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Vital Signs Monitoring for National Parks of the Colorado Plateau

Project members are key contributors to the on-going development of plans for long-term ecological monitoring in National Park Service (NPS) units of the Colorado Plateau. As part of the National Park Service Natural Resource Challenge, NPS units have been organized into monitoring networks to conduct long-term monitoring for key indicators of environmental change, or "vital signs." Vital signs (PDF) are measurable, early warning signals that could impair the long-term health of natural systems.

On the Colorado Plateau, vital-signs monitoring plans are being developed for 35 NPS units in two monitoring networks - the Northern Colorado Plateau Network and the Southern Colorado Plateau Network. Our input has played a strong role in leading these networks to adopt ecosystem models emphasizing interactions among geologic, hydrologic, and biologic ecosystem components and processes (Fig. 1). Continued close involvement of project-member Mark Miller with both NPS monitoring networks on the Colorado Plateau creates linkages and feedbacks among USGS Drylands Project research efforts, NPS monitoring designs, and resource-management needs of NPS and other land-management agencies. We also provide periodic updates to NPS management of the impacts of the drought on park ecosystems in SE Utah.