Intermountain Region National Park Service Resource Management U.S. Department of the Interior

Crossroads in Science Where the Intermountain Region’s Resource Stewardship and Science Programs and Centers Meet Issue 2 Fall 2014

In This Issue...

Introduction to the New Regional Director Feature Park – Glacier NP High Country Heritage Science Feature Program – Soundscapes and Night Skies Plus— Bat Conservation Glen Canyon Dam EIS Revisiting the C.H. Spencer Geologic Resources Division Assistance Invasive Mammal Research Planning for the Future Restoring Kolb Studio Geologic Map Completions Editorial Director: Nida Shaheen [email protected]

Editor: Daisy Bailey [email protected]

Visual Layout: Lori Kinser [email protected]

Front Cover: Dark night skies over Natural Bridges National Park. (Credit: Dr. Tyler Nordgren) See the Natural Resources, Soundscapes & Night Skies feature program article on page 21. Contents

IMR Welcomes New Regional Director ...... i

NATURAL RESOURCES Feature Park — Ice Patch Archeology and Paleoecology in Glacier National Park: High Country Heritage Science ...... 1

NATURAL RESOURCES Denizens of the Night: What IMR is Doing on the Front Lines of Bat Conservation ...... 6

NATURAL RESOURCES Feature Program — Soundscapes and Night Skies Starry, Starry Nights on the Colorado Plateau ...... 21

COLORADO RIVER BASIN COORDINATOR Exploring Uncharted Waters: Glen Canyon Dam EIS ...... 28

NPS SUBMERGED RESOURCES Revisiting the Charles H. Spencer ...... 35

GEOGRAPHIC RESOURCES New Training and Resource Material from the Geographic Resources Division ...... 40

NATURAL RESOURCES The Uninvited Guests ...... 43

PLANNING Planning for the Future ...... 51

CULTURAL RESOURCES Pictures into the Past – Restoring the Kolb Studio ...... 58

GEOGRAPHIC RESOURCES Geology: The “Real” Story Behind the Scenery – Completing All 76 IMR Digital Geologic Map Datasets ...... 62

IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Intermountain Region Welcomes New Regional Director

ew beginnings are special occasions. I would like to extend a Nwarm welcome on behalf of myself and the Natural Resources Science and Stewardship directorate to Intermountain Region’s new regional director, Sue Masica. Sue comes from Alaska, where she worked as regional director for almost six years. In a recent interview about her new appointment, Sue said, “This is an opportunity to support employees in their eff orts to care for these specials places…I will listen carefully to their voices as we work together to preserve these treasures…”

This second of edition of Crossroads in Science is a unique collection of voices from all over the region. The articles reveal the breadth of the Resource Stewardship and Science (RSS) directorate and how that work goes beyond the parameters of our specialized fi elds. Although the magazine focuses on science, this Tammy Whittington, Associate Regional Director, Resource Stewardship and Science (left), with Sue Masica, Regional Director, Intermountain Region (right). issue only exists because of RSS’s collaboration with employees from other offi ces, divisions, programs, parks, DOI bureaus, and universities.

I would like to thank each of the authors for taking the time to write with enthusiasm and passion about your contributions to the region and the National Park Service. You have made creating this issue memorable.

And fi nally, to the reader, I hope, no matter what fi eld or offi ce you work in, that you’ll not only enjoy this issue, but be inspired by these voices of the Intermountain Region.

Tammy Whittington Associate Regional Director Resource Stewardship and Science

i Glacier National Park IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

—NATURAL RESOURCES—

Feature Park— Glacier National Park

Ice Patch Archeology and Paleoecology in Glacier National Park: High Country Heritage Science By Pei-Lin Yu. For more information contact: [email protected] Contributing Authors: Craig Lee, Robert Kelly, Ira Matt, Francis Auld, Kevin Askan, John Murray, Maria Nieves Zedeno, Frank Tyro, David Rockwell, Lon Johnson, Deirdre Shaw, Mike Durglo, Sr. Introduction: Emerging From the Ice fragment of basket, the tip A of a digging stick, the shaft of a spearthrower: very rarely do such items preserve in the archeological record. However, these works of ingenuity and craftsmanship have been discovered in near-perfect condition in ice and snow patches preserved for hundreds, Antler arrow point found in ice patch in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. (Credit: http://frontierscientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/pointjagged.jpg) or even thousands, of years.

Ice patches are formed when and frozen, including trees, a record of the animals and enough snow accumulates fragments of lighter vegetation people who found reasons to in places like the lee of and seeds, animal dung, animals travel into the high country. boulders to become thick themselves, and discarded or lost items from human hunters, Higher temperatures related enough to withstand summer to global warming endanger temperatures. Unlike glaciers, gatherers, and travelers. As this cycle repeats over the years, the ice patches and the delicate ice patches don’t move. organic contents within. Anything that falls onto an ice old snow stratifi es into layers of low-density ice that provide Shorter, warmer winters with patch can become encased winter rainfall erode ice patches 1 Fall 2014

quickly. After exposure, organic items have a short window of time before irrevocable loss, even if left undisturbed by animals or humans. For example, the fl etching on a lost arrow will detach within a year of exposure, sinew, which holds the point in place, will loosen shortly thereafter. According to ice patch archeologist Craig Lee, wood deteriorates in four or fi ve years, and bone or antler within 10 years.

Ice Patch Archeology partners include researchers and experts from the University of Wyoming, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), University of Colorado Boulder, Blackfeet Nation, University of Arizona, Glacier National Park, and the Rocky Mountains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. From left to right: Bob Kelly, University of Wyoming; Rachel Reckin, U.S. Forest Service; Dave Schwab, CSKT of the Flathead Reservation; Craig Lee, University of Colorado Boulder; Don Sam, CSKT of the Flathead Reservation. (Credit: Ira Matt)

Ice Patch Archeology Team member paleobiological specimens like to survey and map the park’s Rachel Reckin discovers wood fragment at Glacier NP ice patch. animal remains, feces, frozen high priority ice patches and (Credit: R. L. Kelly) trees, and other natural items protect, and if necessary collect dating to before 7,500 years BP and curate, exposed cultural The NPS is charged with the (Before Present), all of which and paleo-biological items. stewardship of the material were literally frozen in time--in The proposal was unique traces of our natural and an ice patch. in its culturally-informed cultural heritage, and is also protocols for documentation, responsible for minimizing the New Frontiers in handling, and collection in full loss of these items. The NPS, Science: the Glacier partnership with tribal experts. and the Intermountain Region National Park Ice The project team includes (IMR) specifi cally, have parks Patch Archeology and members of the Confederated rich in ice patches. Recent Salish and Kootenai Tribes of discoveries in Rocky Mountains Paleoecology Project the Flathead Reservation, the National Park and just outside In the winter of 2010, Glacier Blackfeet Nation, the University Yellowstone National Park National Park convened a of Wyoming, the University have produced spectacular and multi-disciplinary team to of Colorado Boulder, and the unique archaeological materials: respond to the National Park University of Arizona as well a 10,000-year old atlatl Service’s call for climate-change as Glacier National Park’s foreshaft; a beautifully woven related research applications cultural resources program women’s basket fragment; and with an ambitious proposal and the Rocky Mountains 2 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Cooperative Ecosystem Studies planning and execution that and ecosystems of Glacier NP, Unit (CESU). The proposal Glacier National Park intends as well as transformations of was fully funded in 2010 and to continue working with these systems over time. implemented through the team members under the Rocky Mountains CESU: the newly-formed Glacier Cultural Ice Core Organic Layers: The only cultural resources project Resources Management Group. Glacier Ice Patch team has supported that year by the pioneered, with the U.S. Ice National Park Service’s Climate What Have We Drilling Design and Operations Change Response Program. Learned So Far? Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a new Relationships and In three fi eld seasons, no technique for obtaining cores human-made artifacts have yet Capacity-Sharing from the unusually porous ice been found in Glacier National found in sub-alpine patches. In The Glacier Ice Patch Park ice patches. Since man- 2013 the team collected several Archeology and Paleoecology made artifacts have been found samples from an ice patch near Project is centered on an in other ice patches in IMR, Siyeh Pass. Thin dark layers of interdisciplinary approach: the the likelihood of fi nding similar organic matter composed of research blends archeology, items in Glacier is high, and windblown dust, animal feces, traditional knowledge, the park is scoping options tiny leaf fragments, and possibly ice science, zoology, and for routine monitoring of volcanic ash, are indicative of botany into a comprehensive highest priority ice patches. warming periods when melting understanding of the science In addition, several paleo- layers ‘lagged’ or collapsed on and cultural heritage of biological discoveries have top of each other. Samples of Glacier National Park’s ice enormous research potential for these dark layers were melted, patches and unique sub-alpine understanding ancient climates strained through a fi ne mesh, mountainscapes. The project is a powerful combination of academic, tribal, and federal expertise. It is the only ice- patch focused research in the Service with direct tribal involvement in all phases. The team has assembled the “Protocol for Field, Lab/ Analysis, and Transport Actions: Artifacts” which is distributed to fi eld-going personnel each year. This ‘living’ document has been revised adaptively in response to conditions encountered in the fi eld, based on input from the crew. In addition, the Ice Patch team has been so successful as a model for collaborative project Ice Patch core showing melting episodes and organic layers. (Credit: R. L. Kelly)

3 Fall 2014

Bison cranium and femur found downslope of ice patch in 2012. Wood fragment possibly indicating ancient forests during a (Credit: R. L. Kelly) prior warming period, in what is now the sub-alpine zone. (Credit: R. L. Kelly)

packaged in the fi eld, and dated +/- 40 BP (both yew specimens). were from mountain goat and in the lab. Radiocarbon dates A cluster of dates in the 900- bighorn sheep, but an unusual from samples at the base of 1,300 BP range include Douglas and interesting discovery was the ice core place the age of fi r, larch, and pine species as the well-preserved cranium and the bare surface at about 6,500 well as yew. These fi nds indicate several limb, rib, and vertebral years ago. This agrees well with the ancient climate experienced elements of an adult male bison. current estimates of when the some warming, and, as a result, This is the fi rst confi rmed park’s glaciers and material in the treeline moved upsloped material evidence of bison in the sample also indicates that from where it is now. More the high mountains of Glacier the ice patch has not melted to a wood samples are currently National Park. A sample of the smaller size since its formation. under analysis. bison bone dates to 967 ± 15 BP and the carbon values are Wood: A variety of trees are Bone: In 2012, a high-elevation suggestive of a diet primarily represented by wood fragments ice patch yielded many animal consisting of high country found in or near Glacier’s ice bones. The bones showed no plants. This could indicate this patches. Collected specimens signs of human modifi cation bison was a frequent visitor to include yew, western larch, and were likely deposited when the high country. Researchers Douglas fi r, and pine (possibly the animals died naturally, plan to evaluate the bison’s white pine). Radiocarbon dates probably upslope of their genetics in more detail to see if vary from 160 +/- 40 BP to 5,300 current location. Most bones this is a ‘mountain’ sub-species.

4 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Panoramic view of a few of Glacier’s ice patches. (Credit: R. Reckin)

Getting the magazine, the tribal newspaper Looking Forward Char Koosta (Confederated Message Out The Glacier Ice Patch Salish and Kootenai Tribes), Archeology and Paleoecology This project has fascinating and the University of Montana’s Project reaches beyond the themes and concepts for a Vision magazine. In 2012, traditional role of archeology. variety of audiences. The the project was recognized The project team hopes to Salish-Kootenai College has nationally by the Department engage a global community produced a youtube video of the Interior with the of First Nations and other (http://www.youtube.com/ Secretary’s Partnerships in indigenous peoples whose watch?v=ifmdf2RHsK8) and Conservation Award. Glacier heritage is being aff ected by is constructing an interactive National Park and the Rocky climate change, academics, website. The website will feature Mountains CESU will work public land managers, and special pages with targeted with Intermountain Region young people in this unique content for teachers, kids, and Washington Offi ce and endangered form of scientists, and managers. cultural resources programs to archeological research. For disseminate culturally sensitive To date, this project has now, the fi eld work on foot has fi eld and lab protocols as a received coverage on the local concluded and the project team transferable example to parks NPR station, in the National is scoping a new monitoring and other agencies. Parks Conservation Association program to continue their research before it is too late.

5 Fall 2014

—NATURAL RESOURCES— Denizens of the Night: What IMR is Doing on the Front Lines of Bat Conservation

By Mike Wrigley, IMRO Wildlife Biologist, [email protected] Contributing authors: Kevin Castle, NPS Wildlife Veterinarian, BRMD; David L. Hays, Natural Resources Branch Chief, El Malpais and El Moro National Monuments; Greg Holm, Wildlife Program Manager, Grand Canyon National Park; Jason Mateljak, Chief of Resource Management, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, Ft. Bowie National Historic Site; Cami McKinney, Chief of Resource Management, Timpanogos Cave National Monument; Rene Ohms, Chief of Resource Management, Devil’s Tower National Monument; John Treanor, Wildlife Biologist, Yellowstone National Park; Paul Whitefi eld, Natural Resource Specialist, Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Walnut Canyon National Monuments Bats: What’s the Big Deal? ats are key indicators of the Bhealth of our national parks and ultimately the environment and its biodiversity. Most bats are insectivores and primarily consume nocturnal insects. Some bats eat up to their entire body weight per night in insects. Also, bats can cover long distances and play a major role in insect control, transporting nutrients across the landscape, and contribute to the greater benefi t of the agricultural economy. Lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasoae) (Credit: USFWS)

However, not all bats eat of agave (Agave sp.). These insects; some eat only plant and other “vegetarian” bats products and serve as important have long faces and tongues pollinators of many fl owering allowing them to drink nectar species. For example, the lesser deep inside fl owers. If the bat long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris pollinators disappeared, these curasoae), living in the desert majestic plants and the wildlife Southwest parks of the that rely on them would be Intermountain Region (IMR), seriously threatened. This is Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) blossoms (Credit: Ken Bosma, Wikimedia) eat only fruit and nectar of important because the loss of night-blooming cacti including plant and animal diversity is one Like birds, some bats play a saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), of the most serious long-term critical role in spreading the organ pipe (Stenocereus global problems aff ecting the seeds of fruit trees and other thurberi), and several species planet. plants. Some bats carry seeds

6 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

inside them as they digest the fi nd food. Bats emit sound During the winter, many fruit, and then excrete the seeds waves that hit objects around species of bats hibernate in far away from the original tree. them. The soundwave bounces dark and moist caves or mines, These seeds drop to the ground off the object and returns to playing an important role in in their own ready-made the bat’s ears as an echo. Bats cave ecosystems by bringing fertilizer, which helps them listen to these echoes to fi gure in important resources. germinate and grow. Because out an object’s location, size, Hibernation is an adaptation of this bats can even play an shape, and the direction it is and vital for bat survival during important part in helping the moving. Using echolocation, the cold winter months when regrowth of forests primarily bats can detect objects as thin there are no insects available through seed dispersal, but as a human hair in complete to eat. Many bats hibernate in pollination is likely key as well. darkness. Echolocation allows caves as a community, while Many plants, without the aid of some bats to fi nd insects the size some species overwinter in modern cultivation methods, of a small gnat. small groups or individually. still rely on bats for their Bats hibernate within an aptly- proliferation in the wild. Winter Months named “hibernaculum” that The majority of bats are most has very specifi c, favorable Echolocation active during warm months in habitat conditions of Even though all bats have eyes, the hours just after dusk and temperature and moisture with most insectivorous species use preceding dawn. Bats in the no human disturbance. Bats echolocation (rapid pulses of IMR migrate, hibernate, or very often return to the same ultrasonic sound from their do both. During the summer, hibernaculum, even to very mouth or nose that bounce off males and females of many nearly the same spot within a an object) to “see” with sound. bat species live apart while the hibernaculum. We also know They use echolocation to locate females raise the young. For that some bats will switch prey, avoid barriers and even most insectivorous bat species, hibernacula during winter. to return to their roosts in the when fall arrives, both sexes While in hibernation, bats dark. Bats and some other fl y to “swarming areas” where enter into “torpor” which is a animals like whales, dolphins, they mate and prepare to enter a physical state when they lower shrews, and some birds, use deep, prolonged hibernation. their physiological activity echolocation to navigate and which includes heart rate, respiration, metabolism, and body temperature. Bats must store energy, in the form of fat, prior to hibernation. One of the major concerns with the increasingly widespread disease white-nosed syndrome is that the hibernation of affl icted bats is interrupted; often leading them to depart their winter roost early and to eventually starve to death because there is Illustration of echolation (Credit: ASU School of Life Sciences) no food available. 7 Fall 2014

