scaled monitoring indicators, and the design of statistical sampling frameworks that permit the extrapolation and interpolation of scalar data.
• Temporal Integration involves establishing linkages between measurements made at various temporal scales. It will be necessary to determine a meaningful timeline for sampling different indicators while considering characteristics of temporal variation in these indicators. For example, sampling changes in the structure of a forest overstory (e.g., size class distribution) may require much less frequent sampling than that required to detect changes in the composition or density of herbaceous groundcover. Temporal integration requires nesting the more frequent and, often, more intensive sampling within the context of less frequent sampling.
• Programmatic Integration involves the coordination and communication of monitoring activities within and among parks, among divisions of the NPS Natural Resource Program Center, and among the NPS and other agencies, to promote broad participation in monitoring and use of the resulting data. At the park or network level, for example, the involvement of a park's law enforcement, maintenance, and interpretative staff in routine monitoring activities and reporting, results in a well-informed park staff, wider support for monitoring, improved potential for informing the public, and greater acceptance of monitoring results in the decision-making process. The systems approach to monitoring planning and design requires a coordinated effort by the NRPC divisions of Air Resources, Biological Resource Management, Geologic Resources, Natural Resource Information, and Water Resources to provide guidance, technical support and funding to the networks. Finally, there is a need for the NPS to coordinate monitoring planning, design and implementation with other agencies to promote sharing of data among neighboring land management agencies, while also providing context for interpreting the data.

Establishing Monitoring Goals and Objectives

The overall purpose of natural resource monitoring in parks is to develop scientifically sound information on the current status and long term trends in the composition, structure, and function of park ecosystems, and to determine how well current management practices are sustaining those ecosystems. Use of monitoring information will increase confidence in manager's decisions and improve their ability to manage park resources, and will allow managers to confront and mitigate threats to the park and operate more effectively in legal and political arenas. To be effective, the monitoring program must be relevant to current management issues as well as anticipate future issues based on current and potential threats to park resources. The program must be scientifically credible, produce data of known quality that are accessible to managers and researchers in a timely manner, and be linked explicitly to management decision-making processes.

The need to clearly articulate the goals and objectives of a monitoring program is emphasized in just about every "how to" guide that has ever been written about natural resource monitoring, and yet good examples of specific, measurable objectives are hard to find. This website provides guidance and examples of monitoring objectives for use in vital signs monitoring plans and sampling protocols.

A goal is a concise, general statement of the overall purpose of a program. All 32 networks of parks address the following five Goals of Vital Signs Monitoring as they plan, design, and implement integrated natural resource monitoring:

• Determine the status and trends in selected indicators of the condition of park ecosystems to allow managers to make better-informed decisions and to work more effectively with other agencies and individuals for the benefit of park resources.
• Provide early warning of abnormal conditions of selected resources to help develop effective mitigation measures and reduce costs of management.
• Provide data to better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems and to provide reference points for comparisons with other, altered environments.
• Provide data to meet certain legal and Congressional mandates related to natural resource protection and visitor enjoyment.
• Provide a means of measuring progress towards performance goals.

An objective is a more specific statement that provides additional focus about the purpose or desired outcome of the program. Three types of objectives that are commonly presented in the ecological monitoring literature are Management Objectives, Sampling Objectives, and Monitoring Objectives. For purposes of vital signs monitoring plans (Phase 1, 2 and 3), we are primarily concerned with Monitoring Objectives. An effective set of monitoring objectives should meet the test of being realistic, specific, and measurable.

Management objectives provide focus about the desired state or condition of the resource, and provide a measure of management success. As described by Elzinga et al. (1998:46), management objectives can usually be classified as one of two types: (1) target/threshold objectives (e.g., increase the population size of Species A to 5000 individuals; maintain a population of a rare plant Species B at 2500 individuals or greater; keep Site C free of invasive weeds X and Y); or (2) change/trend objectives (e.g., increase mean density of Species A by 20%; decrease frequency of invasive weed X by 30% at Site C). Some examples of management objectives are as follows:

• Manually remove overstory trees at the Goat Prairie Unit to reduce combined mean density for Sugar Maple, Bigtooth Aspen, American Basswood, Red Elm and White Ash to 370 trees/ha before FY2001.
• Maintain percent cover of less than 5% for all exotic species combined at Manley Woodland from 1999 to 2008.
• Increase family richness of aquatic macroinvertebrates in Wilson's Creek by 20% between 1999 and 2004.
• Decrease population size of Rainbow Trout in Eagle Creek by 50% between 1999 and 2004.

