As part of the Northeast Coastal & Barrier Network's Salt Marsh Monitoring program, Network staff continues to sample vegetation and nekton at several park units. This file contains all data collected through the 2019 field season. Data are collected at the following park units: Assateague Island NS, Cape Cod NS, Colonial NHP, Fire Island NS, Gateway NRA, George Washington Birthplace NM, Sagamore Hill NHS.

As part of Cape Cop National Seashore's Salt Marsh Monitoring program, park staff continued to sample vegetation and nekton at sites. This file contains all data collected through the 2011 field season.

This dataset is comprised of eight files related to salt marsh monitoring data or measures of of human disturbance (i.e. human impacts in terms of physical, chemical, and land-use stressors) collected at 33 marsh study units (MSUs) in five National Parks within the NPS Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network (NCBN) along the northeastern coast of the US. Two files contain data related to the species and coverage of salt marsh vegetation observed in MSUs (1 data file, 1 definitions file). Two files contain data related to the species and abundance of nekton collected from creeks, pools and ditches in MSUs (1 data file, 1 definitions file). Two files contain data related to the height of key salt marsh vegetation species observed in MSUs (1 data file, 1 definitions file). Two files contain data related to metrics describing the degree of human disturbance in MSUs (1 data file, 1 definitions file). Salt marsh monitoring data were generally collected from 2008-2013; however, salt marsh monitoring data were collected irregularly between 1997 and 2007 as part of a pilot program in a small number of the MSUs. Human disturbance metrics were derived from existing aerial imagery and the 2006 National Land Cover Database.

The geodatabase represents the sampling design used to meet the project's purpose. The sampling design relies upon systematic sampling for smaller parks (LEWI and SAJH) and spatially balanced, GRTS sampling for larger parks (MORA, NOCA, OLYM). The objectives of the landbird monitoring program are to 1) detect trends in the density of as many landbird species (including passerines, near-passerines, and galliformes) as possible throughout accessible areas of five NCCN parks during the breeding season and 2) track changes in the breeding season distribution of landbird species throughout accessible areas of the large wilderness parks. The geodatabase represents the sampling design used to meet the project's objectives. The sampling design relies upon systematic sampling for smaller parks (Lewis and Clark National Historical Park [LEWI] and San Juan Island National Historical park [SAJH]) and spatially balanced, Generalized Random Tesselation Stratified (GRTS) sampling for larger parks (Mount Rainier National Park [MORA], North Cascades National Park [NOCA], Olympic National Park [OLYM]). The GRTS sample design was created using stratified equal probability survey design. Potential transect starting locations were defined based on road and trail networks. The sample design formed the basis for office and field evaluation of selected locations and the subsequent establishment of long-term monitoring transects.

Species Inventory project as-delivered dataset, geodatabase

This dataset was collected by staff of the Environmental Data Center (EDC) at The University of Rhode Island in cooperation with the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network (NCBN) of the National Park Service (NPS) under the project: Field Technician Support for Elevation Mapping of NPS Salt Marshes and other sites for Sea Level RIse Planning and Post- and Future Storm Evaluation which is a modification to Task Agreement P13ACAC00891 of Cooperative Agreement P09AC00212 Elevation Mapping of Critical Park Areas for Planning and Post- and Future Storm Evaluation and Modeling. The data was collected from Summer 2014 to Fall 2016 at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS), Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), and Gateway National Recreation Area-Sandy Hook Unit. These datasets consist of point locations where vegetation surveys were conducted in salt marshes. Sample locations were determined by overlaying a 20 meter grid of points on salt marsh sites determined by the NCBN. Field crews navigated to every grid point, placed a meter square plot on the ground and sampled vegetation, identifying species type and percent cover (using the Braun-Blaunquet cover-abundance scale). At any given point/plot there may be multiple points with the same coordinates representing the different species present at that location. High accuracy elevation data was also collected at the same locations using RTK-GPS equipment. This data can be found in the same project folder on the NPS Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) website.

This dataset was collected by staff of the Environmental Data Center (EDC) at The University of Rhode Island in cooperation with the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network (NCBN) of the National Park Service (NPS) under the project: Field Technician Support for Elevation Mapping of NPS Salt Marshes and other sites for Sea Level RIse Planning and Post- and Future Storm Evaluation which is a modification to Task Agreement P13ACAC00891 of Cooperative Agreement P09AC00212 Elevation Mapping of Critical Park Areas for Planning and Post- and Future Storm Evaluation and Modeling. The data was collected from Summer 2014 to Fall 2016 at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS), Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), and Gateway National Recreation Area-Sandy Hook Unit. These datasets consist of point locations where vegetation surveys were conducted in salt marshes. Sample locations were determined by overlaying a 20 meter grid of points on salt marsh sites determined by the NCBN. Field crews navigated to every grid point, placed a meter square plot on the ground and sampled vegetation, identifying species type and percent cover (using the Braun-Blaunquet cover-abundance scale). At any given point/plot there may be multiple points with the same coordinates representing the different species present at that location. High accuracy elevation data was also collected at the same locations using RTK-GPS equipment. This data can be found in the same project folder on the NPS Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) website.

This project tested the use of eDNA methods to identify fish communities, assess biodiversity, and detect invasive crabs in different types of estuaries and connected streams. Samples were collected at Apalachicola, Great Bay, He’eai, Hudson, South Slough and Wells Reserves in 2018 and 2019. The project deployed two methods to analyze DNA in water samples: metabarcoding that identifies a wide range of species, and digital droplet Polymerase Chain Reaction (ddPCR) that identifies a single target organism. The team conducted baseline community assessments for fish at five reserve sites and conducted a survey of anadromous fish in a tributary stream at the sixth reserve. The project found that fish community and biodiversity assessments are well suited to eDNA applications, while invasive crabs are much harder to detect because they do not shed much DNA. The project developed protocols and recommendations for the collection, filtering, and extraction of eDNA samples at estuarine sites, and provided information which will support the design of sampling programs for fish communities.