Threats to Bats has become an increasingly other organisms, including the popular source of energy. wintering range of bats in North Bats are among the most Wind-generated electricity America to keep expanding intensely feared and relentlessly is renewable and generally northward (Wheeler 2012). persecuted animals on earth. considered environmentally Through ignorance, many clean, but wind-energy facilities Changes in temperature may populations of bats have been often take a toll on wildlife. aff ect hibernation periods needlessly destroyed. Most Widespread fatalities at wind and the availability of suitable people know little about bats, turbines can have signifi cant hibernacula in the future. often believing popular myths. impacts on bird and bat Increased variation in climatic Bats are virtually defenseless, populations. extremes raises the possibility of and large colonies bats emerging from hibernation make easy targets. Climate change early or at a greater frequency. A single act of Bats may be may cause severe That would not only put vandalism can stress for bats. hibernating bats at risk from kill millions at mysterious and The projected depleted energy stores, but a time, having a misunderstood, increase in aridity could also aff ect the birth and signifi cant impact but the earth’s only and decrease in survival of pups. Resources, on the survival of fl ying mammals precipitation in especially insect prey, may an entire species. many regions has be limited or variable during are essential been shown to periods of early arousal from The decrease to our global greatly impact hibernation. Changes in climate in bat numbers the reproductive may also infl uence insect life mirrors the environment. capabilities of cycles, which would in turn ever-changing bats (Adams aff ect when feeding and habitat landscape to 2010, Frick et. al. conditions for bats. which they rely 2010). Changes in temperature, upon for survival. In IMR, the especially warming trends, are Despite the great benefi ts availability of natural habitat often associated with global which bats provide to humans, for bats and other mammals climate change. The average they are still among the most is declining and becoming temperature of the Earth’s persecuted animals on earth. increasingly fragmented. It surface increased by less than Every year there are new reports is important to protect and 2 degrees F (1.1º C) in the past in the U.S. of thousands of bats manage existing habitats to help 100 years, but global climate killed needlessly in caves and bats to thrive. Loss of habitat, change is projected to increase mines. When a colony of bats the use of pesticides, and other that average by another 2 to 11 is lost, the potential benefi ts of management practices have degrees F (1.1º to 6º C) over the countless microorganisms and all lead to a reduction in the next century (Parry et al. 2007, other animals perish with them. abundance of insects which Saunders et al. 2008). Loss of bats may seriously many bats rely on as their only damage entire ecosystems food source. Only a handful of studies upon which we depend with have specifi cally examined unpredictable and potentially Amid heightened concerns climate change and bats, and disastrous consequences. about climate change and the they strongly suggest that bats Importantly, bats can act as economic and environmental will be aff ected as much as early-warning indicators of costs of fossil fuels, wind 8 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

large-scale ecological eff ects resulting from regional warming and drying trends currently at play in western North America. The future of bats relies on researchers like the NPS and its many partners. By supporting conservation education and research, the NPS is working to learn more about bats and to change the public’s general perception of bats as scary to one of wonder. White-nose Syndrome Since the winter of 2006, a deadly disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed millions of bats in North America. WNS is a disease caused by a non- Counties with documented occurrences of WNS and the year they were suspected and native, cold-loving fungus confi rmed with the disease. (Credit: White-nose syndrome.org) (Pseudogymnoascus destructans spread westward across the [P. destructans] formerly called continent. Currently seven Geomyces destructans]), which bat species have been infected, can be found in many caves in including: little brown bats the Northeast, Midwest, and (Myotis lucifugus), northern Southeastern regions of North long-eared bats (Myotis America. The name of this septentrionalis), big brown bats disease refers to the white fungal (Eptesicus fuscus), tri-colored growth found on the muzzle of bats (Perimyotis subfl avus), infected bats, although it is also eastern small-footed bats often visible on their wings and (Myotis leibii), endangered tail membrane. WNS was fi rst gray bats (Myotis grisescens), discovered in caves located in and endangered Indiana bats New York during the winter Hibernating little brown bat with white- (Myotis sodalis). Alarmingly, of 2006-2007 where it killed nose syndrome. (Credit: USGS) some species such as the little over half of some wintering bat allowing them to coexist and brown bat, one of the most populations. not be harmed; unlike North common species in North P. destructans is thought to American bats. The fungus America, are experiencing some be native to European caves currently aff ects hibernating of the highest mortality rates (or elsewhere in the Old bat species in the eastern half from this disease: up to 90-100 World) where local bats may of the United States and parts percent in some populations. have evolved with the fungus, of Canada; but it continues to This issue has become a high 9 Fall 2014

priority to researchers and hypothesized that this method are catching and eating insects. conservationists. may have been what brought P. However, acoustic monitoring destructans to the United States; alone does not provide data Transmission of the fungus however such a “smoking gun” on sex, age, or reproductive associated with WNS is has not been determined. P. condition of specifi c bat species, believed to occur in two destructans is spread by spores, and can under-represent the possible ways: through bat- which are released when the occurrence of species whose to-bat contact and by humans bats try to rub the fungus off echolocation calls are of low visiting caves and mines and of their noses and wings. The energy and diffi cult to detect. transporting the fungus to spores spread to bats by direct Additional data on individuals a new location. Bat-to-bat contact with infected bats or and populations are collected contact occurs during pre- and via contact with contaminated by using mist netting, harp post-hibernation movements, substrates (cave walls, ceilings, trapping, and other capture while in hibernacula, and in etc.). methods, and by observing maternal colonies. Conditions colonies and individuals at in hibernacula make it an ideal Humans are not susceptible their roosts. While each place for the spread of the to WNS because the method has its advantages and fungus as temperature and fungus requires cold body disadvantages, the combination humidity are optimal and high temperatures to survive, which of acoustic monitoring, densities of bats are gathered in bats attain when in their winter observation, and capture one location. torpor. provides a more complete view The fungus can persist in cave Bat Research and of bat ecology than any one method can obtain. sediment after bat colonies White-nose Syndrome leave their hibernacula in the Today, researchers are While this deadly disease is spring, and can survive to infect the focus of much research next winter’s arrivals. Some concerned that WNS will appear in the many caves and and attention, researchers still estimates show a 93 percent do not have all of the answers decline of little brown bats in 23 bat hibernation areas found in the Intermountain Regional or a cure; indeed, as with caves at the epicenter of WNS most wildlife diseases a cure (New York Department of parks. Just like park scientists who put radio collars on wolves may be illusive. Research has Environmental Conservation). shown that WNS-infected The disease is spreading or elk, bat biologists’ radio-tag bats using exceptionally small bats awaken from their winter rapidly and has the potential torpor as often as every 3-4 to infect at least half of the transmitters that are specially designed to be carried by bats. days as opposed to the normal bat species found in North every 10-20 days or longer. America. To date, WNS has not Once a bat is tagged, NPS researchers are able to follow The fungus also damages the been detected in IMR parks; connective tissues, muscles however, the threat of this it while it forages and returns to its roost. Researchers can and skin of the bats while and deadly disease spreading here is disrupts their physiological real. eavesdrop on bat echolocation calls by using “bat detectors” functions such as water and The fungus can also very likely which pick-up their high- electrolyte balances. While be transferred from cave to frequency sounds and let the in their winter torpor, the cave by equipment that is not scientist know if bats are just immune systems of the bats are properly disinfected. It is fl ying through an area or if they suppressed, corresponding with 10 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

What are IMR Parks doing about WNS? • Parks with cave resources are updating their Cave Management Plans and using other means to minimize the risk of P. destructans spreading to their bat populations. These actions include providing extensive WNS education materials; screening visitors Each evening in summer Mexican free-tailed bats exit Carlsbad Cavern in search of a smorgasbord of insects for dinner. (Credit: Nick Hristov) and gear; disinfection; and, when necessary, closing cave resources. the need to conserve energy and WNS and the nutrients. Infected bats awaken • Access to all NPS caves dehydrated and hungry and National Park is restricted to those who go looking for food and water, Service hold appropriate permits but they fi nd none since it is or tour tickets. Show caves NPS manages over 84 million such as those located in still winter, and unfortunately, acres in 401 units. Nearly one in Carlsbad Caverns National many of them starve to death. four NPS units have caves, and Park, El Malpais National Because most species of bats one in three contains mines that Monument, Timpanogos only produce one pup per year, can provide habitat for bats and Cave National Monument, the bat population is unable to other organisms. Nation-wide and others remain open recover very quickly. about 40 species of bats occurs with precautions in place. The bat conservation in NPS units, including seven • The NPS Abandoned community is deeply concerned species that are federally listed Mineral Land Program and involved with fi ghting the as threatened or endangered, requires all inspectors, spread of WNS. Researchers and numerous other species surveyors, and contractors to use new gear or to and land managers including that are state listed. P. disinfect existing gear prior the NPS are working to fi nd destructans, the causative agent to working in NPS mines. a way to mitigate this fatal of WNS has been found in or disease. Federal, state, and immediately adjacent to ten • NPS wildlife veterinarians local organizations are focusing NPS units. are providing service- their eff orts on conservation, wide coordination NPS units welcome over 270 on WNS surveillance containment, and education. million visitors per year and in and management, and IMR parks are diligently taking many national parks in IMR, partnering with other proactive steps to minimize the such as Carlsbad Caverns, caves federal and state agencies spread of WNS by employing are the primary attraction to in national coordination a variety of measures aimed to visitors; in many more, caves are eff orts. keep WNS from infecting more secondary attractions. • The NPS Offi ce of Public bats. Health has issued the following statement on

11 Fall 2014

NPS units with documented WNS and parks conducting bat research and conservation projects.

WNS: The human health Bat Conservation Southeast Arizona Group risk from WNS is unknown The Southeast Arizona but appears to be low. No Projects and Group, (Chiricahua National human illnesses to date Activities in IMR Monument, Coronado have been associated with Parks National Memorial (CORO), contact or exposure to and Fort Bowie National WNS-infected bats or caves. Parks across the Intermountain Historic Site) is engaged in In addition, P. destructans Region are actively addressing several projects related to only grows at temperatures pressing bat conservation issues monitoring of bat populations well below human body by conducting state-of-the-art and restoration of bat habitats. temperature so infection is research to better understand very unlikely. CORO recently completed an bats, their habitats, and threats intensive four-year study of facing them. Below are federally endangered lesser highlights from a few of IMR’s long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris exciting studies. yerbabuenae) roosting in the State of Texas Mine. The study

12 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Palmer’s agave–an important food source for lesser long-nosed bats. (Credit: NPS)

cameras to record bats entering and exiting the mine. In addition, roost microclimates

Video camera locations used during bat surveys at the State of Texas Mine at were monitored using data Coronado National Memorial. Ellipses highlight video camera locations used to record loggers. Researchers studied the bats as they exit and enter the mine. (Credit: NPS) bat gate’s design to determine if unacceptable mortality rates of bats entering and exiting the closed mine were occurring. Results indicate this design is compatible with bat passage and bat populations fl uctuate dramatically between years at this and other sites in the area.

CORO also has a large-scale restoration project focused on propagating and transplanting Palmer’s agave (Agave palmeri), a principle food source for lesser long-nosed bats. This project involves hosting large volunteer events and working State of Texas gate to prevent human access while allowing bat passage in and out of mine at Coronado National Memorial. (Credit: NPS) with local schools and youth programs. focused on evaluating the materials may impede the impacts of a “bat gate” that was movement of bats in and out of Chiricahua and Fort Bowie placed at the entrance of the this important roost site. have also been engaged in mine to prevent disturbances long-term monitoring of bat from illegal smuggling activities This study was implemented species for a number of years. to a large communal bat roost. according to criteria established The study completed its 15th Researchers were concerned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife summer survey and fourth the design and construction Service, and used up to six winter survey of bat species. strategically placed video 13 Fall 2014

Researchers take measurements (left) of a Townsend’s big-eared bat and swab a bat for fungus (right) at El Malpais National Monument. (Credit: David Hays)

With new threats such as WNS, used to identify species using monument’s caves during the the survey’s focus and methods their unique patterns and winter. are shifting to create protocols, frequencies. Management will such as acoustic monitoring, use this information to guide The abundance of caves and for studying the species with the implementation and timing cave-roosting bats in the minimal contact. of future practices that could monument, along with the aff ect bat habitat; particularly threat of WNS, has prompted Devils Tower decisions concerning forest a multi-pronged approach to National Monument management (e.g., mountain both cave and bat management During the summer of 2014, pine beetle mitigation, and research at the monument. Devils Tower National prescribed fi re, etc.). In December 2010, the Monument (DETO) biologists monument halted all public initiated a new acoustic El Malpais access to caves as a preventative bat monitoring project. As National Monument measure and to give staff time with other similar studies El Malpais National Monument, to develop a WNS response at IMR parks, DETO used in northwest New Mexico, is strategy. This also set in motion specialized equipment such prime habitat for cave-roosting several research projects to as Wildlife Acoustics SM3© bats, with 180 known major establish baseline data about detectors to digitally record lava tube caves and numerous cave microenvironments, bat vocalizations. Monitoring other cave-like features bat populations and colony data collected will be used spread over the monument’s locations, and a system for to determine which areas diverse 114,000-acre volcanic identifying caves that were of the monument are used landscape. At least a half-dozen appropriate for recreational by bats. Using specialized resident species hibernate in the visitation. software, recorded calls are 14 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

To investigate the ambient what makes P. destructans research and planning allowed environmental conditions pathogenic. Scientists swabbed the monument to continue within the monument’s lava and cultured microbes from and expand these existing tubes, researchers Debbie live bats roosting in caves and research projects, while also Buecher and Dr. Diana mist-netted at the surface. funding needed technology and Northup of the University of Preliminary results show a wide infrastructure improvements. New Mexico deployed dozens variety in the microbial fauna These included gating one of Hobo-brand “iButton” found on individual bats, as well major hibernacula cave and temperature and humidity as the microbes associated with installing a solar-powered, dataloggers to multiple sites diff erent capture sites. cellular-data-connected live within twelve lava Internet web tube caves. As camera to monitor expected, they a major bat colony. found that individual Monitoring was caves can harbor also expanded to a many very diff erent summer maternity microhabitats, colony. Two Student including some that Conservation provided appropriate Association interns cool, moist will be hired to conditions known to perform winter bat facilitate the growth hibernacula surveys of P. destructans. This in other unsurveyed is key information cave sites. These to assessing the risk and other research that WNS may gain Soil sampling at El Malpais National Monument. projects are (Credit: Kenneth Ingham) a foothold in specifi c ongoing to ensure caves with appropriate that monument environments. USGS bat biologist Dr. Ernest staff has the latest and most Valdez deployed a network comprehensive scientifi c To further investigate ambient of more than twenty solar- understanding of their fragile conditions, researchers sampled powered digital acoustic and vulnerable cave and bat soil and detritus within the lava monitoring stations over a resources. tube caves at multiple locations large area of the park’s lava for genetic analysis. Slow- fl ows. These acoustic sensors Grand Canyon National Park growing, cold-temperature will allow Dr. Valdez to Biologists at Grand Canyon laboratory cultures from these development an occupancy National Park are conducting samples provided invaluable model to show “hot spots” of on-going research to determine genetic information that led hibernacula use, greatly helping the spatial and temporal bat to the identifi cation of several monument staff prioritize areas habitat use patterns in the close, possibly unnamed fungal for hibernacula surveys and bat park. Researchers use acoustic relatives of P. destructans. population monitoring eff orts. equipment placed at selected Identifying these other locations to record bat use endemic fungus strains may During the summer of 2014, during three seasons: warm help researchers understand increased funding for WNS 15 Fall 2014

(March, April, October, and November), cold (December, January, and February) and hot (May, June, July, August, and September). By spreading the sampling across seasons, they can compare bat diversity and use throughout the year. Acoustic data is analyzed and compared with data from other monitoring stations to create a proportion of each bat species and the number of occupied days within each week. Biologists also capture bats during these same seasons. Where possible, they set nets across and adjacent to available A bat night interpretive program at Timpanogos Cave National Monument where water sources where bats tend park visitors are seeing how biologists use bat detecting equipment for identifying and monitoring bats. (Credit: Cami McKinney) to concentrate their activities. Nets are set one-half hour Timpanogos Cave Flagstaff Group before sunset, capturing bats for National Monument Because of regional geologic four hours. Captured bats are Biologists at Timpanogos processes, a network of unique identifi ed to species, measured, Cave National Monument are subterranean “earthcrack” weighed, and released. expanding their research to fi ssures is located at Wupatki identify unknown roost sites in National Monument. Thirty- high cave ceilings, abandoned six earth crack openings are mines, and hydroelectric pipe documented, and six are large tunnels using bat roost data- enough for human exploration. loggers. Park biologists are Air currents move within an also netting bats every two interconnected fi ssure system weeks throughout the summer and are driven by atmospheric to document species use and pressure fl uctuations at unique activities in the American “blowhole” openings. The Fork Canyon. To improve blowholes are also affi liated visitor education regarding with the unique archeological bats and WNS, an interpretive sites for which the monument ranger conducts visitor and was established to protect. student programs about bats, During the 1970’s, a survey focusing on their value to the and biological inventory environment, how to protect of the largest earthcracks their habitat, and stopping the resulted in the discovery of Solar powered acoustic monitoring spread of WNS westward to two endemic pseudoscorpion station in Grand Canyon National Park. (Credit: Greg Holm) IMR parks. species (Muchmore 1981).

