Enhanced Monitoring and Data Synthesis of Sagebrush Steppe Communities in Upper Columbia Basin Network Parks

Project ID: P13AC00136

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: Oregon State University

Fiscal Year: 2013

Initial Funding: $76,463

Total Funding: $215,741

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Biological

National Park: Upper Columbia Network Inventory & Monitoring

Principal Investigator: Mata-Gonzalez, Ricardo

Agreement Technical Representative: Dicus, Gordon

Abstract: This is a collaborative project to support enhanced monitoring and synthesis of existing monitoring data for sagebrush steppe communities in 5 parks of the Upper Columbia Basin Network (UCBN): City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO), Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO), Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (HAFO), John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (JODA), and Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area (LARO). The primary objectives of the enhanced monitoring are to increase the capacity of the UCBN’s existing sagebrush steppe vegetation monitoring program to utilize information from repeat photographic surveys and from newly established permanent intensively surveyed plots. The primary objectives of the data synthesis are to develop a thorough biogeographic analysis of existing and newly-collected UCBN sagebrush steppe vegetation monitoring data along bioclimatic gradients to address questions of ecological resilience and weed invasion resistance in UCBN sagebrush steppe communities, and to develop a simple multi-metric index of ecological condition that can be used in park reporting.