NPS
As seen from the parks' mountaintop vistas, forests spread over ridges and river valleys. These landscapes of rolling green are complex ecosystems that provides habitat for countless plants, animals, fungi, and insects. Beyond providing beautiful landscapes for hiking, boating and other outdoor recreation, forests maintain soil stability and protect water quality. Forests also influence our weather and regional air quality.
The Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network collects information on the condition of park forests, and how those conditions are shifting over time. Park forests are constantly changing as a result of severe weather, invasive plants and animals, and the natural processes of maturing forests. Many other factors such as geology, soil quality, and land-use history also strongly influence the condition of the forests. We use a network of 360 permanent monitoring plots established across eight parks to track forest health. Within the plots, we collect information on tree growth and health, forest regeneration, diversity of plants on the forest floor, invasive species, among other indicators. This long-term monitoring increases park managers’ understanding of park ecosystems, improves their ability to steward park resources, and allows them to adjust to and mitigate threats to park vegetation.
Parks Monitored
- Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site
- Bluestone National Scenic River
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- Fort Necessity National Battlefield
- Friendship Hill National Historic Site
- Gauley River National Recreation Area
- Johnstown Flood National Memorial
- New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
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- Locations: Gettysburg National Military Park, Saratoga National Historical Park
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, Northeast Temperate Inventory & Monitoring Network
The mission of preserving and protecting cultural sites goes hand-in-hand with preserving and protecting the landscape, and maintaining healthy and sustainable forests in the parks of the Northeast Region.
- Locations: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bluestone National Scenic River, Booker T Washington National Monument, more »
- Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division
Much of the forest in the eastern United States is around the same age, regrowing after widespread land clearing that peaked between the 1880's and 1920's. Throughout the twentieth century, forests began to regenerate, eventually spreading onto abandoned agricultural lands.
- Locations: New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is experimenting with ways to protect the next generation of oak forests using fire and fences at two mountaintop sites in the park.
- Locations: Bluestone National Scenic River, Flight 93 National Memorial, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Friendship Hill National Historic Site, Gauley River National Recreation Area, New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division, Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Capital Inventory & Monitoring Network, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, more »
In Appalachia, forests are crucial to the health of ecosystems and local communities in and around National Parks. However, forest health monitoring in eastern National Parks has shown that park forests are rapidly changing, and don’t have enough tree regeneration to replace canopy trees as they fall or die. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds are being used to support the Resilient Forest Initiative in the restoration efforts within these parks.
- Locations: Antietam National Battlefield, Catoctin Mountain Park, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, more »
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division, Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Capital Inventory & Monitoring Network, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, more »
As part of the ongoing conversation about managing resilient forests, short briefs on the resilience and regeneration status of each NCR park are now available. These summaries are based on 12 years of NPS forest vegetation monitoring data.
- Locations: Acadia National Park, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Antietam National Battlefield, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Bluestone National Scenic River, more »
- Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division
NPS Inventory and Monitoring Networks have been tracking forest health in eastern national parks since 2006. This monitoring information can guide resilient forest management and support parks in adapting to changing conditions through the actions described below.
- Locations: Antietam National Battlefield, Catoctin Mountain Park, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Colonial National Historical Park, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, more »
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division, Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Capital Inventory & Monitoring Network, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, more »
A healthy forest needs to have enough tree seedlings and saplings to regenerate the forest canopy after a disturbance. Analysis of NPS I&M and other long-term datasets makes it clear that many eastern national parks lack adequate tree regeneration due to decades of over browsing by white-tailed deer.
- Locations: Acadia National Park, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Antietam National Battlefield, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Bluestone National Scenic River, more »
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division, Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Capital Inventory & Monitoring Network, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, more »
Park forests are threatened by invasive plants and pests. Strategically tackling invasive plants to protect park’s highest priority natural resources and planning around forest pests and pathogens are important actions in managing resilient forests.
- Locations: Acadia National Park, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Antietam National Battlefield, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Bluestone National Scenic River, more »
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division, Mid-Atlantic Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Capital Inventory & Monitoring Network, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, more »
Forests cover tens of thousands of acres in eastern national parks and these critical resources face a range of interacting stressors: over-abundant white-tailed deer populations, invasive plant dominance, novel pests and pathogens, among other threats. The Resilient Forests Initiative will help parks address these issue collectively.
- Locations: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Bluestone National Scenic River, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Friendship Hill National Historic Site, Gauley River National Recreation Area, more »
Managing invasive plant species can seem like an endless and insurmountable challenge, but parks are using a new strategic collaborative tool to protect their most valuable resources.
Documents
Source: Data Store Collection 4293. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.
Source: Data Store Collection 4294. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.
Source: Data Store Collection 4296. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.
Source: Data Store Collection 4295. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.
Contact
Stephanie Perles, Plant Ecologist
Last updated: November 3, 2022