16 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

These features are also used by potential climate-warming radio-telemetry, and acoustic bats, including the Townsend’s eff ects. Soil fungal spore monitoring. Acoustic data big-eared bat (Corynorhinus assay data and microclimate provide important information townsendii), listed as a wildlife data will be used to assess the on the distribution of bat species of conservation concern risk of WNS spreading to the species over a large spatial area, (Bain 1982). monument’s earthcracks, and such as Yellowstone, and by for advance planning to prevent combining mist-net survey data In 2014, researchers will begin or deter WNS infection in bat with acoustic sampling data, conducting earthcrack surveys populations. These results will researchers are able to create a where little existing biological be used by the monument to comprehensive assessment of surveys or monitoring has better manage these unique bat species diversity, population been completed in the last 35 caves and their resources in the status, and reproductive years. Biologists seek to gather future. success. information on bat use and other general information to Yellowstone National Park From 2010 to 2013, bats fi tted better manage visitor access, Yellowstone National Park with radio-transmitters helped identify any rare bats, assess the (YELL) is assessing its bat identify buildings in the park risk of WNS contamination, population and the potential that serve as maternity roosts and better understand the impacts of WNS. The park is (sites where bats raise their earthcrack microclimate and taking proactive measures by young) for little brown bats potential changes related initiating a monitoring eff ort for (Myotis lucifugus). This species to global climate warming. the long-term management of has experienced substantial Specifi cally, park staff and bats. Biologists are describing declines in the eastern North researchers will develop the status, distribution, and America as a result of WNS. detailed maps of subsurface roost locations of bat species in Because female bats show high and earthcrack entrances, the park through mist-netting, fi delity to maternity roosts systematically inventory arthropod and bat fauna, acquire baseline microclimate data, and analyze sediment for presence of P. destructans.

Because the monument’s unique earthcrack fi ssure system is responsive to surface weather and essentially “breaths” surface air, these microenvironments may be altered by global climate warming. Microclimate data are desired to better understand earthcrack temperature zonation, potential surface

air-mix zones, and to establish Little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) roosting in a building attic in Yellowstone a baseline for monitoring National Park. (Credit: John Treanor)

17 Fall 2014

• Curecanti National Recreation Area: Conducts species inventories for baseline data; site-specifi c surveillance to assess arrival, departure, and over- wintering bats; site-specifi c monitoring to determine baseline and unusual winter activity. • Glacier National Park: Collects baseline data on species diversity, occupancy, arrival and departure, bat Temperature-sensitive radio transmitter used to track and monitor bats in Yellowstone health, bat hibernacula, and National Park. (Credit: John Treanor) migration corridor activity. • Organ Pipe Cactus National across many years, there is activity by species, which aids Monument: Monitors a need to understand the researchers to detect long-term known maternity roost sites consequences of excluding bats population trends. Acoustic for endangered lesser long- from buildings in YELL. sampling in both summer and nosed bats, investigates winter has been used to identify Thermal conditions inside activity patterns, and survey 11 species of bats in the park. other potential roost sites. roosts aff ect the ability of Monitors bats using mist net adult females to successfully Together, data collected from sampling at water sources to rear young. Researchers each of these studies will help create an index of species use temperature-sensitive detect population changes presence and abundance. radio transmitters to provide in relation to WNS and will information on the thermal improve the ability of bat • Pipe Spring National Monument: Determines conditions of roosts used populations to recover, should seasonal use, temporal, during pregnancy and lactation. they experience the dramatic and spatial distribution These data describe the declines similar to those of sensitive bat species torpor patterns by species observed in the eastern United throughout the year including and reproductive condition, States and Canada. during migration pulses. and help explain why bats Other bat research and Collects acoustic data, and select certain buildings for conservation eff orts in traps, identifi es, and releases reproduction. Buildings that IMR Parks bats to monitor populations. serve as maternity roosts • Bryce Canyon and Zion • Saguaro National Park: and provide conditions that National Parks: Conducts Monitors two closed and facilitate reproductive success bat monitoring using gated mines and will develop may be essential for population acoustic equipment and and implement remote recovery following declines mist netting to assess bat monitoring system for known caused by WNS. species composition and roost of endangered lesser changes over time and site long-nosed bats in the future. Acoustic monitoring at the park characteristics. provides baseline indices of bat

18 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

For more information please visit the following sites: https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/

http://www.batcon.org/index.php/what-we-do/white-nose-syndrome.html

NPS ShareNRSS SharePoint site: http://inpniscvsp05:39904/brmd/wildlife/wns/Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx

References

Adams, R.A. 2010. Bat reproduction declines when conditions mimic climate change projections for western North America. Ecology, 91(8), pp. 2437-2445. Ecological Society of America.

Elizabeth Hagen. 2009. Bats - ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved May 27, 2014 from http://askabiologist.asu.edu/echolocation.

Frick, W.F., D.S. Reynolds, and T.H. Kunz. 2010. Infl uence of climate and reproductive timing on demography of little brown myotis Myotis lucifugus. Journal of Animal Ecology, 79:128–136.

Parry, M., O. Canziani, J. Palutikof, P. Van der Linden, and C. Hanson, editors. 2007. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. International Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, New York, New York, USA.

Saunders, S., C. Montgomery, T. Easley, and T. Spencer. 2008. The West’s changing climate: hotter and drier. Joint Report of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, New York, USA.

Wheeler, B.H. 2012. Modeling range shifts for North American bats under climate change. North American bat ranges and climate change.

Bat facts

19 Fall 2014

Did You Know?

› Bats are found throughout North America in all 50 states Bats contribute to our and elsewhere world-wide. rich biodiversity and › There are over 1,100 species of bats which account for well-being, through almost a quarter of the world’s mammal species. pollination, seed › More than one-half of American bat species are in severe dispersal, insect control decline or already considered endangered. World-wide and other eco-services in over one-fi fth of all bat species are considered threatened. rainforests, woodlands, › Bats are the only mammals that can fl y. wetlands, grasslands, deserts, and cities. › Most bats are insect-eating machines. A single little brown bat can catch and eat up to 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in one hour.

› Some bats can scoop up insects in their tail or wing membranes and then place them in their mouth.

› There are fruit-eating bats, nectar-eating bats, carnivorous bats (that prey on small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs), fi sh-eating bats, and blood-eating bats.

› Bats usually emit 20 calls per second when in fl ight. When pursuing prey, they can emit over 200 calls per second.

› Normally, bats hang head down; females giving birth reverse their position, so their heads are up.

› Most species of female bats give birth to only one young each year and this slow reproduction rate makes them exceptionally vulnerable to extinction.

› As temperatures decrease in the fall and the number of insects diminish, many bats migrate to their hibernacula in caves or mines for the winter. During hibernation a bat will reduce its body temperature, slow its heart rate to only one beat every four or fi ve seconds, and rely on its stored fat reserves to survive until springtime.

› Loss of bats increases demand for chemical pesticides, can jeopardize whole ecosystems of other animal and plant species, and can harm human economies.

› Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying waters, improving detergents, and producing gasohol and antibiotics.

20 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

—NATURAL RESOURCES— Feature Program— Soundscapes and Night Skies

Starry, Starry Nights on the Colorado Plateau By Nate Ament, Colorado Plateau Dark Sky Cooperative Coordinator, [email protected] and Theresa Ely, Soundscapes and Night Skies Coordinator, IMR Natural Resources Division, [email protected]

s the 100-year anniversary parts of Utah, Colorado, Aof the National Park Arizona, and New Mexico. Service in 2016 fast approaches, The area’s combination of high a Call to Action initiative, elevation, excellent air quality, known as Starry, Starry low population density, and Night, is focused here in the frequent cloud-free weather Intermountain Region. This aff ord world-class viewing and initiative is gaining momentum enjoyment of naturally dark, with the support of employees star-fi lled skies. from the Intermountain Region (IMR) Natural Resources As the public loses the Division, the Washington Offi ce experience of a dark night sky (WASO) Night Skies Team, and in their backyards, they are the Pacifi c West Region (PWR) increasingly seeking it in areas Natural Resources Division like the Colorado Plateau. as they collaborate with an The unfettered view of the exciting community and park- Milky Way, meteors, galaxies, based engagement known as the and the impression of looking Colorado Plateau Dark Skies beyond our planet is being Cooperative (Cooperative). lost to outdoor lighting from The Colorado Plateau Dark Sky distant cities and nearby towns. The volunteer-based Cooperative logo. City lights produce sky glow Cooperative is promoting the distributing information to that can be seen up to 200 preservation, enjoyment, and teachers for the classroom, and miles away, while nearby glare tourism potential of stargazing providing technical support to sources can cause even greater and astronomy in the region IMR parks. impact. Natural darkness is by providing community rapidly being lost throughout support for night sky events The Cooperative focuses the United States, but there and projects that reduce light on the topographic heart of are opportunities where a little pollution, educating diverse the high desert, forest, and eff ort can make a big diff erence. audiences through hosting and canyon country where the The Colorado Plateau is one participating in conferences, Four Corners states meet. The such place. assisting with night sky park 130,000 square mile Colorado designation applications, Plateau, contains substantial

21 Fall 2014

which brings together the town, Capitol Reef National Park, the Entrada Institute, Wayne County, and visitors from all over the world. This year will be the 5th Heritage Starfest celebrating the dark night skies of the Colorado Plateau.

Bryce Canyon National Park has been dedicated to providing ranger-led astronomy programs to the public for 45 years. This year rangers will present 142 talks to bring the stars to visitors from around the globe. In addition, each year the park teams up with the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, other Anthropogenic Light Ratio model that predicts light pollution levels for the volunteers, and local businesses continental U.S. (Credit: NPS Night Skies Team) to host its annual Astronomy Festival: an astronomy event Community Support educational talks, telescope like no other. Astrotourism programs, lunar viewing, is a signifi cant boost to local Since 2011, WASO, IMR, and night sky photography economies around Bryce. In PWR, and the Cooperative instruction. The talks will also 2012, the park estimated 50,000 have fostered education and feature Springdale’s progressive astronomy-related visits, with conservation partnerships with outdoor lighting ordinances and an economic impact of $2 communities across the region. practices. million to the local economies. These partnerships include local governments, businesses, On the other side of the state, Flagstaff , Arizona, the world’s and organizations that work the town of Monticello will host fi rst International Dark Sky together to promote awareness a similar series of programs. City, leads the way in lighting of the impacts of light pollution Hosted by the Four Corners practices and technologies on and organize eff orts to reduce it. School of Outdoor Education the Colorado Plateau. Local and the Cooperative, these free dark skies groups (http://www. For example, the city of events give participants of all fl agstaff darkskies.org/) and the Springdale, Utah, working with ages an opportunity to enjoy Lowell Observatory located the Cooperative, is presenting astronomy programs under the in Flagstaff (www.lowell. a series of six night sky events naturally dark skies of southeast edu) are key partners with the throughout 2014 in partnership Utah. Cooperative that engage the with Zion National Park, local community and area parks to community members and Also in Utah, the town of protect dark night skies. business, and the St. George Torrey is the proud sponsor of Astronomy Group. These the annual Heritage Starfest, free public events include a two-day astronomy event 22 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

The Milky Way soars over the 2013 Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival, where visitors can peer into dark skies through over 50 telescopes. (Credit: Geoff Goins)

Dark Skies and outdoor lighting and advertising estate developers, members Emerging Technology industries, National Park from the oil and gas and mining Summit Service staff , public and tribal industries, and community land managers, commercial real leaders and activists. The On August 18-20, 2014, the Lowell Observatory, the City of Flagstaff , The Keystone Center, and the Cooperative hosted “Blinded By The Light: A Summit and Call To Action To Protect Our Night Skies.” This conference sought to fi nd plausible solutions to the growing threat of light pollution from the popular white and poorly-fi ltered LED outdoor lighting widely used in this region. The Summit attracted a broad set of participants including: local planners, traffi c engineers, The Colorado Plateau, one of the last truly dark places where you can fi nd your place policy makers, scientists, the in the Universe. (Credit: Jacob Frank) 23 Fall 2014

summit included extensive a four-day workshop in education and discussion Moab, Utah, for astronomy on the signifi cance of good and night sky program lighting choices to the region, presenters. Twenty-six the nation, and the world, and interpreters and educators provided a set of practical tools from across the western to protect dark night skies in United States learned how to eff ectively guide participants our parks and communities. through the cosmos above For more information, please our heads. visit www.keystone.org/ darkskiesconference. • The Cooperative provides outreach and educational International Dark Sky materials to regional guides Parks on the Colorado and outfi tters to teach their customers about the Plateau stars. This year, with help In 2007, Natural Bridges from Dr. Tyler Nordgren National Monument in (University of Redlands), Chaco Culture International Dark Sky the Cooperative provided southeast Utah was the Park, is the fourth NPS park awarded this fi rst park in the world to be honor (2013). (Credit: Dr. Tyler Nordgren) training and materials to the designated by the International Grand Canyon River Guides at their annual meeting, Dark Sky Association (IDA) as to support IMR parks by creating the potential to an International Dark Sky Park. assisting them in developing their applications to gain this reach as many as 17,000 International Dark Sky Parks recognition. Parks given the commercial river passengers are parks or other public lands award receive widespread per year. possessing exceptional starry international attention, and • At the 2013 Biennial skies and natural nocturnal often increased visitation due to Conference of Science habitat where light pollution is their conservation eff orts and and Management on the mitigated and natural darkness dark skies. Colorado Plateau, the is valued as an important Cooperative hosted the fi rst educational, cultural, scenic, Education Night Skies Symposium and and natural resource. spread the word about new The Cooperative believes research and eff orts in dark that night sky awareness More recently in 2013-2014, skies conservation. and education is crucial to Chaco Culture National • The Cooperative fosters the preservation of natural Historical Park and Grand partnerships between parks darkness. There are many Canyon-Parashant National and local astronomy groups opportunities to invite people Monument were each awarded such as the Black Canyon out under the stars, and the the designation of International Astronomical Society, the Cooperative supports the eff orts Dark Sky Park and both St. George Astronomy of these and other partners to celebrated these events with Group, and the Salt Lake spread the night skies message: collaborators and visitors, Astronomical Society. These partnerships increase the showcasing the amazing • In 2013, in partnership with IMR parks’ abilities to host nightscapes of the parks. the NPS Night Skies Team, night sky programs and The Cooperative continues the Cooperative hosted events. 24 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

• The Cooperative teams up with schools and educational organizations including the University of Utah Astronomy program, Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, and Global Explorers to promote astronomy classes, activities, and curricula that can be used by teachers in classrooms from elementary schools to college levels. For a full schedule of night sky educational events on the Colorado Plateau, please visit www.nightskyparks.org. River by day, Milky Way by night, dark skies sail overhead of a commercial river trip on the San Juan River in Utah. (Credit: Dr. Tyler Nordgren) Encouraging Common Sense Ways to Think About Outdoor Lighting Essential to addressing the environmental and economic impacts of unnecessary outdoor lighting are several general lighting principles. In designing, selecting, and operating outdoor lighting, these six universal guidelines can achieve the goal of night sky protection in parks, businesses, and communities. These mitigations are intended to be reviewed sequentially, and used Shielded lighting, reduced bulb wattage, and warm colored bulbs at Chisos Basin in Big Bend NP allow for reduced glare, substantial reduction in energy use and in concert with one another. associated cost savings, and the ability to see the dramatic landscape and night skies. They are, in order: (Credit: NPS Night Skies Team)

1. Light only WHERE you 3. SHIELD lights and direct 5. Select lamps with need it; them downward; WARMER COLORS; and, 2. Light only WHEN you 4. Use the MINIMUM 6. Select the most ENERGY need it; AMOUNT of light EFFICIENT lamps and necessary; fi xtures.

