Inventory & Monitoring

Park scientists conduct surveys to assess the populations of different species in the park.

NPS / Ryan Grzybowski

Science in the Park

Inventory and monitoring (I&M) builds a strong scientific foundation for the management and protection of natural resources in national park areas.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a member of the Heartland I&M Network, fifteen parks in the Midwest sharing resources and professional expertise to inventory and monitor natural resources.

The Inventory provides a snapshot of the natural resources in a park. Monitoring tracks the health of the natural resources across time. Effective monitoring programs alert park managers about changes—both positive and negative—in a timely way so that they can make informed decisions to protect the resources.

At Cuyahoga Valley, the largest inventory and monitoring project focuses on wetlands. Wetlands are a significant part of the park's natural environment. Nearly 1,500 individual wetlands cover over 1,900 acres within the park. Many of the wetlands are smaller than one acre. However, about 40 are larger than ten acres. All of these occur in the Cuyahoga River floodplain.

Inventory & Monitoring Reports and Data

All reports and data can be found on the NPS Inventory and Monitoring website. Below are some of the reports related to Cuyahoga Valley.

 

 

A citizen scientist searches for butterflies at Terra Vista Natural Study Area.

NPS / Ted Toth

Citizen Scientists at Work

Volunteer citizen-scientists help survey and monitor different species in the park. The data they collect is reviewed by National Park Service scientists and added to the I&M databases. Visit our volunteer page to find out more about volunteering in the park.

The park is involved with ongoing citizen science projects, including the Dragonfly Mercury Project. This nationwide program pairs scientific efforts to understand mercury pollution risks with public engagement and education. Learn more about how Cuyahoga Valley and other national parks work with community and citizen scientists to collect dragonfly larvae for this study.

 

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

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Cuyahoga Valley National Park

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Species attribute definitions

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Visit NPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list? Let us know.