Natural Resource Monitoring at Minute Man NHP

Two paddlers make their way down the Concord River.
Two paddlers make their way down the Concord River.

Johnida Dockens

 

Overview

The decade-long political feud between the British government and the American colonists, determined to retain their rights as British subjects, came to a devastating climax as British regulars clashed with colonial militia and minute men on April 19, 1775 at Lexington, Concord's North Bridge and on the long, bloody road back to Boston. The fighting that began that day soon grew into a war for independence that lasted more than eight years. Many years later, Ralph Waldo Emerson used the phrase the shot heard round the world to describe the significance of this event.

Minute Man National Historical Park encompasses 1,038 acres distributed in four distinct units located approximately 15 miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. The Concord River flows through the North Bridge Unit, while Route 2A traverses Battle Road Unit. The Wayside Unit preserves a home of authors including the Alcotts and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Barrett Farm Unit preserves the home of Colonel James Barrett, Commander of the Middlesex Militia. His farm was a key target of the British expedition on April 19th, 1775.

The park supports a variety of habitats. Forests are dominant, covering approximately 500 acres of the park, including about 200 acres of forested wetland. Non-forested wetlands, including several ponds, cover approximately 180 acres. Meadows and fields cover an additional 250 acres, including approximately 100 acres farmed under the park's agricultural leasing program. Shrubland also is present at the park, particularly at the interface of fields and forests. Developed areas, including roads, parking lots, and buildings, cover the remainder of the park.

 

Long Term Monitoring Programs in the Park

 
 

Source: Data Store Saved Search 1187. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

 

Source: Data Store Saved Search 2272. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

 

Source: Data Store Saved Search 1189 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

 

Source: Data Store Saved Search 1458. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

 

Source: Data Store Saved Search 1103. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

 

Park Basline Inventories

The Inventory and Monitoring Program provides guidance, funding, and technical assistance for parks to complete a set of 12 baseline, or "basic", natural resource inventories. These basic inventories are common to all parks with significant natural resources, and are intended to provide park managers with the minimum information needed to effectively manage the natural resources of their park.

 

Park Species Lists

Species lists are available from NPSpecies, the National Park Service's tool for documenting park biodiversity. Keep in mind that these species lists are a work-in-progress. Changes and updates are made as more species are shepherded through a rigorous vetting process. The absence of a species from a list produced with the tool below doesn't necessarily mean the species is absent from a park.
 

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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.

 

Natural Resource Briefs for Minute Man NHP

Click link below to view all the short briefs about the long-term monitoring and natural resouces of the park.
 

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3742. To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

 

Non NPS Citizen Science Opportunities in the Park

Bird observations from eBird

Minute Man NHP has been set up in eBird as a birding "hotspot". Help the park bolster bird data by adding your bird obsevations to eBird when you visit the park. To view recent and historical bird observations in the park, cick here.

Species observations from iNaturalist

Learn how you can contribute to iNaturalist

View Minute Man NHP data on iNaturalist website

Last updated: September 24, 2020