What We Inventory

Eastern box turtle at Shenandoah National Park

NPS

Effective long-term management and stewardship of natural resources in the Mid-Atlantic Network begins with basic knowledge of these resources. To acquire this knowledge, an inventory program was established by the National Park Service with the goals of acquiring fundamental information on a variety of resources, from bibliographic information to species occurrence and distribution.

The inventories compiled existing information, acquired new information, and helped establish a minimum level of data across over 270 parks, which served as a common starting point for natural resource monitoring. As we move into the next decade of inventory and monitoring, a planning process is underway for “Inventories 2.0,” which will apply what we’ve learned and move us to the next phase of baseline inventory data needed to manage parks into the future. Learn more about Inventories.

Inventory Reports

These reports describe the point-in-time surveys that have helped us learn about the resources in our parks.

Species Lists

One part of the initial inventory effort was to compile information on vertebrate and vascular plant species that occur in parks. These lists are a starting point and continue to be works in progress, with information added or modified as we learn more.

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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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Appomattox Court House National Historical Park Booker T Washington National Monument Eisenhower National Historic Site Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park Gettysburg National Military Park Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site Petersburg National Battlefield Richmond National Battlefield Park Shenandoah National Park Valley Forge National Historical Park

Select a Species Category (optional):

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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.