Compendium of Ecological Assessment Methods: Project Background

National Park Service (NPS) initiated the development of the Compendium of Ecological Assessment Methods in the Fall 2003. The purpose of the Compendium is to provide park managers the information necessary for identifying and selecting assessment methods. Park managers need replicable, planning-level assessments of the ecological (including hydrological) conditions of park watersheds and landscapes, including the upland, wetland, and stream/riparian areas. They must also be able to compare those conditions to the objectives for park watershed resource management.

NPS is responsible for reporting on existing and projected future condition of individual National Parks. A variety of methods are currently used on the broad range of habitats that are found including wetlands, streams, uplands, lakes, submerged aquatics, and coral reefs. The methods also vary depending upon the scale of the assessment. They include classification with inventory (e.g., National Wetland Inventory maps) and site specific procedures such as the Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP), Hydrogeomorphic Approach (HGM), and Index of Biological Integrity (IBI).

In some situations, existing methods can be tailored to the ecosystem type, geographic region, park study objectives, etc. However, in many cases a combination of methods is needed to addresses all pertinent management questions. There are several methods and the number is increasing. This makes the selection of any one method challenging to resource managers. For this reason, NPS initiated the development of a Compendium.

Updated: Feb. 20, 2004