What We Inventory

Rough green snake along pitcher plant trail at Big Thicket National Preserve

NPS/Jane Carlson

Conducting a set of basic natural resource inventories is an essential first step towards establishing long-term monitoring.

A suite of inventories conducted by the network helped establish a starting baseline for the work that was to follow. These inventories encompassed plants and animals, soils and geology, water, air, climate, and more. Learn more about the 12 basic inventories that were prescribed across all 32 Inventory and Monitoring Networks, or read about the inventories conducted in Gulf Coast Network parks in our collection of inventory reports.

The basic inventories for each park have a wide range of uses, and central among them are the development of park species lists on local flora and fauna. In the Gulf Coast Network, lists are available for vascular plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

The inventories and species lists for the Gulf Coast Network document the region's exceptional biological diversity. For a glimpse into the natural world of these eight parks, take a look at the photo album below.