Initiative Approach
Describe Forest Condition - From 12 years of regional monitoring data, describe current status and trends of park forest resources. Produce regional comparisons to place individual park conditions in a regional context.
Connect Park Managers - Identify parks facing similar threats to facilitate collaboration among parks and management efficiencies.
Recommend Tools - Provide recommendations on management actions that will promote resilient forest ecosystems within parks, including case studies and lessons learned from recent management efforts in Region 1 parks.
Support Adaptive Management - Collaborate with parks to integrate Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) data into management decision-making. On-going monitoring not only keeps track of management progress but creates a framework for adapting that management over time as needed.
Initiative Products
- Park-specific resource briefs for the thirty-nine Region 1 I&M parks summarizing forest health condition and trends.
- Array of management strategies for parks faced with:
- Management recommendations will focus on tools available to park managers such as:
- In-person training for Region 1 natural resource managers, focused on the recommended management strategies for promoting resilient forests, to be held in November 1-3, 2022 at the National Conservation Training Center. This training will enable information exchange among parks, provide guidance on forest management from experts throughout the northeastern US, and build capacity within the region for implementing forest management.
Forest Health highlights shared on NPS.gov
Showing results 1-10 of 22
- 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: Anacostia Park, Antietam National Battlefield, Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Catoctin Mountain Park, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, more »
Forest regeneration in the National Capital Region continues to slowly improve, especially in parks that manage their deer populations. A look at forest regeneration capacity based on monitoring data from 2024.
- Locations: Bluestone National Scenic River, Gauley River National Recreation Area, Minute Man National Historical Park, New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
- Offices: Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory & Monitoring Network
A winning strategy to combat invasive plants becomes a potent tool for restoring special places in several eastern parks.
- 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: 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.
Last updated: January 6, 2022