NPS
Taking the Pulse of the National Parks
Monitoring is the repeated observation and measurement of specific park natural resources in order to better understand their condition. Monitoring allows us to detect change, identify any potential problems in the early stages, and measure success. Data and analyses resulting from monitoring are powerful tools that allow park managers to make sound decisions about the parks entrusted in their care.
The Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Program uses the term “vital signs” for particular species, habitats, landscapes, and abiotic factors (e.g., water, air, soil) that help indicate the health of an ecosystem. Just as people monitor their vital signs such as blood pressure and pulse, we monitor selected vital signs to help parks understand the condition and trends of their natural resources.
The 32 I&M networks have established vital signs monitoring in over 280 parks. Vital signs data allow us to better understand natural processes and the results of management actions, and help guide parks in the successful protection and use of park resources.
Goals for Vital Signs Monitoring
- Determine the status and trends, in selected indicators, of the condition of park ecosystems to allow managers to make better-informed decisions and to work more effectively with other agencies and individuals for the benefit of park resources.
- Provide early warning of abnormal conditions of selected resources to help develop effective mitigation measures and reduce costs of management.
- Provide data to better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems and to provide reference points for comparisons with other, altered environments.
- Provide data to meet certain legal and Congressional mandates related to natural resource protection and visitor enjoyment.
- Provide a means of measuring progress towards performance goals.
More than 1,000 scientists, resource specialists, park managers, and data managers have actively contributed to the design and implementation of this long-term program. This collaborative effort has resulted in strong links between scientific information and management needs, and is helping to "put science into the hands of park managers and planners" in the National Park Service.
Ecological Monitoring Framework
The NPS Ecological Monitoring Framework is a systems-based, hierarchical organizational structure for vital signs, which helps parks, networks, programs, and other agencies coordinate their work. The framework has three levels, from the general to the more specific.
Vital signs selected by networks for monitoring are assigned to a Level 3 category that most closely pertains to that vital sign. For example, the vital sign “Shoreline Change” is assigned to the Level 3 category of “Coastal/oceanographic features and processes. ” This is within the Level 2 category of "Geomorphology" and the higher Level 1 category of “Geology and Soils.” The common framework provides a level of consistency among the many different vital signs, and a broader perspective of monitoring efforts.
Summary of the most common vital sign categories (and examples of specific measures) that are being monitored by the U.S. National Park Service long-term ecological monitoring program (from Fancy and Bennetts 2012).
Showing results 1-10 of 281
- Locations: Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park, Curecanti National Recreation Area
- Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network
At Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area, long-term vegetation monitoring provides park managers with useful information for decision making on topics including changes in climate, grazing, and fire management. A recent report summarizes monitoring from 2011 to 2022 of vegetation and soil conditions provides management recommendations for their conservation.
- Locations: Curecanti National Recreation Area
- Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network
Invasive exotic plants are one of the most significant threats to natural resources in the national parks today. To provide early warning of weed invasions, the Northern Colorado Plateau Network monitors target plants in park areas where they are likely to first establish: along roads, trails, and waterways. Find out what we've learned at Curecanti National Recreation Area.
- Locations: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
- Offices: San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
As the San Francisco Bay Area Network coho and steelhead monitoring crew wraps up the 2024-2025 spawner season, we are looking back at one of the busiest winters since the beginning of this monitoring program! We observed increased coho spawning in all three creeks we monitor—Olema, Pine Gulch, and Redwood Creeks. Olema took the cake with the strongest cohort of all.
- Locations: Point Reyes National Seashore
- Offices: San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
This elephant seal breeding season, the single-day cow count peaked at 1,159 on 1/27, which is similar to last year’s peak count of 1,165. Pup counts were higher than the five-year average this season. This is likely due to the lack of strong storms this winter and thus high pup survival.
- Locations: Point Reyes National Seashore
- Offices: San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Only 16 cows and 14 nursing pups remain at the Seashore! There are still 112 males scattered around, looking for their last chance to mate. This year’s weaned pup counts are higher than average. A total of 1063 weanlings were counted on 3/6.
- Locations: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
- Offices: San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Federally endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout are large, charismatic fish that play crucial roles in both stream and ocean ecosystems. The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program and its partners began monitoring coho and steelhead in Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore in 1998.
- Locations: Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area
- Offices: Appalachian Highlands Inventory & Monitoring Network
Freshwater mussels help keep our waterways clean, among other benefits. But many mussel species are highly imperiled. Photo documentation is an important part of the work to rescue them.
- Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Natural Resources Stewardship & Science
El Programa de Inventario y Monitoreo está dedicado a aportar la información necesaria para que los directores de los parques tomen decisiones acertadas con base científica. Estas decisiones ayudarán a apoyar la misión del National Park Service, que es conservar los recursos de los espacios más especiales y valorados de América para las generaciones futuras.
- Locations: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument
- Offices: San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
For two weeks in October 2024, the San Francisco Bay Area Network fish crew travelled daily to Lake Sonoma’s Warm Springs Hatchery. There, we marked approximately 3,000 juvenile coho for release into Redwood Creek. This effort was time well spent, as these fish present unique research opportunities—as well as a chance to increase the future viability of the small wild population in Redwood Creek.
- Locations: Arches National Park, Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, more »
- Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network
Northern Colorado Plateau Network’s long-term landbird monitoring program provides habitat-based updates for bird population status and trends in the parks in the Northern Colorado Plateau. These inform scientists and managers about changes in bird populations and about the health of the habitats they depend on. Learn more about which species were detected in the network parks for the first time and which landbird populations were increasing or declining between 2005 - 2024.
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Measuring Soil Change in Mangroves
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- Duration:
- 3 minutes, 27 seconds
Why do scientists track the soil elevation in mangrove habitat to learn more about climate change impacts? The network's 2018 Future Park Leader of Emerging Change (FPL) intern, Malcolm Wells shares his experience.
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Pika Monitoring at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho
Monitoring the American Pika at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Long-term monitoring is important to understand the pika's sensitivity to climate change, and to detect changes in pika populations over time.
- Duration:
- 4 minutes, 44 seconds
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Publications of the Inventory and Monitoring Division related to the monitoring program.
Source: NPS DataStore Collection 3750. To search for additional information, visit the NPS DataStore.
Last updated: March 14, 2024