25 Fall 2014

Training to Support Fully Sustainable Outdoor Lighting in IMR Parks From 2014 to 2017, the Cooperative, the NPS Night Skies Team, Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA), and the IDA (through a cooperative agreement) will embark on a multi-year eff ort to elevate the capacity of parks to eff ectively evaluate outdoor lighting, attend training events, and install fully shielded, lower Change in observed glare and uplighting due to night-sky-friendly lighting retrofi t, Chisos Basin, Big Bend National Park. (Credit: NPS Night Skies Team) wattage sustainable lighting. This work will address the degree of unsustainable outdoor lighting in parks, and introduce the solutions developed through short-term projects at GRCA and other locations.

Overall, this project will train and empower parks to evaluate Skyglow from energy development in the Permian Basin near McDonald Observatory their outdoor lighting and in west Texas. (Credit: Bill Wren) successfully plan for installing lighting that is eff ective but still preserves the night sky. lessen the view for stargazers, opportunities where modest Ultimately, parks and their aff ect those seeking a wilderness changes to equipment and surrounding areas will enjoy experience, and impact practices can substantially darker skies and unfettered nocturnal wildlife. improve the nighttime resource. views of the cosmos. For example, the BMPs In 2013, the NPS and including interim best lighting Guidance for Energy the Cooperative had the practices are an intended fi rst Development Lighting opportunity to collaborate step in mitigating environmental with the BLM Field Offi ce in impact from artifi cial lighting. Energy development in Moab by advising them on The BMPs will also serve as rural and remote lands has Best Management Practices a model and foundation for the potential to impact the (BMPs) for their new Master future leasing and oil and gas nighttime scene, even at large Leasing Plan relating to oil development plans on public distances. Direct glare and sky and gas development. These and private lands. glow from these facilities may BMPs have identifi ed several degrade the natural lightscape,

26 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Direct Support to IMR In addition to supporting communities and other agencies, the Cooperative directly assists IMR parks by:

• Supporting expanded night sky interpretive programs and events in the parks • Assisting with applications for the International Dark Sky Park designation • Advising parks when Telescopes stand ready to guide participants through the stars at an NPS-sponsored determining night astronomy event. (Credit: Debbie Biddle) sky impacts of energy development • Assisting parks with Acknowledgements planning large events on public lands in order to The Cooperative’s progress toward preserving the night skies of mitigate any impacts to the Colorado Plateau would not be possible without support from natural darkness the NPS Night Skies Team, Bill Dickinson (Superintendent, Lake • Aiding in the development Mead National Recreation Area) and Judy Rocchio (Dark Night and testing of lighting Skies, Pacifi c West Region). Bill Wren’s (Special Assistant to the inventory protocols Superintendent, McDonald Observatory) work with the oil and gas industry near McDonald Observatory has helped us make • Assisting in selecting fully shielded and sustainable signifi cant headway in empowering energy development to curb lighting for new park excessive lighting. The National Parks Conservation Association projects and lighting (NPCA) continues to promote night skies conservation and retrofi ts education across the Southwest United States and beyond. And fi nally, the Cooperative would like to thank the many individuals, • Assisting parks when communities, businesses, agencies, and organizations of the seeking funding for enhancing night sky Colorado Plateau who are the ultimate key to success in preserving interpretive and lighting night skies. projects For further information, please visit: Colorado Plateau Dark Sky Cooperative: www. celebratestarryskies.org NPS Night Skies Program: www.nature.nps.gov/night/ International Dark Sky Association: www.darksky.org/ The Colorado Plateau, one of the last truly dark places where you can fi nd your place in the Universe. (Jacob Frank)

27 Fall 2014

—COLORADO RIVER BASIN COORDINATOR—

Exploring Uncharted Waters: Glen Canyon Dam EIS

By Rob Billerbeck, Colorado River Coordinator, [email protected] and Jenny Hauer, Colorado River Biological Science Technician, [email protected]

n 2011, the National Park IService (NPS) began working with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the operation of Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The dam operations aff ect a 15-mile stretch of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and 277 miles of Grand Canyon National Park, and to some extent, a portion of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This process has been unique and interesting for the NPS in the following ways:

1. The NPS is a co-lead agency with the BOR in a non- LTEMP EIS project area map (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory) delegated Department of Interior process. this process. This process is and transparent decision- 2. The DOI established an new to the NPS but other making. This article will explain Adaptive Management government agencies and how the NPS and BOR have Working Group which the military have used it approached this process to try includes diverse successfully in the past. to achieve these goals while stakeholders and tribes Completed in 1963, Glen providing information that will aff ected by dam activities. Canyon Dam has a long history be valuable to others who may NPS and BOR have been and a high level of scrutiny undergo a similar process in the working closely with these that past planning processes future. stakeholders every step of have been subjected to. This the way. Many people are familiar with time there has been a strong the rich history of debate 3. The NPS and BOR have desire from the beginning to and the high interest across used a Structured Design conduct this process with the Analysis process and the Western United States best available science, strong computer simulation regarding the Glen Canyon engagement with stakeholders, models for many aspects of Dam. Authorized by Congress 28 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

The Secretary decided to have NPS and BOR work together as co-leads in preparing the LTEMP. BOR has the primary responsibility for operating Glen Canyon Dam, and the NPS has the primary responsibility for visitors and conservation of the resources in Grand Canyon National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This is unique because it may be the fi rst time that the NPS has been a co-lead rather than a cooperating agency 2013 Glen Canyon Dam high fl ow event (Credit: USBR) on a planning process related to a dam. Having co-lead in 1956, the Glen Canyon protect, mitigate and improve agencies with diff erent missions Dam on the Colorado River downstream resources in Glen heading a complex process is was completed in 1963. The Canyon National Recreation not always easy, but it creates a dam provides water storage, Area and the Grand Canyon situation where there is a great fl ood control, hydroelectric National Park while still deal of conversation between power, and recreation; but complying with all relevant the leads about many more dam operations also have water delivery laws, compacts, aspects of the process. The fundamentally altered the river and treaties. Although there NPS experience has been that ecosystem, Grand Canyon have been many smaller the dialog ultimately increases National Park, and Glen planning processes, primarily the thought behind each and Canyon National Recreation in the form of Environmental every step and improves the Area. Concerns related to Assessments, this current quality of information shared impacts on downstream planning eff ort is the fi rst major with cooperating agencies, riparian ecosystems, recreation, comprehensive look at the stakeholders and the public. and endangered fi sh were the eff ects of dam operations since primary drivers for the passage 1996. In order to best evaluate the of the 1992 Grand Canyon extensive issues related to the Protection Act (GCPA) and a In July of 2011, the Secretary of dam as well as an unusually subsequent 1995 EIS and 1996 Interior began the Long-Term large amount of scientifi c Record of Decision (ROD) that Experimental and Management studies , it is worth noting resulted in signifi cant changes to Plan (LTEMP) for Glen Canyon that there are still scientifi c the operation of Glen Canyon Dam with a Notice of Intent. uncertainties, primarily Dam. The GCPA provides a This is a non-delegated process regarding sediment and fi sh, unique legal foundation to dam which means the Secretary that remain to be addressed. management as this law requires of Interior will make the fi nal One of the major concerns has that the dam be operated to decision by signing the ROD been that the dam prevents after fi nalization of the EIS. more than 90 percent of the 29 Fall 2014

sediment from fl owing down the Colorado below the dam (GCDAMP 2013). That sediment is, of course, what provided the red color that gave the Colorado River its name (in Spanish, colorado means ruddy), but now the water below the dam runs mostly clear. Side tributaries such as the Paria River and the Little Colorado River are now the major sources of sediment input below the dam and dam operations aff ect whether Boaters running Lava Falls Rapid in Grand Canyon National Park. (Credit: NPS) that sediment is deposited or eroded. Since the sandbars and by the dam are also major existence of a federal advisory open sand beaches were the considerations related to dam group related to the dam that defi ning features and habitat operations. Many complex is part of the Glen Canyon at the bottom of the Grand interactions among these Dam Adaptive Management Canyon prior to the dam, resources exist in the physical as Program (GCDAMP). The trying to manage the dam for well as political realms. GCDAMP was established by more deposition than erosion the Department in the 1996 has been a major concern Aside from working as co- Record of Decision on the for the NPS. Additionally, lead agencies, another unique Operation of Glen Canyon the endangered Humpback aspect of this project is the Chub is a major consideration in dam management and a concern for NPS and many other stakeholders. Cultural resources (including tribal concerns), changing vegetation along the river corridor, a rainbow trout fi shery, river rafting recreation, and the hydropower produced

The Endangered Humpback Chub (Gila cypha). (Credit: George Andrejko, Arizona Game and Fish Department) Aerial photo of Glen Canyon Dam. (Credit: USBR) 30 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Dam, in order to comply with monitoring and consultation requirements of the GCPA. The GCDAMP includes a Federal advisory committee known as the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Working Group (AMWG; BOR 2008), a technical working group, a scientifi c monitoring and research center (U.S. Geological Survey’s Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) which is a group of scientists dedicated to studying the impacts of the dam), and 2013 Glen Canyon Dam high fl ow event. (Credit: USBR) independent scientifi c review this EIS process. Many of the with this diverse group of panels. The AMWG makes stakeholders are cooperating stakeholders, has increased recommendations to the agencies and have been very understanding and knowledge Secretary concerning Glen involved with monthly meetings about the process that will Canyon Dam operations and throughout the process. produce a better LTEMP as a other management actions. result. The AMWG is made up of The NPS and BOR have stakeholders from the seven also created a number of The AMWG was established Colorado Basin states, power opportunities for the AMWG to help provide an adaptive industry entities, federal and stakeholders to collaborate approach to the dam agencies including the BOR, in the process by providing management in coordination NPS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife input on action alternatives, with the USGS scientifi c group, Service (USFWS) and Bureau objectives and performance GCMRC, but adaptation in of Indian Aff airs, several metrics, and viewing early this complex and challenging tribes, and environmental and modeling results. The co-leads situation has proven diffi cult. recreational groups. This group are also taking additional steps Adaptive management is meets several times a year and to ensure that tribes are able intended to facilitate decision has lively debates related to to provide meaningful and making that assists with the dam and the budget for valuable input to the EIS draft resolving uncertainties that GCMRC that conducts most of related to tribal perspectives on impede eff ective management the scientifi c research related a number of issues. Providing (William and Brown 2012). to the dam. Since this project additional steps for input Adaptive management can be was announced, the Secretary beyond those required by the useful in cases where natural and the Assistant Secretary for National Environmental Policy resources are responsive to Water and Science have called Act (NEPA) is not quick or management, but there is for a close working relationship simple, but the hope is that also uncertainty about the between federal agencies, the this additional coordination, impacts of management AMWG and stakeholders in 31 Fall 2014

Given the complex resource interactions, the scientifi c uncertainties, and the diverse interests of various stakeholders involved, the Department of Interior decided to use SDA to enhance aspects of the LTEMP EIS analysis. SDA draws from the well-established fi eld of decision analysis to provide quantitative tools to support decision makers in the framing, analysis, and communication of their decisions. SDA is somewhat new to NPS and BOR for NEPA projects; 2013 Glen Canyon Dam high fl ow event (Credit: USBR) however, it has been applied by other agencies, particularly the military and the USFWS. Adaptive management is a special form of SDA, with special emphasis on iterative decisions that take uncertainty and the potential for learning into account (USFWS 2008; Williams et al. 2009; Williams and Brown 2012).

SDA identifi es and evaluates alternatives by engaging stakeholders, experts, and decision makers in a decision- oriented analysis and dialogue. Typically decision-making begins with a problem that has already been specifi cally A commercial raft trip on the Colorado River passes Cardenas Creek in Grand Canyon National Park. (Credit: NPS) identifi ed. SDA diff ers in that it invites group members at the interventions. This approach conservation. Those processes start to identify the problem to has been employed since the introduced the use of an be solved (Wilson and Arvai, 1995 EIS. In recent years, two approach called Structured 2011). Many of the problematic Environmental Assessments Decision Analysis (SDA) to issues in the participatory analyzed new fi sh management the Glen Canyon Dam dialog decision-making process are tools and the regular and (Runge et al. 2011). due to a lack of an approach frequent use of high fl ow that helps diverse stakeholders experiments for sediment 32 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

understand the problem, express and clarify their values and concerns, and carefully weigh the pros and cons of diff erent actions or options. Wilson and Arvai (2011) state that eff orts that fail to address diverse concerns often leave participants believing that the process is not responsive to their interests, and that the opinions of technical experts dominate those of the participating community and stakeholders.

To alleviate those problematic issues in this LTEMP process, View of River Mile 81 taken after the high-fl ow experiment on April 6, 2008. the project team worked closely (Credit: Roderic Parnell, Northern Arizona University) with Michael Runge (USGS), an expert in SDA. Dr. Runge from scientists and experts and values, policies, and missions invited stakeholders to help to identify hypotheses for the of the individual stakeholders. identify issues, objectives, and response of important resources Through a process called possible performance measures to dam operations. There was multi-criteria decision analysis, to approach those objectives an extensive modeling eff ort these weights are combined using a variety of methods. conducted that will form a with the analytical results This involves extensive work major part of the impacts from modeling to rank the with modeling and technical analysis of this project. The alternatives in relation to experts for quantitative use of SDA in this process has diff erent scientifi c uncertainties. approaches and many meetings required more time and eff ort, Decision analysis tools have with stakeholders, and but it has been value-added been used to calculate the value particularly with tribes, to try to the LTEMP EIS process. It of information for resolving to match potential modeling or has a provided an objective, scientifi c uncertainties. This quantitative approaches to their impartial way to use the best process is rich with information values, concerns and objectives. available science and provide and is providing guidance on After more than a year of comprehensive modeling the experimental design for this eff ort, models which provided results, though those results are process. a strong set of quantitative subject to many limitations and measures for sediment, fi sh, assumptions. This unique planning process is cultural resources, vegetation, still on-going and the NPS and recreation, hydropower, and Most recently Dr. Runge has BOR plan to produce a public tribal interests became available. led the co-lead agencies and draft EIS this fall. The NPS is The SDA process also provided the stakeholders through a happy to share information with a logical framework to capture process to develop weights for others within NPS on any of the major scientifi c uncertainties the objectives that refl ect the unique aspects of this process. 33 Fall 2014

Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992 (Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992, Title XVIII – Grand Canyon Protection, §§ 1801–1809, Pub. L. No. 102-575, 106 Stat. 4600, 4669). The Secretary shall operate Glen Canyon Dam in accordance with the additional criteria and operating plans specifi ed in section 1804 and exercise other authorities under existing law in such a manner as to protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve the values for which Schematic representing steps included in a Structured Decision Analysis Process. Adapted from an original diagram by Jean Fitts Cochrane. (Credit: USFWS, 2008) Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area were established, including, but not References limited to natural and cultural Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP). resources and visitor use 2013. Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program: high fl ow (GCPA § 1802[a]). releases from Glen Canyon Dam. Accessed May 15, 2013 at http://www.gcdamp.gov/hfe.html. Runge M.C., E. Bean, D.R. Smith, S. Kokos. 2011. Non-native fi sh control below Glen Canyon Dam— report from a structured decision making project. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011-1012, 74 p. US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). 2008. Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program. Accessed May 2, 2014 at https://www.BOR.gov/uc/rm/amp/. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(USFWS). 2008. Structured decision making: Fact Sheet—October 2008. Accessed May 2, 2014, at http://www.fws.gov/science/ . Williams, B. K., and E. D. Brown. 2012. Adaptive Management: The U.S. Department of the Interior Applications Guide. Adaptive Management Working Group, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. Accessed May 2, 2014 at http://www.usgs.gov/sdc/. Williams, B. K., R. C. Szaro, and C. D. Shapiro. 2009. Adaptive Management: The U.S. Department of the Interior Technical Guide. Adaptive Management Working Group, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. Accessed May 2, 2014, at http://www.doi.gov/initiatives/AdaptiveManagement/. Wilson, R. S. and J.L. Arvai. 2011. Structured decision making. Accessed on May 2, 2014 at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/structured-decision-making.