Sampling objectives are usually written as companion objectives to management or monitoring objectives. Sampling (or statistical) objectives specify information such as target levels of precision, power, acceptable Type I and II error rates, and magnitude of change you are hoping to detect. An example of a sampling objective is as follows:

• We want to be 90% certain of detecting a 40% change in bird density and we are willing to accept a 10% chance of saying a change took place when it really didn't.

Monitoring objectives provide additional detail about what the monitoring program or sampling protocol will do. In the introductory chapter of the monitoring plan, monitoring objectives should be written as more general statements to provide some additional focus to the program beyond the five monitoring goals. For purposes of a sampling protocol, however, we are looking for a set of specific, measurable objectives that meet the test of being realistic, specific, and measurable. After reading only a brief justification statement and the set of monitoring objectives, the reader should be able to anticipate what the resulting data set will look like, and should have a good sense of what measures will be included or not included. The monitoring objectives explain 'what the protocol will do', and they often put boundaries or limits on what will be included in the monitoring by specifying particular study areas, species, or measures. The following checklist of questions should be applied to the set of monitoring objectives to see if they meet the test:

• Are each of the objectives measureable?
• Are they achievable?
• Is the location or spatial bounds of the monitoring specified?
• Is the species or attribute being monitored specified?
• Will the reader be able to anticipate what the data will look like?

Table 1 below provides a number of examples of specific, measurable monitoring objectives for sampling protocols. If only one or two species or locations is to be monitored, the objective statement should include the names of those species or locations to make it "specific"; however, if numerous species or locations will be monitored, it is acceptable to use terms such as "for selected species" or "in selected sites" in order to make it easier to read and understand the objective statement. The protocol document itself, however, should include a list or table specifying all of the species or locations to be sampled.

Table 1. Examples of specific, measurable monitoring objectives.

