Inventory and Monitoring at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Veg crew recording data at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

NPS Photo

Cumberland Gap is a natural pass located where the borders of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. It has been used as a transportation corridor since prehistoric times. Migratory large game created a path through the gap long before people arrived. The Gap later became a Native American route to hunting grounds in Kentucky; however, it is best known for its importance in opening the interior of our nation to settlement by early colonists. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is a diverse park of 22,376 acres which encompasses much of the east-west oriented Cumberland Mountain, with many caves, streams, bogs, rock outcrops, and cliffs. Much of the park is covered by second-growth forests of mixed deciduous and oak-hickory species.

The Cumberland Piedmont Network I&M program has provided this park with a vegetation community classification and map, and updated vascular plant and vertebrate species lists. During the vegetation community classification work, over 30 distinct associations were documented and mapped, including two globally rare communities: a dry calcareous forest/woodland and Cumberland streamside bog.

The network monitoring program at this park includes six vital signs involving repeated visits to established sites following procedures set forth by each monitoring protocol: cave aquatic biota, cave bats, forest vegetation communities, invasive species early detection, ozone/foliar injury, and water quality. Water quality monitoring began in 2007 and continues on a monthly schedule for two years "on," five years "off," at ten sites. Forest monitoring began in 2011–2012 with the establishment of 16 long-term monitoring plots. Additional plots will be established in upcoming years, followed by a five-year revisit schedule, occurring in mid-August. This park has a portable ozone monitor on loan from Air Resources Division, and foliar injury is assessed on-site every six years, beginning in 2008. The Invasive Species Early Detection protocol was completed in 2012 and will be used by field crews to monitor for priority exotics during their scheduled field work. Cave bat monitoring began in 2016 and continues annually for summer counts and every other year for winter counts. The cave aquatic biota monitoring protocol was completed in 2018.

Park managers are using inventory and monitoring data to create resource stewardship strategies for achieving desired future conditions. The links to inventory and monitoring reports are provided on this page.

For more Information contact:
Steve Thomas, Network Program Manager, CUPN offices at Mammoth Cave NP

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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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Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

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Species attribute definitions

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