34 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

—NPS SUBMERGED RESOURCES—

Revisiting the Charles H. Spencer By Susanna Pershern, A/V Production Specialist, [email protected]

t is early spring of 2014 Iin Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (GLCA), and Jim Bradford, IMR Regional archeologist and collateral NPS diver for the Submerged Resources Center (SRC), stands tall in his drysuit, taking notes on waterproof paper clipped to a slate propped against the remains of the partially submerged paddlewheel steamboat, Charles H. Spencer. In 1986, nearly 26 years earlier, Bradford was part of the SRC team that undertook initial fi eld work to document this vessel, IMR Archeologist Jim Bradford, noting changes to the wreck on a slate with one of the last steamboats to waterproof paper in March of 2014. (Credit: Brett Seymour) be part of the search for gold in the banks of the Colorado River and an important vestige of the placer gold era along the Colorado River corridor. Bradford spent ten days mapping the area, and now he and a new dive team have returned to the site because there is concern that the Charles H. Spencer is in jeopardy.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, when the distant portions of a new country remained largely unknown to many, the Colorado River and the surrounding Grand Canyon Toni Carrell and Jim Bradford documenting the Lee’s Ferry Mining District in 1986. constituted a formidable (Credit: NPS) obstacle to westward migration.

35 Fall 2014

The barrier was only breached element rhenium that rendered and ecological changes in the in a few points and the ferry gold extraction commercially lower river by preventing the crossing operated by John D. untenable. By the end of the natural fl ow and deposit of Lee (Lee’s Ferry) predictably summer, Spencer’s dream had sediment downstream, thus attracted the attention of a crumbled, and his crew docked causing natural sandbars and diverse array of individuals. the steamboat, never to sail habitat to disappear, and river Some were passing through and again. The steamboat remained banks to crumble. Beginning some were more intent on what in situ, succumbing to the in 1996, the BOR, working the land might off er at that spot. elements sometime after 1915. with partner agencies, began to Today it sits, at the bottom of change the way they released One such individual, water from the the charismatic dam. By conducting mining entrepreneur, periodic high fl ow Charles Spencer, saw events (HFE), the the lower bedding goal was to simulate planes of the exposed the natural fl ooding Chinle shale and of the upper river immediately thought and to restore of gold. In order to habitat throughout mine for gold in this the Grand Canyon location, Spencer by redistributing needed a way to the sediment that transport supplies travels downstream and coal from a seam from below the dam. at Warm Creek to The Charles H. Spencer in 1921. (Credit: BOR) Over the years, the Lee’s Ferry; he chose number of the HFEs to use a paddlewheel increased and in steamboat that was ideally the Grand Canyon, a unique 2012, concern arose over how designed to operate in shallow part of a larger historical mosaic the redistributed sediment water. The vessel that was to found along the red canyon would aff ect the Charles H. bear his name was ordered, pre- fl oor. Spencer and its surroundings. built, and then disassembled for The vessel sits on the riverbed shipping in San Francisco. From In 1963, the fl oor of the just 15 miles south of the dam, San Francisco it traveled by Colorado River began to near the mouth of the Paria train to Marysvale, Utah, then change with the completion River where large amounts it was hauled by oxcart to the of the massive Glen Canyon of sand are deposited in the mouth of Warm Creek. Here, it Dam. Managed by the Bureau confl uence. In light of this, the was assembled for its inaugural of Reclamation (BOR), the BOR agreed to budget for initial voyage on the Colorado River dam was built to provide site documentation and to the in the spring of 1912. What hydroelectricity to the west, creation of a comprehensive Spencer did not know, nor regulate the erratic fl ows of the long-term monitoring protocol, could he have known, was that upper Colorado River, and to including the establishment of while the Chinle formation store water in case of times of park-based capacity for ongoing did contain gold, however, it drought. Damming the mighty monitoring. also contained the rare earth Colorado led to major physical 36 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

jetboat built specifi cally for maneuvering in rivers with shallow sandbars. With everything in place, the next morning they set out to see what had changed in the last 26 years.

Downstream from Jim Bradford is a team of SRC divers suiting up into drysuits to prepare for their fi rst dive. Among their ranks is Dave Conlin, SRC Chief; Jessica Keller, SRC Archeologist; Susanna Pershern, SRC photographer; and Jim Jessica Keller and Dave Conlin survey the remains of the Koza, SRC volunteer and retired Charles H. Spencer from the surface. (Credit: Brett Seymour) diver from the Lake Mead Dive In March of 2014, after two They met with the GLCA Dive team. Koza is eager for the dive years of planning, the SRC Offi cer, Pat Horning, who had to begin. Like Bradford, Koza arrived onsite with a truck full already hauled down to Lee’s has not seen the wreck for a of supplies: dive gear, copper Ferry 20 steel SCUBA cylinders quarter of a century. Everyone and aluminum rods, steel pipe from park headquarters in Page, else on the team is excited to and end caps, and an eight Arizona. They also met Lee’s learn what has changed in the foot section of 2” pipe, and Ferry LE Ranger Peggy Kolar, eyes of veteran divers. decades of experience mapping who handed over the keys to Bradford, Keller, Pershern underwater archeological sites. GLCA Vessel #2, a squirrely enter the water for the initial assessment. At 46 degrees, the water is shockingly cold despite the thermal protection of drysuits and 7mm hoods, even though they are only, at most, fi fteen feet below the surface. However, the “ice-cream headache” abates as the water in their hoods warms up. The divers adjust their buoyancy to hover above the sediment, which is easily disturbed with the slightest fi n-kick, and get to work. Keller and Bradford carry the original plan view map copied on waterproof Still visible both above and below the surface, the boiler is a prominent feature paper and fastened to slates of the wreck. (Credit: Brett Seymour)

37 Fall 2014

with duct tape. They note changes to the structure of the site on the original map that Bradford helped create almost thirty years ago. At the same time, Pershern photographs the entire structure to make a photomosaic that will supplement the updated map the archeologists will create to show the changes to the wreck since 1986. Meanwhile, Conlin and Koza make their dive to survey the riverbed sediment to Jim Koza and Dave Conlin install one of six scour chains that will measure sediment determine how best to precede accretion and erosion on the site. (Credit: Brett Seymour) with the sediment monitoring but keep a three-foot portion to install and require minimal protocols they have in mind. of the chain in the hole, which time in the future for After thirty minutes in the cold fi lls in and holds the chain in monitoring. In addition, two water, the team has a good idea place. The remainder of the sediment samples are collected of the work required in the next chain is exposed and lays fl at from independent sites on the few days of diving. They surface, on the surface of the sediment. wreck that will be analyzed remove their gear, and warm up After setting the scour chains, for grain size distribution and in the cozy Arizona sun. the divers attach a cattle tag specifi c gravity. The entire to the chain to mark where project is documented both The initial reconnaissance dive the chain enters the sediment. underwater and topside with revealed that the wreck was If, in the future, sediment is images and video—similar to well protected by the sediment, depleted from around the site, the 1986 project, without the and Bradford’s measurements more links of chain will show need to make a daily trip into indicated that there were no above the sediment, and vice to Page, Arizona to get the fi lm major disturbances to the versa if sediment is removed. developed. site. With his underwater If the sediment levels remain mapping expertise, he and the same, so will the number of Using modern technology, this Keller effi ciently document visible links. This gives the SRC visit to the Charles H. Spencer the wreck, despite the short an easy and accurate method to resulted in the collection of dive times limited by the cold calculate how much sediment is hundreds of GPS points for water. On their second dive, aff ected by the HFEs. monitoring datums, sediment Conlin and Koza dive to set samples, wreck structure and scour chains in two transects The SRC divers complete 35 local topography information upstream and downstream short dives for a total of 16 are collected using a total of the site. The scour chains hours underwater without station. A total station is an are set by threading the chain incident or accident. The team electronic surveying instrument through a fi ve foot piece of installs six scour chains and two that can measure distances and pipe, and pounding the pipe stainless steel datums that track slopes from the instrument vertically into the riverbed. The sediment accretion and erosion. to a point without needing divers then remove the pipe These methods are inexpensive a refl ector. In coordination 38 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Submerged Cultural Resource Unit team members conducting the initial assessment of the Charles H. Spencer in 1986. (Credit: NPS) GLCA Staff Thann Baker, Archeologist, Ted Neff, Compliance Archeologist and GLCA intern Jordan Judon take GPS points on the wreck with a total station unit in 2014. (Credit: Brett Seymour)

Lee’s Ferry Mining district is unforgettable, yet getting to be a part of history, in which two Park Service employees work together on the same site, a quarter of a century apart, is a Jim Koza observing how to survey with a Jim Koza and Jim Bradford, original career highlight for the younger plane table in 1986. (Credit: NPS) members of the 1986 team, working together again on the Charles H. Spencer. members of the SRC. This is (Credit: Brett Seymour) the human element that exists alongside the science-based with GLCA staff , Archeologist is now familiar with the new research in the parks, and when Thann Baker, Ted Neff and monitoring stations on the they come together in such a Jordan Junod, the information steamboat and has a method to project, history is both made accumulated in a single determine if there are changes and preserved. The Charles afternoon with the total station to the site. H. Spencer will continue to be is staggering in comparison to an important reminder of the Jim Koza and Jim Bradford the rudimentary angles and hard-working miners who lived pose for a picture in front the distances that archeologists a century before, and through Spencer’s boiler. The project recorded in 1986 with a plane the hard work of dedicated park is over, and the team cleans the table. The total station data will service employees, this history boat and gear, packs the truck, be exported into multiple GIS and science will be shared with and returns Denver. Diving layers that will be an important the general public unimpaired on a historic paddlewheel tool for long-term. Moreover, for future generations. the GLCA archeological team steamer in the spectacular 39 Fall 2014

—GEOGRAPHIC RESOURCES—

New Training and Resource Material from the Geographic Resources Division

By Victoria Smith-Campbell, GIS Specialist, IMR Geographic Resources Division, [email protected]

he Geographic Resources In the IMR Resources option In addition to the IMR TDivision which specializes under this tab, the two major GIS website, there is a new in geographic information sections are Trainings and Intermountain Region systems (IMR GIS) is creating Templates. The Trainings Geographic Resources Division geospatial training resources section includes a category NPS YouTube channel (http:// to allow National Park Service of detailed and longer “How www.youtube.com/IMGISNPS) staff to remotely access To…” documents that IMR that also contains training. instructional information GIS will continue to expand. Under the “Playlist” tab, the “on demand.” IMR GIS Topics currently covered in fi rst in the GIS Essential Skills has focused on developing this section include: Selections, series, Selections, is broken out documents that provide Projections, Editing Overview, into fi ve short video segments. step-by-step instructions for Georeferencing, Metadata, Each video series reviews and common actions taken in Introduction to ArcPad, and visually expands on the “How GIS software. This material Trimble GPS. To” document enabling the is intended for the general user (biologists, geologists, archeologists, interpretive staff , and geographers) as well as experienced GIS users. Because the NPS has a diverse workforce with many varying schedules, IMR GIS felt that this remote learning strategy benefi t the most number of users. The training resources can be found on a website, a YouTube channel, and in the Park Atlas web viewer.

Resources on the IMR GIS website (http://imrgis.nps. gov/) are found under the GIS Resources tab, and there are specifi c materials for the Intermountain Region users. View of IMR GIS YouTube Channel video selection.

40 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

and instructions to help the user accomplish a specifi c task. The park atlases are internally accessible through the Park Atlas Gallery (http:// insideparkatlas.nps.gov/ Gallery/). After a user launches a Intermountain Region Park Atlas web viewer, the Home view appears on the left of the screen and displays a list of job aides including:

• Turn map layers on and off . • Get more details about map features. • Draw on the map. • Print custom maps. • Measure distance and area. • Save and share your map with others. • Plot map coordinates. All of these job aides are directly linked on the Home view to Note: only the teach new or refresh skills. The fi rst four videos are job aides are one to two page posted; production reference documents that are of the fi fth video quick and simple to follow. will be coming soon. The IMR GIS team is excited to provide skill-building information using new View of video playing from YouTube. platforms that are easily accessible for staff —no matter where they are or what time user to watch the steps being In addition to creating new they are working. In addition, demonstrated. The user can locations to fi nd information, a number of these resources choose to watch the entire the IMR GIS is working to are also available to share Playlist or a single section with embed learning resources in with NPS partners. In sharing a specifi c skill. This resource existing locations. For example, these best practices, we open also includes closed captioning. the current Park Atlas web opportunities to learn new and IMR GIS plans to develop viewers for the Intermountain diff erent ways to get the job additional videos, over time, to Region now have handy “job done. support the region’s needs. aides” which are shortcuts

41 Fall 2014

Park Atlas Home screen with links to job aids

For more information about these training opportunities, contact Victoria Smith-Campbell at [email protected].

Example Park Atlas job aid. 42 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

—NATURAL RESOURCES—

The Uninvited Guest

By Dr. Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension, [email protected], and Sarah Haas, Wildlife Biologist, Bryce Canyon National Park, [email protected]

Introduction or its size, Bryce Canyon well as other small structures structures at Zion National FNational Park (BRCA) really when they are unoccupied. Park. While damage to the packs a punch. In addition to cabins from winter habitation However, in 2011, visitors beautiful, dramatic scenery, was a problem, we were more began reporting noises in the BRCA has a historic lodge and concerned with the much larger attics of the cabins during the cabins for rent that date back to issue of human health and summer season. BRCA wildlife the early 1920’s, built using local safety. Hanta virus and other biologist Sarah Hass and her materials and local labor. Like wildlife diseases are present colleagues were determined many national parks, BRCA in this region of the United to solve the problem of the has a “high” season from May States. Specifi cally, Hanta uninvited guests. Sarah through October with fewer virus is spread when spores on contacted me, at Utah State visitors during the winter. mouse feces (predominantly University Extension, because Peromyscus) become airborne. Aside from hosting visitors, I had experience researching Although we were not BRCA is home to an assortment ringtail intrusions in historic of wildlife including small mammals such as the golden- mantled ground squirrel (Spermophilus lateralis), Uinta chipmunk (Tamias quadrivittatus), the elusive Lodge ringtail (Bassariscus astutus), bushy-tailed woodrats (Neotoma cinerea), and deer mice (Peromyscus spp.). During the summer, the more social Cabins of these animals (ground squirrels and chipmunks) can be seen scampering around the buildings and the visitors. It is not surprising that some of these animals are comfortable spending the winter inside the

crawl spaces and attics of the Aerial view of the historic lodge and cabins within Bryce Canyon National Park, and historic lodge and cabins, as inset of the location of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. (Credit: Google Earth)