Vital Sign or Protocol	Specific, Measurable Objectives
Weather/climate	-Determine variability and long-term trends in climate for all PACN parks through monthly and annual summaries of descriptive statistics for selected weather parameters, including air temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind speed and direction. -Identify and determine frequencies and patterns of extreme climatic conditions for common weather parameters.
Erosion and deposition	1. Determine long-term trends in soil erosion rates and soil quality (e.g., organic matter, pH, infiltration, bulk density, aggregate stability, root exposure, soil crusts, etc.) at randomly selected sites in WAPA, AMME, and ALKA. 2. Determine seasonal and long-term trends in water column turbidity at selected marine and freshwater sites. 3. Determine seasonal and long-term trends in sedimentation rates at selected marine and freshwater sites stratified (or weighted) by degree of recreational access.
Groundwater dynamics	1. Determine long-term trends in groundwater withdrawal and saltwater intrusion through measurement of groundwater levels, discharge rates , and salinity at selected sites.
Water quality	1. Determine long-term trends in water temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, flow/stage/level, PAR, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a in selected freshwater and marine sites in PACN parks.
Non-native invasive terrestrial plants-early warning	1. Develop and maintain a list of target species that do not currently occur in the parks, occur in localized areas of parks, or are extremely rare, but that would cause major ecological or economic problems if they were to become established. 2. Develop and maintain a predictive "risk of occurrence" search model for target species based on life history attributes, dispersal modes, invasion corridors, vectors of spread, invasibility of areas and known locations. 3. Detect incipient populations (i.e. small or localized) and new introductions of selected non-native plants before they become established in areas of high and moderate management significance in a rotating panel design searching 1/3 of the park each year.
Non-native invasive terrestrial plants-status and trends	1. Determine the areal extent, distribution and abundance of selected non-native invasive plants in PACN parks at 5 year intervals. 2. Determine the rate of spread of selected non-native invasive plants in all areas of high priority management significance at HALE and HAVO. 3. Determine the stand structure of populations of selected non-native invasive plantswithin high priority management areas in order to predict potential spread.
Terrestrial plant species and communities	1. Determine long-term trends in species composition and community structure (e.g., cover, density by height class of woody species) of selected focal plant communities. 2. Determine long-term trends in the distribution and abundance of plant species of special management interest in selected areas of PACN parks. 3. Determine annual variation in recruitment and mortality for selected populations of long-lived perennial plant species of special management interest.
Benthic marine community	1. Determine long-term trends in percent cover of sessile marine benthic invertebrates (e.g., coral, sponges) and algal assemblages (including large fleshy, articulated and crustose coralline, and turf algae) at selected sites along an isobath between 10 and 20 meters depth. 2. Determine trends in benthic rugosity at randomly selected, fixed (permanent) stations that have been stratified by reef zone (e.g., reef flat, reef slope). 3. Determine trends in recruitment rate to uniform artificial surfaces of hard corals (as an assemblage) at selected sites on the fore reef along an isobath between 10 and 20 meters depth. 4. Determine trends in rate of growth and survival of randomly selected coral colonies of a common, trans-Pacific species (e.g., Pocillopora damicornis, P. verrucosa) growing at similar depth. 5. Determine long-term trends in the incidence and severity of coral and algal disease and bleaching.
Freshwater animal communities	1. Determine long-term trends in the composition and diversity of fish and invertebrates in selected freshwater and brackish water communities. 2. Determine trends in the distribution and abundance of fish and invertebrate populations in selected stream and lentic habitats. 3. Improve understanding of relationships between freshwater and brackish water animal communities and their habitat by correlating physical and chemical habitat measures with changes in distribution and abundance of fish and invertebrates.
Marine fish	1. Determine long-term trends in the abundance of key reef slope fish species at selected sites along an isobath of 10-20 m depth. 2. Determine long-term trends in abundance and size of targeted coral reef fish species (e.g., species that are harvested) from selected sites within and outside of marine protected areas.
Forest passerine birds	1. Determine long-term trends in species composition and abundance of native and non-native forest passerine species in selected areas of PACN parks. 2. Improve our understanding of breeding bird - habitat relationships and the effects of management actions such as alien plant and animal control on bird populations by correlating changes in forest bird species composition and abundance with changes in specific habitat variables.
Seabirds	1. Determine long-term trends in the number, distribution, and size of colonies of coastal-strand nesting Procellarid seabirds at HALE, HAVO, KALA, KAHO, and NPSA. 2. Determine reproductive success of a sample of nests within colonies monitored in Objective #1. 3. Determine long-term trends in reproductive success and recruitment of Hawaiian Petrels at HALE and HAVO and Tahiti and Herald Petrels at NPSA. 4. Determine trends in the number and distribution of booby roost sites in and adjacent to KALA, NPSA and WAPA.
Bats	1. Determine long-term trends in the distribution and abundance of flying foxes in selected areas of WAPA and NPSA. 2. Determine long-term trends in the distribution and abundance of Hawaiian Hoary Bats in selected areas of PACN parks in Hawaii.
RTE Plant Species	1. Determine long-term trends in the distribution and abundance of selected rare, threatened, and endangered plant species within selected areas of PACN parks. 2. Determine size-class distribution for selected RTE plant species in selected areas to help predict population trends. 3. Determine long-term trends in the distribution, abundance, and stand structure of RTE plants in selected areas with and without management intervention (e.g., non-native invasive plant and animal control in Special Ecological Areas).
Fisheries harvest	1. Determine annual composition, sizes, catch-per-unit-effort, and quantities (by weight, and numbers where possible) of park-specific targeted coral reef fishes and invertebrates (e.g., shellfish, octopus, lobster, sea urchins and palolo polychaetes) harvested in park waters.
Landscape Dynamics	1. Determine annual status and trends in the areal extent and configuration of land-cover types on park lands. 2. Determine annual status and trends in the areal extent and configuration of land-cover types on lands adjacent to parks. 3. Determine long-term changes in fire frequency and extent. 4. Determine long-term changes in frequency and extent of insect and disease outbreaks.
Peregrine Falcons	1. Determine annual status and trends in territory occupancy of Peregrine Falcons. 2. Determine annual status and trends in nest success of Peregrine Falcons. 3. Determine annual status and trends in productivity of Peregrine Falcons.
Raptors	1. Determine annual nesting success of breeding raptors at Pinnacles NM as measured by territories occupied, number of chick produced and number of chicks fledged.
Benthic Macroinvertebrates	1. Determine trends in species composition, distribution, and abundance of benthic macrofauna assemblages in systems where tidal influence is being restored (Hatches Harbor, East Harbor) versus trends in systems with unaltered tidal hydrology.
Shoreline Change	1. Determine where the directions of shoreline change (i.e. erosion or accretion) are persistent, where they are cyclic and near equilibrium, and where park resources are at risk.
Ozark Hellbender	1. Determine long-term changes in the distribution of hellbenders in Ozark NSR. 2. Determine long-term trends in the number of hellbenders in selected study areas in OZAR. 3. In selected study areas in OZAR, determine long-term trends in the sex and age structure and rates of reproduction and survival of hellbenders.

An effective set of monitoring objectives should meet the test of being realistic, specific, and measurable.