Natural Resource Condition Assessments for Martin Van Buren National Historic Site

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The Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program provides framework, funding, and publishing support to parks to aid in the synthesis and documentation of natural resource conditions. Condition assessment reports are a tool to describe selected park resources, and record a snapshot of their current condition, identify trends, and identify potential or current threats and stressors. Understanding the condition and trend of natural resources is key for parks and NPS planners to appropriately prioritize and allocate stewardship resources.


 

2011 Harvest Day at Lindenwald taken September 17 2011, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site.

NPS Photo

Martin Van Buren National Historic Site preserves and interprets Lindenwald, the rural estate of the eighth President of the United States. Located in the Hudson River Valley town of Kinderhook, in Columbia County, New York, the farm embodied Van Buren’s ideals of an agrarian lifestyle sustained without slave labor. The park is a working agrarian landscape, much of it owned and operated by Roxbury Farms, an organic, biodynamic vegetable farm, under conservation easement and in cooperation with NPS.

Natural resources lying within the authorized park boundary include prime agricultural soils, a segment of Kinderhook Creek, a vegetated escarpment, wetlands, six man-made ponds, and habitat for many species including several species of conservation interest. Overall, however, the property and landscape retain its historic integrity in association with Van Buren.

Traditional NRCA Report: 2019

The Natural Resource Condition Assessment for Martin Van Buren National Historic Site was published in 2019, as a collaborative effort between the NPS and the State University of New York. The team chose five resources to be evaluated in this assessment:

Links to NRCA Products
Materials produced by the park and the NRCA Program.

For other reports and natural resource datasets visit the NPS Data Store.

Source: Data Store Collection 7765 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

		- Air quality
		- Water
		- Gology and soils
		- Biological integrity
		- Landscapes

Assessment of natural resource condition in the park reflects condition supportive of a variety of native flora and fauna within the park’s wetlands, riparian areas, and agricultural matrix. Due to the park’s relatively small size, the condition of natural resources is particularly affected by stressors originating outside of park boundaries, including climate change, air pollution, road impacts, invasive species and regional wildlife trends. This assessment revealed several data gaps which could be filled by additional park monitoring as funding permits.