43 Fall 2014

concerned that summer guests species were there, and at what used during my study of ringtail would encounter mice feces in times of the day. Luckily, there distribution at Zion National the main living space of their were a few tools we knew would Park. Each track plate unit cabins, we did feel there was be successful. consisted of a track plate and a rick of exposure if a guest lure placed inside a corrugated decided to access the attic. Survey for Wildlife plastic tunnel. The track plates Additionally, this was also a We used two basic methods to were 1 ft. x 3 ft., also made of hazard to maintenance workers determine which species were corrugated plastic. To create a who sometimes access the attics using the lodge and cabins. track plate, we wrapped contact or crawl spaces. We knew from concurrent paper (sticky side up) around research at Zion National the middle one-foot of the Together, we formulated a Park that documenting small three-foot corrugated plastic. strategy to create an adaptive mammals inside buildings This left one section at each resource management could be challenging, and that end of the track plate exposed. plan. Our objectives were to the use of both track plates On these portions of the sheet, determine what animal species and trail cameras would be we brushed a slurry of artist were using the historic lodge needed. Track plates are a charcoal powder and isopropyl and cabins, the frequency of common method of recording alcohol (1:8 ratio). Once the use, and how the wildlife was animal footprints, by luring the alcohol evaporated, it left a very getting in. Then, we aimed to animal to walk across a sticky light fi lm of charcoal powder develop a way to remove the surface. However, track plates on the (non-sticky) ends of the small guests from the buildings, only display data if an animal corrugated plastic sheet. Next, prevent them from entering actually steps on the surface, so we removed the contact paper again, and to develop a method we decided to use cameras to protective cover, and slid the to monitor the structures. capture activity in the vicinity sheet into a corrugated plastic How does one detect of the track plate and to obtain tunnel which was a 1 ft. x 1 ft. x 3 ft. box. small nocturnal the most complete record of wildlife use possible. animals living in To entice a small mammal attics? In July 2013, we began our visitor, we attached a lure, surveys of the attic spaces of the approximately half way into Our research focused on historic cabins and the lodge the tunnel, so the animal would alleviating the specifi c problem to catalog a human health risk have to walk across the charcoal of unwanted occupation at assessment. We surveyed fi ve to powder while investigating the the historic lodge and cabins. eight cabins at a time, including lure. The lures consisted of We surveyed the lodge and 23 the lodge. For each survey, the small plastic vials that contained historic cabins, which were set of locations was monitored a cotton swab dipped into scent. either single rooms or divided for two weeks, and then we During the spring, we used a into two or four rooms, for moved the materials to the next musk-based lure, which often animal activity. We needed to set of locations. is more successful attracting use survey methods that would animals that are reproductively record animal activity when we Track plate surveys active. If an animal was also were not in the attics or crawl Initially, we based the track plate territorial, a new musk scent in spaces, so that we could get an survey design on the methods its territory would cause it to accurate assessment of what investigate the smell. We chose 44 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

a musk-based lure of a raccoon, which is not a predator to most small mammals, to ensure we did not scare away any small species. In the summer, we use oil scented with wild orange, to mimic the smell of a novel, sweet food. Access to food is not an issue in the summer for most small Photo of the inside of a track plate tunnel box with camera mounted to the box (left) and track mammals at BRCA, thus plate without the tunnel box, with camera mounted on a post nearby (right). we needed a new smell (Credit: Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension) that might entice an cameras to the edge of a track would activate. We set the animal to investigate. plate tunnel to take pictures camera to take a burst of three of animals that investigated pictures each time the shutter We placed track plate tunnels inside the tunnels. Once we activated. The camera would in the crawl spaces or attics of realized there was too much then turn off for 10 seconds and each cabin. While the attics refl ection from the fl ash, we reset for the next activation. of the two- and four-room turned the cameras to face The pause in activation enabled structures were our main out. In some events, this also us to detect small mammals target, to be consistent we posed a problem when the track that visited the track plates also surveyed the single-room plate was set close to a wall. In while minimizing the amount of cabins, which had only a crawl these situations, we mounted redundant photos of the same space and no attic. By the the camera to a pipe or other animal. Every two weeks, we second round of surveys, we structure a few feet away from retrieved the cameras, removed removed the tunnel in some the tunnel with the camera the SD cards and uploaded all of the smaller spaces because facing the track plate. Because pictures to a laptop computer. the camera fl ash refl ected off this arrangement resulted in the The SD card was then erased, the tunnel and over-exposed least refl ection of the camera placed back in the trail camera, the pictures. Instead, we used fl ash and the best photographs, and deployed to the next a track plate with no cover and this design became our location. attached the lure to a rock, so established method for the rest that it was sitting upright, and of the surveys. Attic Risk Assessment placed the rock in the middle of One outcome of our wildlife the track plate. Trail cameras work by motion visitation surveys was the activation. To begin, we set the Camera surveys realization that the problem camera to the least sensitive was both bigger and older than We partnered each track plate motion setting to get a focused we thought. As a result of our with a trail camera to take a picture of animals close to track and camera data, we picture of each activity event the camera. When an animal began an additional survey and during the surveys. Initially, disturbed the laser emitted from assessments of each cabin in the we mounted the small trail the camera, the camera shutter 45 Fall 2014

summer to determine the level and access point locations, this included chipmunks (Neotamias of wildlife activity present in was not always possible. For spp.), deer mice (Peromysus spp.) the attics, which might present example, one access location and golden-mantled ground a health risk to park staff and was six inches from a wall. In squirrels (Callospermophilus visitor. For example, evidence this case we took pictures of the lateralis). Because an animal of wildlife tracks in an attic base of the wall, but an outward could visit the track plate more is not much aff ect on human facing picture would have been than once during the two-week health, but several nests or illogical. period, we counted all tracks woodrat middens in an attic of the same species as one could present a health risk. In Results of the Survey detection, rather than counting the attics, there was a partition for Wildlife each set of tracks per species. built to create a level of security Originally, our goal was to Of the 45 separate cameras such that a guest in one room determine which structures in the 24 unique areas, there could not enter the attic and were being used by small were numerous (+25) pictures cross into another room. While mammals, and if possible, how of small mammals; the most the partition was an obstruction frequently were they being unusual was a cottontail rabbit. to humans, wildlife could used. We conducted two full Setting the camera to pause for move throughout the attic with rounds of track plate and 10 seconds after a picture did ease. For our track and camera camera surveys. Additionally, reduce the number of photos surveys we treated each cabin active areas were surveyed more we received per animal visit, structure as one sample, but for often, as reports of disturbances but some animals stayed in the this assessment, we investigated occurred. vicinity of the camera and track each entry into the attic so plate for up to fi ve minutes. It that we could obtain a visual Of the 24 unique areas was easy to follow the animal estimate on either side of the surveyed, we detected small through the series of photos, partition. To accomplish this, a mammals via the track plates so we only recorded the event single structure was assessed in in 12 of the structures. These as one animal visit. However, it at least two diff erent locations. This method provided us with more detailed information as to which area of the cabin may have the entry location, based on the location of nesting material, fecal pellets, or other signs. However, we did not identify every wildlife entry location at this time.

During the surveys we took photos of the attic while standing at each access point. Ideally, we took one photo toward each cardinal direction, however because of the privacy Number of times tracks were recorded from different small mammal species, partitions placed in the attics March – August 2013. (Credit: Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension) 46 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

our track plates set April 1 - 15, 2013, we obtained a single track from a ringtail. This was not surprising because we encountered a large amount of woodrat scat and other signs of activity in that cabin when we set the track plate. Further inspection of the cabin revealed ringtail and woodrat tracks in the dust, ringtail mud prints on the walls, and a woodrat scat pile over one inch deep. This was the only cabin with such an intensive record of small mammal activity.

Number of events recorded by camera per species, March – July 2013. Results of the Attic (Credit: Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension) Risk Assessment was diffi cult to distinguish how specifi cally by ringtails, which During July 2013, we began many separate individuals these are easy to remove and manage our surveys of the attic spaces pictures contained overall. For for future activity. Because of of the historic lodge and cabins example, if a chipmunk was their size, ringtail activity in a to catalog a human health risk seen each day for three days, cabin attic is very noticeable to assessment. All cabins open to there was no way to determine guests, and would have resulted visitors were surveyed at least if this was one chipmunk seen in complaints from visitors. On once, with our focus on those three times or three separate chipmunks. Therefore, we recorded our pictures as “events” rather than “number of animals” per the two-week period for each camera set. Most of the pictures were obtained in the crawl spaces underneath the single-room cabins, with ten separate events recorded in the attics. Of course, these separate instances still may be recording the same individual animal more than once.

Another focus of this study The rim of the attic crawl space entry, indicating extensive and longterm woodrat and was to determine if the lodge ringtail activity in the attic of an historic cabin, April 2013. and cabins were inhabited (Credit: Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension) 47 Fall 2014

particular cabins with animals Discussion space, a one-pound animal detected within. We surveyed can make A LOT of noise. It wasn’t surprising that there 21 access points, including the was evidence of mouse and lodge; three attic spaces were While one might expect chipmunk activity within the not surveyed because there was deer mice to explore cabins historic lodge and cabins of no access. In other cabins, the periodically, we generally Bryce Canyon National Park. entire attic was available to any do not want them to live Anybody who has visited or small mammal and we grouped inside the same spaces worked at a National Park our access point assessments inhabited by our visitors knows that these animals by structure, regardless of how and staff . Their nests and have learned to exploit the many rooms were below. We feces are breeding grounds human-sourced food available classified the attic on a scale of for bacteria and viruses around cabins, gift shops, 1-5 for small mammal activity that can be contracted by general stores, and lodges. and evidence of habitation humans, and therefore, Animals as small as mice and cannot be tolerated inside (1 being clean of activity and chipmunks can often live in National Park structures. 5 indicating an infestation close proximity to humans, in requiring immediate attention). Additionally, we were not attics and basements, without Of these, 14 (67 percent) had expecting several cabins to ever being discovered. But, evidence of small mammal be visited by wood rats, and when the animals are larger, activity; however, only two of had mixed feelings about the such as wood rats or ringtails, or these were rated a level 3 or ringtail living in one of the their inside habitation becomes cabins. Ringtails are elusive, more. more frequent, humans tend to nocturnal, highly charismatic notice. When one is trying to animals about the size of a sleep below an uninsulated attic small house cat. They have

Photos of attic assessment. The attics were rated on a scale of 5 (left) to 1 (right) for evidence of wildlife activity. (Credit: Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension)

48 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

gorgeous striped tails that are time, the staff would ensure the the nature of their construction about the same length as their animals were no longer in the (simple wooden slats bodies. Ringtails are usually space. Finally, the access points surrounding the cabin fl oor)it associated with chaparral would be closed and fi lled, was impossible to exclude from habitat, and riparian areas in excluding animals from future wildlife without damaging the canyons. The area of the lodge use without trapping them historic building. Instead, we is not located in either of these inside the building. requested the hospitality staff types of habitat. We were to alert us if they observe any excited to document ringtails, The ringtail became a cause small mammal signinside the and are interested in keeping of concern when we decided cabins, such as the start of a the animals in the park...but not to begin the exclusion process nest or mouse feces. If any of inside the cabins. because we wanted this these signs are found, we would exclusion to benefi t the humans conduct an exclusion of the Given that small mammals without harm to the wildlife. In interior of the cabin to prevent can move through a cabin August, a ringtail could be living animals coming inside the room unnoticed much of the time, in the cabin rearing babies. If from the crawl space. we were surprised that we this was the case, the exclusion could fi nd evidence of wildlife activities could disrupt her National parks present an living in 67 percent of the attic and cause her to abandon her interesting interface between structures we surveyed. This young. Therefore, prior to any humans and wildlife. The indicated that the issue was exclusion eff orts, we placed parks have a goal to support more serious than we fi rst wire traps in the attic in an healthy wildlife populations. considered. Either the animals attempt to remove the ringtail Human visitors enjoy seeing were spending more time in and relocate it safely. By setting wildlife, from the chipmunk the attics than we anticipated, live traps, we could potentially to the moose. Because of the there were more animals than capture a ringtail and her young colocation of the historic cabins we expected, or both. Due to strategically, as opposed to with the natural environment, the extent of the animal sign, as accidentally coming across the we cannot be surprised when well as the need to immediately nest, and risking human safety a small mammal decides fi x those cabins that received as well as that of the juveniles. to investigate. To ensure a rating of more than 3, the park We did not capture any animals human health safety, we must staff initiated an exclusion plan in the trap, nor did we hear or continually work to prevent in late August 2013. see any evidence of activity; these wild residents from Additionally, the cabin that had therefore we began exclusion inhabiting the same spaces the woodrat nest and ringtail measures on the cabins. The our visitors and staff use. The activity was closed to visitors, park hired a professional team eff orts to maintain human out of concern for human to thoroughly clean each attic health and safety in the historic safety. The exclusion plan space and then contracted a lodge and cabins at BRCA involved company to block and repair includes educating all staff and a three-step process: First, all any hole that was located on the visitors on how to notice a small the cabins would be surveyed inside and outside of the attic. mammal habitation, and how for potential access points in to discourage animals from the walls, roofs, chimneys, Crawlspaces under the single staying inside the buildings. etc. Next, the cabins would be room cabins presented a These methods include: how to cleaned and all evidence of diffi cult situation. Because of recognize the scat of diff erent inhabitation removed. At this 49 Fall 2014

animals, the best way dispose of food items (even waste paper baskets are not safe!), keeping outside doors closed, and many other simple steps. Also, we will continue to educate the staff and the public abouth the importance of not feeding wildlife. We were discouraged by the amount of human- sourced food that we found in the attics and crawl spaces of the historic structures; items that could only have been put there by a well-meaning person.

Cups found in the attic of an historic cabin, where evidence of wildlife habitation was Next Steps also found, April 2013. (Credit: Nicki Frey, Utah State University Extension) In the summer of 2014 we continued our study of the exclusion activities on that interacted, and in what way. lodge and cabins. Naturally, space. Detection of feces or We hope that by measuring our fi rst order of business was nests will result in a consultation these diff erent types of to revisit the attics to determine with the hospitality company interactions at Bryce Canyon if the exclusion eff orts from and closure of the cabin until National Park, we can target the previous summer were the exclusion has concluded. the best educational strategy successful. The plan for the We are also continuing to that keeps wildlife outside: a future is that if wildlife tracks expand another pilot study we solution that is healthy for all of are detected, we will alert the began in 2013, that documented the species at the park. BRCA biologists to begin new how often human and wildlife

50 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

—PLANNING—

Planning for the Future By Sami Powers, IMRO Planning, [email protected] and Art Hutchinson, IMRO Chief of Planning, [email protected]

n November 10, 1978, NPS has been struggling with scholarship, all while ensuring Othe 95th Congress the issue of completing General that park planning, policy, and passed Public Law 95-625, the Management Plans (GMPs) decision-making will allow National Parks and Recreation effi ciently and eff ectively with the NPS to preserve America’s Act of 197, also known as increasingly limited resources. special places for centuries to The Redwoods Act. The come. As part of this Call to comprehensive Act increased Now, with the approaching Action, divisions throughout park budgets, authorized new National Park Service the service evaluated how acquisitions, expanded park Centennial, the NPS is planning they conducted business and boundaries, changed some for the future by adopting new determined where changes park names, designated new and innovative management needed to be made. The wilderness, established new practices, forging collaborations Park Planning and Special trails, and authorized multiple with other land managers and Studies Division worked with studies. Buried in the law, communities, and pursuing the nationwide Planning Section 604(3)b stated, “General excellence in science and Leadership Group to develop a management plans for the preservation and use of each unit NPS PLANNING FRAMEWORK of the National Park System, including areas - Park Purpose within the national - Park Significance capital area, shall be - Fundamental Resources and Values - Interpretive Themes prepared and revised FOUNDATION in a timely manner - Special Mandates - Adminstrative Commitments by the Director of the - NPS Policy-Level Guidance National Park Service.” - Assessment of Planning and Data Needs While this critical component of the Act seemed necessary and appropriate, in practice it became contentious, DYNAMIC PARK PLANNING PORTFOLIO time consuming, and expensive. This Comprehensive Studies / MONITOR Implementation Plans Strategic provision determined Plans Plans Inventories the course of planning in the NPS since it was initiated in 1978, but for some time now, the

