The National Park Service MESM Student Opportunities

Transcription

1 The National Park Service MESM Student Opportunities Sara Stevens Program Manager

2 NPS Programs at URI Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network Monitoring Program (NRS Dept) Sara Stevens, Program Coordinator Dennis Skidds, Data Manager and Shoreline Change Monitoring Lead Erika Nicosia, Salt Marsh Monitoring Lead Dana Filippini, Marsh Bird and Marine Invasives Monitoring Lead NPS North Atlan=c Coast Coopera=ve Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU) (GSO) Charles Roman, NAC CESU Program Coordinator NPS Northeast Region Coastal Climate Change Adapta#on Program (GSO) Amanda Babson, Program Coordinator NPS Northeast Region Field Technical Support Center (NRS Dept) Provides GIS services and support to NaEonal Park Service parks and offices throughout the Northeast Region (NER). Charles Labash, Coordinator

3 Why are we at URI? NPS To partner and collaborate on fostering research and educaeon to support natural and cultural resource preservaeon URI We work closely with URI ScienEsts, Students, GIS and Remote Sensing Experts to conduct: Research in the parks Biological Inventories Ecological Monitoring Cultural Resource Management GIS and Data Management Science CommunicaEon

4 For staffing and data colleceon purposes, 270 park units with significant natural resources were organized into Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Networks Each I&M network links parks that share similar geographic and natural resource characterisecs Inventory and Monitoring Program 32 Networks of Parks

5 NCBN Network Staff - - URI NRS Department What do we do? Conduct field inventories of natural resources in the parks- Herp inventory happening in Dr. Karraker Conduct long- term monitoring of a variety of ecological indicators, such as birds, fish, vegetaeon, seagrass, water quality and coastal shorelines We report on the condieon of natural resources in the parks to park managers in order for them to use the informaeon for planning, further research, and educaeon and outreach to the public

6 h]p://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/ncbn

7 Northeast Na#onal Coastal Park and Service Barrier Netwrk What do we monitor and how can you get involved?

8 Northeast Na#onal Coastal Park and Service Barrier Ntwork Salt Marsh Vegeta#on and Fish Monitoring Goal: To document changes occurring over Eme in marsh vegetaeon, nekton, marsh bird communiees, and marsh elevaeon Vegeta#on 7 parks Intensive plot sampling at all parks Monitoring plant community structure Nekton 5 parks Nekton sampled in marsh pools, creeks, and man- made ditches Monitoring nekton community structure NCBN Salt Marsh Monitoring Summer Field Crews (3 paid posi#ons) Desired Skills: North AtlanEc coastal vegetaeon or marine fish ID Knowledge of vegetaeon or fish sampling methodologies BoaEng Skills desirable, but not necessary GPS skills desirable Ability to travel and work in a boat in coastal waters Field experience hot, buggy and difficult terrain to walk in NPS Biological Science Technicians (paid posi#ons- park housing provided) posted on USA Jobs Jan or Feb

9 Northeast Na#onal Coastal Park and Service Barrie Network Salt Marsh Sediment Eleva#on Monitoring 7 parks Data collected twice a year for all parks ElevaEon changes measured using Sediment ElevaEon Tables (SET) Monitoring relaeve elevaeon and accreeon of the marsh Possible MESM Student Projects AssisEng with field data colleceon AssisEng with the development of the monitoring protocol Working with and analyzing our exiseng SET data

10 Marsh Bird Monitoring 7 parks Call- back surveys Possible MESM Student Projects AssisEng with field data colleceon AssisEng with the development of the monitoring database Developing science communicaeon documents for the parks/public

11 Northeast Na#onal Coastal Park and Service BarrierNetwork Water Quality and Seagrass Monitoring 7 parks park- wide water quality sampling of estuarine habitat intensive monitoring of selected seagrass beds Bay- wide seagrass mapping Possible MESM Student Project Incorporate marine invasive species monitoring into our current seagrass monitoring program Indicators: Water Chemistry Water Quality Water Clarity Sediment Organic Carbon Nutrient Inputs

12 Na#onal Park Service Shoreline, Beach, and Dune Monitoring 5 parks shoreline monitoring collected via driving an ATV beach and dune topography monitored by taking elevaeon measurements along transects from the water up over the dunes beach and dune topography extracted from remotely sensed data Possible MESM Student Projects Interns hired through the GeoCorps America Program work in the parks Analysis of shoreline data LiDAR data that can be analyzed to address many queseons Science communicaeon products that need to be developed for this program (work at Gateway with our collaborators from Rutgers U to develop products during the summer)

13 Marine Aqua#c Invasive Monitoring Goal: To monitor the presence and distribueon of marine exoec species in parks 7 parks Salem- sound Coast Watch Protocols Possible MESM Student Projects Data colleceon in the parks Development of a monitoring protocol- we need someone to review exiseng monitoring programs to help us idenefy the best and most quanefiable approach to data colleceon Science communicaeon products on marine invasives for the parks

14 Forest Health Monitoring Sampling in parks/summer Crew travels park- to- park all summer Forest Monitoring Summer Field Crews (4 paid posieons) Desired Skills: Strong background in North Eastern Tree ID Field work experience mandatory Physically fit- walking long distances daily carrying a pack NPS Biological Science Technicians (paid posi#ons- park housing provided) posted on USA Jobs Dec, Jan or Feb

15 Charles Roman Program Coordinator Coastal Wetlands ScienEst Na#onal Park Service

16 North Atlan#c Coast CESU Marine Habitats Habitat Mapping and Inventory Climate Change Understanding natural resource responses to climate change Planning for climate change and sea level rise Cultural Resources Marine Archeological Assessments Cultural Landscape PreservaEon Other Opportuni<es Hurricane Sandy Long- term Monitoring Issue- oriented Research Meet with park staff Learn of issues and science needs

17 Na#onal Park Service Ecosystem Response to Hurricane Sandy Physical dynamics of the breach Great South Bay water levels Shoreline change monitoring Estuarine plankton Seagrass monitoring Fish uelizaeon of seagrass habitat Estuarine habitat mapping Barrier island deer populaeon Barrier island vegetaeon change April 2005 CESU Collaborators Stony Brook University Rutgers University SUNY- ESF University of Rhode Island USGS January 2013 Photos: Charles Flagg (Stony Brook Univ)

18 NPS Northeast Region Climate Adapta#on Amanda Babson- NPS NER Climate Change AdaptaEon Coordinator Vulnerability assessment of historic structures at Salem Maritime National Historic Site Identify opportunities to facilitate landform migration by removing degraded shoreline protection structures Tide gauge analysis to support climate adaptation decisions

19 h]p://rock.geosociety.org/g_corps/index.htm Na#onal Park Service GeoCorps America Posi#ons Short- term (summer) posieons park housing and a sepend provided 2-3 posieons within the NCBN- Cape Cod NaEonal Seashore, Gateway NaEonal RA, maybe Fire Island NS AdverEsed stareng in December for summer posieons Desired Skills: GIS and GPS Ability to work long hours on the beach

20 Come See Us with QuesEons Sara Stevens- NCBN Program Manager, RM15 Erika Nicosia- NCBN Salt Marsh Monitoring Lead, RM14 Dana Filippini- NCBN Marsh Bird Monitoring Lead RM16 Dennis Skidds- NCBN Data Manager, RM20 Charles Roman- North AtlanEc Coast CESU Coordinator, Amanda Babson- Northeast Region Coastal Climate AdaptaEon Coordinator