Natural Resource Condition Assessments for Shiloh National Military Park

Learn about NRCAs

• How do parks use NRCAs?
• Learn more about the NRCA Program

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.

 

Cannon line, Shiloh National Military Park, 2013.

NPS photo.

Established in 1894, Shiloh National Military Park encompasses nearly 4,200 acres of land in southwestern Tennessee and contains a detached 21-acre urban unit located in the nearby community of Corinth in northeast Mississippi. The Park was created to protect and make accessible the events that happened at the site as pertaining to the Civil War and how the people, culture and land were impacted. Even though Shiloh National Military Park is known for its cultural resources, it also contains mixed hardwood forests and historic agricultural fields.

NRCA reports completed for this park:

Traditional NRCA: 2017

Traditional NRCA Report: 2017

In an effort to better understand the natural resources and processes in this park, a Natural Resource Condition Assessment for this park was conducted and published in 2017. This assessment was a collaborative effort between the National Park Service and St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. This team chose eleven resources to be evaluated:

		- Hardwood forest communities
		- Wetland and riparian communities
		- Mammals
		- Birds
		- Native fish
		- Hepetofauna
		- Water quality
		- Air quality
		- Dark night skies
		- Adjacent land cover and use
		- Soundscape

Overall, resources in Shiloh National Military Park were found to be in good condition. Two resources (air quality, and dark night skies) were given a condition rating of significant concern; three resources (mammals, native fish, and soundscape) were not given condition scores due to lack of data; and the remaining resources were given a rating of good condition. The park represents a long-protected area in the American Southeast, and the threats/stressors, data needs, and priority habitats of Shiloh National Military Park are critical to park managers in order to fully understand this ecosystem. The lands surrounding the park have largely been developed, converted to agriculture, or heavily deforested, yet Shiloh remains an island of protected forests, wetlands, and Civil War monuments. Continued monitoring of these priority resources, combined with management efforts directed at minimizing disturbance potential, will aide many of these communities and maintain their presence within the park.

Links to other 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.