51 Fall 2014

BUILDING BLOCKS OF A FOUNDATION DOCUMENT The development and adoption

INTERPRETIVE THEMES of a Foundation Document will

- are based on provide the opportunity for park purpose and integration and coordination of significance WHAT - are key stories that are planning and decision-making the park or unique to the park PURPOSE on many management levels site is for; what - are critical to Congress said connecting park from a collective concept of (narrow statement) resources to relevant meanings and values the most important aspects of a SIGNIFICANCE the park is special; - are effective in WHY increasing visitor park. The Document will help what visitors can experience understanding and focus eff orts to protect the most FUNDAMENTAL (broad statement) appreciation of the park RESOURCES & V important resources and values ALUES OTHER important resources; what R I while still considering items ESOURCESMPORTANT MOST & V are the primary considerations for that are important, but not S ALUES ERVICEWIDE management (specific statements) critical to the park’s purpose LAWS A SPECIAL & P (other important resources DMINISTRATI M OLICIES ANDATES the park is managed and values). The development VE C & HOW OMMITMENTS in general, and this park specifically of the Document ensures that that all programs and actions contribute to achieving the park’s mandates, while maintaining consistency in new NPS planning framework order to identify key issues planning and decision-making. that would address pressing and prioritize future planning The Foundation Document will park needs more eff ectively and data needs. Ultimately, the identify current conditions and by streamlining the planning Foundation Document will threats facing key resources and process. serve as a core element of each values and serve as the basis park’s new planning portfolio, for developing future plans. To implement the new planning a concept that will be used for Finally, the process will enable framework, planning teams are park planning into the future. park staff , working closely with working with park managers The Foundation Document regional and WASO staff , to to answer key questions that will serve as the underlying identify and prioritize necessary provide the foundation for a guidance for management and plans and studies. park’s existence from which planning decisions in National park staff and planning experts Park units by identifying a The Intermountain Region will be able to extract important shared understanding of what (IMR) Planning Division has management decisions and is most important about a park worked closely with other planning needs for the future. and using that understanding regional planning offi ces, the The eff ort will be recorded in a to integrate and coordinate Planning Leadership Group Foundation Document which planning and decision making (PLG), and the Denver Service describes the core mission of on multiple levels. The planning Center (DSC) to streamline the park unit by identifying branch has been tasked with the process used for creating the purpose, signifi cance, completing a Foundation Foundation Documents. Each fundamental and other Document for all 401 park units step in the process from project important resources and values, by August of 2016. commencement to publication and interpretive themes in is critical to the production of 52 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

a high quality and useful On-site Workshop document. There are Whenever possible, the three major phases in workshop takes place the Foundation process at the park with the including background and planning team facilitating preparation work prior to in person. The planning a workshop, the on-site team always consists of Foundation workshop, and least one member of the creation of the Document IMR planning division after the workshop. in order to create and Workshop maintain a long-term relationship between the Preparation Regional offi ce and park staff, along with stakeholders, park and the Regional participating in foundation workshops at Little Bighorn The process begins with Battlefi eld NM. (Credit: Tatiana Marquez) Offi ce for future planning Library Services of eff orts. Sometimes the the DSC researching, planning team is also compiling, and comprised of other NPS assembling available staff including subject materials to provide a matter experts and, at solid background on the times, DSC staff . For history and management example, a staff member of each park. Also, from the Offi ce of Indian the staff from Natural Aff airs and American Resources Stewardship Culture traveled with and Science (NRSS) the planning team to the submit any pertinent Foundation workshop at information that might Little Bighorn Battlefi eld play an important role National Monument in the exploration of because of her intimate Regional offi ce and DSC staff tour Bandilier NM in knowledge of the the Foundation of a preparation for foundation workshops. park. In addition to the (Credit: Michele D’Arcy) affi liated tribes and other background information anthropological issues. collected through Library information and issues that When the Foundation is Services and NRSS, IMR exist at a park level. The managed out of the DSC, the Planning has initiated a process information collected from IMR planning team member of sending a notifi cation to all these varied sources is all used serves as a liaison between the division chiefs in the region in the creation of a workshop park and the region for both so that any information or participants guide which the Foundation and future issues that might pertain to a serves as an outline and agenda planning eff orts. Otherwise, the particular park can be identifi ed for addressing all the major team producing the Foundation and articulated to Planning staff issues that are discussed at the Document will be made up in advance. Finally, a worksheet workshop. entirely of IMR planning is sent to park superintendents division staff members. and staff to identify specifi c 53 Fall 2014

Once on site, the planning specifi c issues and relationships, brief description of the park team takes time to tour the stakeholders are also asked to such as location, size, key park with staff to gain a attend the workshop. attributes, and a consideration greater understanding of the of the park in its regional management issues. After The Foundation context. In the next section the exploring the park, the planning Document park purpose is drafted based team runs a three-day workshop upon analysis of the enabling with park staff identifi ed by The fi nal Foundation legislation or executive order the superintendent. Often, Document will consist of and the legislative history. In the superintendent choses two main components; the assessing the park purpose, the park’s leadership staff to core components and the the Foundation Document is attend the workshop, but other dynamic components. The more than simply a restatement times additional park staff core components are the of legislation, but rather an members attend because of static and unchanging aspects exploration of the shared their specialized knowledge. of a park. In the Foundation assumptions of legislative In some cases, depending on Document, these begin with a meaning for managers.

Guess that Park from the Signifi cance Statement Fill in the blanks... 1. ______showcases one of the largest and most colorful concentrations of erosional geologic features in the word, including hoodoos, fi ns, windows, fl uted cliffs, bridges, arches, and grottoes. This unusual landscape within the Claron Formation is created by a unique combination of natural processes, location, rock properties, and climate. 2. ______is a geologic showcase of brilliantly colored strata highlighted by sheer Navajo sandstone cliffs that are among the highest in the world and expose ancient remnants of the largest known sand dune system. Geologic processes continue today as the free-fl owing Virgin River rapidly cuts into the margin of the Colorado Plateau, incising a multitude of deep, narrow canyons. An abundance of canyon springs, fed by groundwater, create hanging gardens and grottos that support endemic varieties of fl ora and fauna. These exceptional features and processes contribute to the outstanding scenery and scientifi c value of the park. 3. Between 1833 and 1849, ______was the most important staging point for the U.S. commercial and military expansion into what is now the American Southwest, and played a vital role in developing political and cultural ties between the U.S., Mexico, and the Southern Plains tribes, culminating in the military acquisition of the adjacent Mexican territory. 4. ______contains a high concentration of the best-preserved freestanding towers and related structures in the American Southwest. Located in several canyon head settlements, these remains are excellent representations of ancestral Pueblo communities existing on the Great Sage Plain during the late Pueblo III period. 5. The dramatic elevation range within the park boundary, which spans from 7,600 feet to 14,259 feet and straddles the Continental Divide, allows for diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, varied plant and animal communities and a variety of ecological processes. ______is designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientifi c, and Cultural (UNESCO) international biosphere reserve and globally important bird area, with portions of the park’s montane, subalpine, and alpine ecosystems managed as research natural areas for scientifi c and educational purposes. Answers on page 56.

54 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Another core component is planning and management meanings, concepts, and the signifi cance of the park as processes because they refl ect contexts of which they are a explored through signifi cance what is truly important about part. The themes provide the statements which express why the park and are critical for mechanism for increasing visitor the resources and values of a maintaining the park’s purpose understanding and appreciation park are important enough to and signifi cance. The FRVs of the signifi cance of park be a part of the National Park help to focus planning and resources to a higher level. System. Established management by workshop It is these resources in a park unit. The dynamic components of the Foundation Document participants based and values that In addition to upon the agreed exploring the are those aspects of park merit primary purpose of a most fundamental management that change park, signifi cance consideration resources and through time. Special mandates may be expressed in enabling statements explore during planning values, Foundation legislation, separate legislation the park purpose and management Documents take within a local, the time, when following the establishment of regional, national, processes... necessary to the park, or through a judicial and global context. evaluate other process and are requirements This section of the Foundation important resources and specifi c to a park that must be Document contains the most values which may be unrelated fulfi lled. These mandates may current scientifi c or to purpose or expand on a park purpose or Interpretive themes scholarly inquiry to signifi cance, but are introduce elements unrelated the park, which may are the major stories still important to to the purpose of the park. have changed since or concepts through consider in planning Administrative commitments are agreements that have establishment. which the park’s and management processes. been reached between the The next topic in the national signifi cance park and other or external core section explores is conveyed to After identifying entities. These can be formal the fundamental the purpose agreements reached through the visitor. These resources and values and signifi cance documented processes or may (FRVs) of a park. themes should be of a park, the be informal agreements, but The primary purpose understood by all interpretive themes both special mandates and of the National Park after a park visit. are addressed. administrative commitments Service and therefore Interpretive are generally made with other the foremost responsibility themes are the major stories federal agencies, state and local of park managers is to ensure or concepts through which the governments, utility companies, the conservation and public park’s national signifi cance is partnering organizations, or enjoyment of the resources conveyed to the visitor. These other entities. and values preserved. The themes should be understood resources that are fundamental by all after a park visit. The After the core and dynamic to achieving the park’s purpose themes are derived from the components are thoroughly and maintaining its signifi cance park purpose, signifi cance, discussed, the fi nal section of are the FRVs. It is these resources and values, and the Foundation Document is an resources and values that merit ultimately connect park assessment of planning and data primary consideration during resources to larger ideas, needs. This section presents 55 Fall 2014

planning issues, projects that will address those issues, and associated information required to meet planning needs. Also included in this section is an assessment of the fundamental and other resources and values, their current state or condition, and existing or potential threats or opportunities related them.

This fi nal section of the Foundation Document also identifi es key issues that need to be addressed through future planning and data eff orts. Finally, the list of planning Final Products document, all Foundation and data needs are prioritized The fi nal product is a Documents also have an through consideration of the comprehensive document that overview pamphlet. The FRVs and key issues, providing contains the core components pamphlet summarizes the the park and regional liaison typically refl ected in Chapter 1 main points of the Foundation with high, medium, and low of the GMP and the dynamic Document and provides a more priority projects. These components with important user-friendly document that prioritizations provide a information about a park that can be easily distributed to the roadmap for funding requests, can easily and quickly change public. partnering, and other future over time. The Foundation management actions. Another important and Document goes through several extremely useful product from phases of review, fi rst on a the Foundation eff ort is the micro scale with the core team park atlas. The atlas consists of who attended the workshop and both an electronic and paper worked on the development of compilation of geospatial the Document. Following that it data ranging from natural and goes out for broader review by cultural resources, visitor use regional and WASO Foundation Answers to “Guess that Park patterns, facilities, and other by Signifi cance Statement”... program managers. Finally, data pertinent to the park unit. 1. Bryce Canyon NP the superintendent of the park The data is compiled using and the Regional Director both 2. Zion NP geographic information systems review and sign the fi nalized 3. Bent’s Old Fort NHS (GIS) and the atlas comes with version. In addition to the 4. Hovenweep NM a desktop application that larger document, which serves facilitates assessment of the 5. Rocky Mountain NP as a comprehensive internal geospatial data with little to

56 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

no familiarity with GIS so a and can be opened up for a of supplemental or leveraged broad spectrum of park staff wide variety of park planning funding. We anticipate that can utilize it. The fi nal result is needs identifi ed through the the need for planning will only a tool to showcase and analyze Foundation process. Through grow. Perhaps this is the best park resources and develop the Foundation eff orts, parks time to plan: plan for a time future planning projects and identify high priority needs when project funding is more data needs. that are shared with Regional available and we can have and WASO leadership, who “shovel ready” plans in place With the new vision for understand and approve of for the second century of park planning in the National the needs, making the request needs. Park Service, the Foundation for limited funding that much Document serves as the stronger. centerpiece of the new planning framework. The question The question now arises—what becomes, how can this eff ort be is next for planning? There is no translated into positive actions question that parks have long to benefi t our parks? In the needed the ability and funding past, planning depended on to tackle smaller planning the completion of lengthy and projects. The funding for high cost GMPs. Now, with a such smaller plans will now new framework for planning be available from the WASO with Foundation Documents Planning budget. This will allow at the center of the portfolio for regional planners to help for park planning, funds are parks accomplish these plans no longer centered on GMPs, and also look for other sources

57 Fall 2014

—CULTURAL RESOURCES—

Pictures into the Past- Restoring the Kolb Studio By Ben Isaacson, Preservationist, Western Center for Historic Preservation, [email protected]

tanding at the edge of the SGrand Canyon, leaning over the abyss, my insides tighten with fear and awe. As I capture a photo at the perfect moment, where the clouds create a pattern of light and shadow that dance across the omnipresent red rock canyon, I realize how lucky I am. For some people this is a once in a lifetime vacation, but for me, this is my job. Whether I am bumping along a two- track road in 4-wheel drive, snowmobiling in the dead of winter, or hiking and canoeing to a remote location, the goal is always the same: I am here to preserve and document structures because I work for the National Park Service Western Center for Historic Preservation (WCHP).

Established in 2005 as part of the Vanishing Treasures Network, the WCHP is a hands-on training and resource center based in Grand Teton National Park and is dedicated Kolb Studio on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. (Credit: NPS) to the preservation of traditionally built architecture Park Service and other federal stabilization and the WCHP in the western national parks. lands. Many of these structures, works to document and The center is located within which are able to tell a story preserve as many of these 600 miles of 2,500 signifi cant richer than any history book, buildings as possible. Although historic structures on National are in need of rehabilitation or I have traveled all over the

58 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

mountain west, stabilizing and During the years of 1911- preserving structures from 1912, Emery and Ellsworth further decay, no project has fi lmed themselves rowing and been more dramatically located rolling from the Green River than the Kolb Studio in Grand in Wyoming to the Colorado Canyon National Park. River and all the way through the Grand Canyon; an 11,000 In 1904, brothers Emory mile trip in all. This movie and Ellsworth Kolb began was the fi rst motion picture a commercial photography documenting river running business on the south rim down the Colorado River and of the Grand Canyon. After became a national success. After experiencing a year of mild touring the country with the success, they built what was movie, the Kolbs returned to to become their home and the Grand Canyon and added photographic studio at the an auditorium on to the east head of the popular Bright end of the studio where the Angel Toll Road (now Trail). movie showed every day from The Kolb Brothers at work in 1915. From this location, the Kolb 1915 to 1976 with live narration (Credit: E.L. Kolb) brothers became some of the by Emery until 1932. This fi lm fi rst entrepreneurs to document holds the record as the longest building which is 80 feet high tourism in the national parks. continually running movie in and perched at the edge of one The process of creating and U.S. history. Although Ellsworth of the deepest canyons in the selling a photograph to a left the business a few years world. Normally, scaff olding visitor was an arduous one. after returning from the river is anchored at the base to fl at, First, Ellsworth would position trip, Emery remained the owner solid ground; but the edge of himself (often precariously) to and operator of the business the Grand Canyon is not fl at. take shots of the mule riders until his death in 1976. The Because of this, we constructed as they descended the trail. Kolb brothers, known for their platforms to create a level Because the studio had no energy and daredevil antics, are starting point and then erected running water, Emery would responsible for taking over 3 the scaff olding against the side then run four and a half million pictures of visitors and of the building. In many places, miles down the trail with the helping shape the nation’s view the scaff old is over ten feet tall photographic plates--often of western national parks. and it was necessary to secure passing the riders--to Indian it to the building to prevent Gardens where they had a small One of the most iconic pictures it from falling away from the darkroom studio next to a of the Kolb brothers is of a log structure. Our eff orts created natural spring. After he fi nished bridged over a deep chasm one of the most scenic, and developing the prints, he would with one brother dangling inspiring job sites I have ever rush back to the rim and sell from a rope looped around experienced. After long hours the images to the visitors as they the log, presumably to get the of replacing siding or painting, returned from their daylong “perfect shot.” I often recall I can turn around and drink in mule ride. this photo while standing on the same view the Kolb Brothers the scaff olding surrounding loved. the exterior of the building—a 59 Fall 2014

Paul Jensen and Chris Frank assemble Platforms were constructed to create a Hank McCurdy stands on scaffolding that scaffolding. (Credit NPS) level starting point for scaffolding which levels the 3 tiers of scaffolding above it. was secured to the side of the building. (Credit: NPS) (Credit: NPS)

The WCHP documents all removing a decayed area and studio?” or “Are you using the of our work in photographs replacing it with similar wood same materials?” Questions and words, which will allow or epoxy. Also, we focus on such as these lead to discussions this icon of history to share its documenting all the windows, about the work and usually end story for years to come. As we including ones that do not with supportive comments and work on the Kolb Studio, the need repair. However, after the visitor leaving with a greater WCHP repairs decayed half-log examining the glazing and insight of the Grand Canyon’s and cedar siding, three rotting caulking, we discover that some historic characters and the porches, two sagging awnings, of the windows have, in fact, and more than 80 windows been repaired over the last 80 and doors, all while disturbing years but nothing was recorded. as little of the remaining As part of the process, each historic structure as possible. window is numbered and The process involves carefully photographed during several stages of the rehabilitation.

