Baseline Ecological Metrics and a Focused Condition Assessment of Mountain Lakes in the Pacific Northwest
Project ID: P18AC01330
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: Washington State University
Fiscal Year: 2018
Initial Funding: $30,000
Total Funding: $60,000
Project Type: Research
Project Disciplines: Biological
National Park: North Coast and Cascades Network Inventory & Monitoring
Principal Investigator: Fradkin, Steven
Agreement Technical Representative: Lofgren, Rebecca
Abstract: This is a collaborative project to conduct a Focused Condition Assessment (FCA) to use physical, chemical, and biological data previously collected from 2008-2017 by the NCCN Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Program from 20 NCCN mountain lakes and an additional 135 non-I&M NCCN mountain lakes to: I) assess the current condition and establish numeric and narrative criteria for least-disturbed baseline ecological conditions of NCCN lakes; 2) assess trends using these data; 3) identify data gaps in support of conservation of park resources.
Expected products from the FCA will be used in developing a mountain lake fish management plan for OL YM, guide the early implementation of the recently completed MORA mountain lake fish management plan, and help to disseminate the infonnation gathered after nine years of restoring mountain lakes in NOCA. While impacts of non-native fish have been documented in the Sierra
Nevada and Rocky Mountains, using existing data from the Cascades and Olympic mountains to assess the impacts of non-native fish on NCCN lakes will be particularly compelling to park management. Specifically the FCA will help: 1) prioritize mountain lake restoration projects; 2) determine if fish stocking as paii of the NOCA Fish Stocking Act in NOCA lakes is impairing natural resources in the park; 3) determine if restoration activities using rotenone and gill-nets are meeting (or will meet) managemen_t goals outlined in the NOCA and MORA fish management plans; 4) guide the development of a mountain lake fish management plan for OL YM; and 5) help to project the effects of non-native fish on NCCN mountain lakes ecosystem into the future accounting for large scale environmental change. This FCA will also facilitate an assessment of ecosystem trends in fish less lakes, and be useful in potentially identifying other impacts (e.g., visitor use) that can be addressed by management actions. This FCA will use an extensive existing NCCN l&M dataset to dete1mine the status and trends of key mountain lake ecosystem parameters that will aid in the development of management strategies to reduce impacts.