Working on the scaff olding, I am, at times, at the same level as visitors on the Bright Angel trail. Many stop to ask mundane questions such as, “Where are the bathrooms?” but other hikers show interest in the building and the work, often Offi ce with a view. (Credit: NPS) inquiring, “Is this the original Park visitors stop to learn about the studio as work is underway. (Credit: NPS)

60 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Ben Isaacson (author) works atop scaffolding to repair an upper window of the Kolb Studio. (Credit: NPS)

WCHP’s unique work within work required for this special and videos; and this project the NPS. structure. Once the project is has only increased my desire complete, the WCHP will have to do so. Surrounded by the At the end of March 2014, the transformed a building that is stories and photos of these WCHP completes the onsite over 100 years old and readied two pioneering brothers, I portion of the Kolb Studio and it for 100 more years of history gained a deeper connection to we return to our headquarters and storytelling. the area through the history at Grand Teton National Park. of the people who recognized Back at the offi ce, we are Living and working in national the magic and grandeur of this currently working on a window parks for the last ten years has place. Now, it is my turn to pass assessment and completion inspired me to document my the magic on. report that details all the future adventures in writing, photos

61 Fall 2014

—GEOGRAPHIC RESOURCES—

Geology: The “Real” Story Behind the Scenery Completing All 76 IMR Digital Geologic Map Datasets By: Tim Connors, Acting IMR Physical Resources Manager (January – April 2014) / Geological Resources Division Geologist, [email protected] and Michael Bozek, IMR Inventory and Monitoring Chief, [email protected]

INTRODUCTION ince 1998, the service-wide Foundation documents, is tasked with providing SInventory and Monitoring Natural Resource Condition guidance, technical assistance, (I&M) program has been Assessments, and State of the and funding for parks to working to complete 270 Parks reports. They also serve to complete a set of 12 basic required digital geologic remind users that there is truth natural resource inventories. map datasets for park units to the saying “geology: the ‘real’ These inventories are designed nationwide, 76 of which are story behind the scenery.” to provide park management for IMR areas. In spring of staff with a base-level of 2014, the Geological Resources BACKGROUND information with which to help Division (GRD) completed The importance of geology manage the natural resources the fi nal digital geologic to National Park Service within their particular park and IMR park map and posted areas goes beyond the iconic geology is one of them. Now, it to the NPS Data Store on scenery. Geology transcends with the maturation of the I&M the Integrated Resource the stunning beauty of our program, many inventories are Management Application parks and provides vital well underway, and the IMR (IRMA). This represents a huge functional information on geology map inventories and accomplishment for IMR that the paleontological and their respective products are highlights cooperation between archeological context of among the fi rst to be completed. the Inventory and Monitoring time periods; the processes Program, the GRD, the that formed the landscape; NPS-75 (Natural Resources Geologic Resources Inventory soil genesis and watershed Inventory and Monitoring (GRI) program, and the condition; and hazardous Guideline) defi ned “natural Intermountain Region. These conditions to visitors, park resource inventorying” as “the datasets supply much-needed structures, and cultural process of acquiring information geoscience information on resources. These widespread on park resources, including bedrock and surfi cial geology; uses of geologic information the presence, distribution, and paleontology; geologic hazards; underscore the value the condition of plants, animals, locations of seeps, springs geologic inventories have soils, water, air, geological and caves; and volcanic and in parks throughout the features, biotic communities, geothermal features. They are Intermountain Region. natural processes, and human- crucial for many NPS activities induced changes in park The Inventory and Monitoring including overall resource resources.” It also specifi ed the program, established through stewardship and management, objective to “inventory mapped the Natural Resource Challenge, the Park Atlas projects, information on vegetation, 62 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

soils, geology, and other natural geologic hazards such as 1. Assess the Level I geology resources.” fl oodplains, volcanic potential, inventory needs of parks paleontological potential, in relation to the current “Chemical and geophysical mineral composition, and I&M program; focus on inventory and monitoring swelling bedrock units. both bedrock and surfi cial focuses on those geological, geologic mapping. hydrological, and meteorological To this end, 76 parks in the 2. Determine how to evaluate processes and variables that NPS Intermountain Region the quality and applicability comprise the physical habitat were deemed “natural resource of existing baseline geologic component of park ecosystems. parks” and were targeted for information. Physical-chemical inventory geologic inventories and the 3. Consider the need and monitoring should identify development of digital geologic to interpret geologic important geomorphic, maps. information for parks, to hydrologic, and atmospheric clarify its management processes responsible for the PROCESS applications. character of park natural In November 1997, the NPS 4. Review the geologic resources and monitor those Geologic Resources Division information gathered by the processes most vulnerable or hosted a “Baseline Geologic I&M program thus far, and likely to change measurably or Data Workshop” at the evaluate it in terms of park to cause fundamental changes to request of the NPS Inventory needs. occur among park resources and and Monitoring Program 5. Recommend the most park ecosystems.” Advisory Committee to provide eff ective next steps in map an outline for the geologic Moreover, NPS-75 states that acquisition and digitization, inventories. Participants bibliographic work, and a “recommended minimal set of included NPS superintendents, initiation of new eff orts, natural resources information park and regional natural including partnership which should be available in resource managers, Inventory opportunities with the all natural resource parks” as and Monitoring Program staff , USGS, state geological “digital geology maps (bedrock U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) surveys, and others. and surfi cial).” The guidelines geologists, and heads of state indicate the desire for both geological surveys. The advisory bedrock and surfi cial geologic committee recommended that mamaps,ps, bubutt alalsoso ssuggestuggest tthehe ththee worksworkkshhhop:op: nneneedeed ffororr ““specialspecial puppurpose”rppose”” mmamapsapsp tthathhat mimightighht ddedelineateeliineneatate

63 Fall 2014

Workshop Participants Initially, NPS sites in Colorado were specifi cally chosen to NPS Field Areas: Phil Brease (geologist, DENA) pilot a partnership among Marsha Davis (geologist, CCSO) the NPS, USGS, and state George Dickison (GIS group, ASO) geological surveys for assessing Suzette Kimball (acting superintendent, CAHA Bob Krumenaker (resources management, ARO) existing geologic information; Laird Naylor (archeologist, ZION) this project was initiated in David Pugh (superintendent, WHIS) FY98. Due to the success Judy Rocchio (geologist, PWRO) of the pilot, the project was Danny Rosenkrans (geologist, WRST) Vince Santucci (paleontologist, FOBU) expanded in FY99 to include Kim Sikoryak (chief interpreter, IMRO) Utah NPS properties. All of NPS Deputy Associate Director Natural Resources: Abby Miller (2nd day) the Colorado and Utah NPS NPS Geologic Resources Div.: Bob Higgins, Lindsay McClelland, Dave Shaver areas are included within the and other staff for portions of discussion (Cloues, Heise, Keller-Lynn, NPS Intermountain Region Steensen, and Wood). and because of the plethora of NPS Natural Resources Information Div.: Joe Gregson, (Rich Gregory and geologic features and processes, Gary Williams, 2nd day) these parks proved to be an U.S. Geological Survey excellent starting point for Jack Epstein (geologic mapping - Eastern region) collection of NPS Geologic Rich Harrison (park project coordinator - Eastern) Resource Inventory information Peter Lyttle (National CoopGeology Mapping Program) service-wide. These digital Bonnie Murchey (geologic mapping - Western region) maps are unique in that the Association of American State Geologists: Lee Allison (Utah), Vicki Cowart information they contain has (Colorado) been collected using consistent Baseline Geologic Data Workshop participants, November 19-20, 1997 and systematic methods, making them comprehensive. In 1999, the fi rst digital geologic map was completed for Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in and in 2014 the last digital geologic map was completed for Tonto National Monument. PRODUCTS The GRD team worked closely with the Colorado State University Earth Science Department and a variety of other partners to produce number of maps completed per year 76 IMR (and 239 service- wide) maps with park-specifi c geologic reports and digital geologic data that staff can Geologic map completions in IMR by fi scal year. The number at top of the bar represents the running total of completed maps. easily access. This mutually

64 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

benefi cial relationship has been been employed to create the and illustrations, and a section in existence since the program’s digital data that can best meet on unique geologic features and inception in 1998. park needs as identifi ed during processes present in each park. the scoping sessions. These It also includes a companion GRD staff hosted park-specifi c digital data allow geologic volume “Geologic Road, Trail, scoping meetings to initiate information to be easily viewed and Lake Guides to Utah’s Parks the process, bringing together or analyzed in conjunction with and Monuments” with PDF fi les. local geologic experts and a wide range of other resource Several NPS staff contributed NPS staff to inventory and management information to these products. Arches review available geologic data available in park geographic National Park, Bryce Canyon and discuss geologic resource information systems. National Park, Canyonlands management issues. After National Park, Capitol Reef each meeting, the GRD team OUTCOMES National Park, Cedar Breaks prepared a summary document In 1999, GRD partnered National Monument, Dinosaur that identifi ed a plan to provide with the Utah Geological National Monument, Glen digital geologic map data for the Association to develop the Canyon National Recreation park. “Geology of Utah’s Parks and Area, Natural Bridges National Park-specifi c geologic reports Monuments” as a year 2000 Monument, Rainbow identify geologic resources in a Millennium Field Conference Bridge National Monument, traditional sense, those that are Guidebook. This publication Timpanogos Cave National important to park management, has become the “go-to” guide Monument and Zion National and also issues of concern for on the Geology of Utah’s NPS Park are all covered in this park managers. These include areas. It includes detailed volume. descriptions of each park’s identifying geologic formations, This initial publication spawned geologic history, stratigraphy, a properties of geologic units, similar products for NPS geologic map, numerous images explaining local geologic areas in New Mexico in “The processes, and identifying paleontological resources and geologic hazards.

GRD staff created digital geologic maps to attempt to reproduce all aspects of traditional “paper maps,” including notes, map legends, and geologic cross sections (three-dimensional views of the relationship of the geology to the surfi cial topographic expression) while making them more accessible. Bedrock-, surfi cial-, and special-purpose geology maps such as coastal or Derivative Publications on NPS Geology in partnership with the Geologic geologic hazard maps may have Resources Inventory.

65 Fall 2014

Using Geologic Maps for Habitat Prediction at Capitol Reef NP, Utah (Credit: American Geological Institute Environmental Awareness Series, “Meeting Challenges with Geologic Maps”)

Geology of Northern New Another useful outcome Maguire’s daisy, Rabbit Valley Mexico’s Parks, Monuments, occurred at Capitol Reef gilia, Harrison’s milkvetch, and Public Lands” by the New National Park (CARE). After Jones cyclidia and Barneby Mexico Bureau of Geology discussions with the Chief of Reed mustard. Management and Mineral Resources Natural Resources, the park can now use this information to (2010). Aztec Ruins National initiated new geologic mapping plan trail routes that will help Monument, Bandelier National projects for high visitor use preserve the sensitive plants Monument, Capulin Volcano areas. This was mainly based but still provide recreation and National Monument, Chaco on a desire to have larger-scale enjoyment for visitors. Culture National Historical information on geologic strata Park, El Malpais National in the hopes of being able to tie During the process of GRI Monument, El Morro National geologic materials to threatened scoping and evaluation of Monument, Fort Union and endangered species. Ties existing geologic map coverage, National Monument, Pecos between geologic materials and new geologic mapping projects National Historical Park, and species distribution have been have originated with USGS, Petroglyph National Monument suggested at CARE for Winkler individual state geologic are all covered nicely in this cactus, Beck’s spring parsley, publication. 66 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

Geologic Map of Colorado NM and Adjacent Areas, Mesa County, Colorado, USGS SIM-2740, 2001 surveys, or academics for many understand the signifi cance of Area, Washington and Kane IMR parks. these surveys and why geology Counties, Utah.” Specifi c matters on an everyday basis in hazards identifi ed in this Many people view geology our parks. As ROMO rebuilds, publication include fl ooding, as scenery and rocks in a it now has more information rock fall, landslides, surface very stable setting. However, to use when reconstructing the fault rupture, liquefaction, substantial focus of the damaged roads, bridges, trails. collapsible soil, expansive soil inventories was dedicated to and rock, gypsiferous soil and identifying geologic hazards At Zion National Park (ZION), rock, and piping and erosion. that have real-time impacts on the digital geologic map was For both ROMO and ZION the property and personal safety. used by the Utah Geological lesson may be that geology is And one only has to look at Survey to conduct Special not as stable as it appears, and the recent fl ooding events in Study 133 and produce it can change in a single event. Rocky Mountain National Park the publication, “Geologic Having this information on the (ROMO) and its economic Hazards of the Zion National maps is invaluable for planning impact to surrounding areas to Park Geologic-Hazard Study

67 Fall 2014

Zion National Park Special Study 133. NorthernNthCl Colorado dPlt Plateau NtNetwork kPl Paleontological tlil Resource Inventory and Monitoring Technical Report.

ahead and for recovering from exist for the following more than scenery. These catastrophic events. Networks: Chihuahuan, Greater important datasets are of great Yellowstone, Gulf Coast, use to many NPS initiatives Most recently, the Digital Northern Colorado Plateau, related to planning and Geologic Map for Grand Northern Great Plains, Rocky resource protection including Canyon National Park has Mountain, Sonoran Desert, Foundation Documents, Park been selected to be showcased Southern Colorado Plateau, Atlases, State of the Parks during Earth Science Week and Southern Plains. These reports, and Natural Resource 2014 for National Geologic maps can be used to predict Condition Assessments. Map Day (Friday, October 17, where dinosaur or other They also have great value 2014). For more information see signifi cant fossils may be found for interpretation, facility http://www.earthsciweek.org/ by identifying the underlying management, and many NPS geologicmap/. formations in an area. centennial initiatives. These digital geologic maps All of these examples have also had a very important showcase the importance role in deriving maps depicting of geology to NPS resource paleontological resource management, as well as visitor potential for the NPS Network- use and safety, illustrating based Paleontological Resource that geology is indeed much Summaries. Reports currently

68 IMR Crossroads – Resource Stewardship & Science

GEOLOGIC RESOURCES INVENTORY PRODUCTS

The Geologic Resources Inventory Publications page (http://www. nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/ gre_publications.cfm) serves as a one-stop hub to download GRI products. It links to compiled GIS datasets that are housed on the IRMA Portal at https://irma.nps.gov/ App/Portal/Home.

The completed digital geologic maps are served as ESRI formatted fi les (shapefi les, geodatabases, and legacy “coverages”) and more recent completions also contain geologic overlays that can be easily brought into Google Earth to visualize the geology.

More detail about the 12 inventories covered by Inventory and Monitoring can be found at: GRI Publications page http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/ inventory/.

ROMO Geology draped over Google Earth.

69 Fall 2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work of the Geologic Resources Inventory program could not be successful without the tireless eff orts of many dedicated NPS staff in the Geologic Resources Division as well as the numerous Colorado State University Research Associates, faculty and student interns that have worked on the GRI since its inception in 1998. Many thanks also go to the numerous participants in scoping sessions (park, regional, and network staff , as well as USGS, state geological surveys, private researchers and academics) who have contributed to the appreciation of NPS Geologic Resources. REFERENCES Clark D. and Clark, T.O. 1999. Rare plant survey at Capitol Reef National Park. Pages 27-29 in Selleck, J., editor. Park Science, volume 19, number 2. National Park Service. http://www.nature.nps.gov/ParkScience/Archive/PDF/Article_PDFs/ParkScience19%282%29Decemb er1999_27-29_ClarkClark_2277.pdf (accessed 22 August 2014)

Connors T. 2004. Geology…It’s Not Just for Scenery Anymore. Pages 104-105 in Henry, M. and Armstrong, L. editors, in cooperation with the National Park Service. Mapping the Future of America’s National Parks: Stewardship through Geographic Information Systems. ESRI Press, Redlands, California

Connors, T. 2004. Using Geologic Maps for Habitat Prediction. Pages 28-29 in Thomas, W.A., editor. Meeting Challenges with Geologic Maps. American Geological Institute, Environmental Science Awareness Series, Alexandria, Virginia. http://www.agiweb.org/environment/publications/mapping/graphics/capitalreef.pdf (accessed 22 August 2014)

Lund, W.R., Knudsen, T.R. and Sharrow, D.L. 2010. Geologic Hazards of the Zion National Park Geologic- Hazard Study area, Washington and Kane Counties, Utah. Special Study 133 (scale 1:24,000). Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah.

National Park Service. 1997. National Park Service, Baseline Geologic Data Workshop, November 19-20, 1997. Geologic Resources Division informal report

National Park Service. 2014a. Geologic Resource Inventory. http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/inventory/geology/index.cfm. (accessed 22 August 2014)

National Park Service. 2014b. Inventory Brief: Geologic Resources Inventory. http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/inventory/FactSheets/InventoryFactSheets.pdf (accessed 22 August 2014)

National Park Service. 2014c. Natural Resources Inventory and Monitoring Guideline NPS-75. http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/docs/nps75.pdf (accessed 22 August 2014)

Price, G.L. editor. 2010. The Geology of Northern New Mexico’s Parks, Monuments, and Public Lands. New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Socorro, New Mexico

Scott, R.B., Harding, A.E., Hood, W.C., Cole, R.D., Livaccari, R.F., Johnson, J.B., Shroba, R.R., and Dickerson, R.P. 2001. Geologic map of the Colorado National Monument and adjacent areas, Mesa County, Colorado. Geologic Investigations Series Map I-2740 (scale 1:24,000). U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado

Sprinkel, D.A, T.C. Chidsey, Jr., and P.B. Anderson, editors. 2010, 3rd edition. Geology of Utah’s Parks and Monuments. Utah Geological Association, Publication 28, Salt Lake City, Utah

70 We hope you enjoyed this second issue of Crossroads in Science and we look forward publishing the next issue in the Fall of 2015.

If you would like to submit an article or have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact the Editorial Director Nida Shaheen at [email protected]. Crossroads in Science National Park Service • Intermountain Regional Offi ce 12795 W. Alameda Parkway Lakewood, CO 80225