Volume 4 - Number 3 Spring 1984 Spring 1984

PARK SCIENCE A RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BULLETIN

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

VOLUME 4 - NUMBER 3 SPRING 1984 SPRING 1984

A report to park managers of recent and on- SCIENCE going research in parks with emphasis on its NATIONAL PARK SERVICE implications for planning and management

Resource Management Computer Applications: This issue of Park Soence ISdevoted to computers and parks. As guest editor, Anne Frondorf has done a Her- The Park System’s Developlog Response 3 culean lob - collecting Inform&on from all comers of the National Park System on how the various areas are movmg into the Computer Age. Channel Islands NP Develops What comes through on these pages is the over-archmg principle of all systems: The System Self-Designs. Microcomputer Based Info System 10 There seems to be no otherway. In spite of all the logic with whichour linear minds tell us that these things should be planned and coordinated and orchestrated from above, the successful system stoutly refuses to grow that Information Crossfile 11 way. Instead, 11begins in obscure comers and niches *all over the map” - adaptlog to a need here, an idea there Mlcracomputer - New -and then reaching out with tentative feelers for connections. tiomputet technology and the uses to which it can and WIII be put had to arrive on the scene together. When Tool of Communication 12 that happened, the seed sprouted everywhere, like “emergent properlies.” Eventually, these filaments will Inter- Everglades System Facilitates Data Transfer 12 connect more firmly and become, instead of many systems, a system. As a new, syslemlc way of accomplishing planntng and work, this system comes with the full complement of IBM Personal Computer Lab Showcased 13 new perils and problems. One of these-the potential tyranny of the computer - IS discussed by Celia Walker, who urges users not to take ‘NO’for an answer. (The old, frustrating deadend that used to read ‘It IS ourpolicy Regional Highlights 14 not to ’ ISbeing replaced by a new atbttrary negative: ~The computer will not allow it.” Walker warns: ~Make sum it’s the computer and not just some lazy human being.‘) System Application for Fire Management 17 Information Crossfile offers additional cautionary computer notes, ranging from dead serious to hilarious. But overall, the message on these pages IS one of a powerful new tool, emerging in concert with the needs if IS Data Analysis Management in Remote Fields 17 suited lo handle. The Idea is to inform, through this issue. every corner of the Park System about what every Big Thicket Computer Capabilities other comer is up lo in the use of computers. Every item has a contact name and address. Rubbing mends to. Driven by Resource Management Needs 18 gather can make sparks; this issue should slart a fire.

Tension Headache #84 Users and Computers 20

RiverUse Model Aids Management of VIsItor Flows 20 Guest Editorial VIsitor Data Facilitates This spew1 issue of Park Snence ISfocusing on %formation Management and Natural Resources in the Na- tional Park Serwce.“ Our Intent IS to provide users-and potential users-of computers, word processors, and Resource Management 21 the entire spectrum of Information management technology with a forum in which to exchange ideas and compare notes on the application of this technology to resource management and research ISSUBS. Visllation Census 21 Items descrlblng current or antictpated information management actlvifies relating generally to natural re- From Washington. D.C. : 22 source management and research are Included from every Region and more than two dozen park umts. Wher- ever possible. the name of a contact pawn has been given so interested readers can find out more about a par- Microcomputers Afford Flexibility 22 ticular type of equipment, program 01 software package, or application. This is anything but a Static field and it is lmpodant that we all continue to look for opportunities to communicate From DISC 23 what we are dolog or plan to do. Two such communication opportunities are described I” this issue’ the “Softwxe Clearinghouse,’ being developed by the WAS0 Office of Information Management, and the Sewtcewide elec- Elucidation Blues tronic “Bulletlo Board System.’ accessible to anyone wth a terminal and telecommunications capability In coordnating this special wx I have been tremendously impressed with the energy, enthustasm. and initla- With a plethora tlve displayed throughout the Service on this topic. I am grateful to all who contributed to this issue, as well as lo Of words Jean Matthewsfor herefforts in bringing it all together. Anne F. Frondorl Biological Resources Division, WAS0

Hides himself Like a squid Mention of specific brand names is necessary to the dewptive task undertaken I” this issue. It should not be construed as endorsement by the National Park Service. Conform / want fo be scene. Nor herd, said a wayward Glossary: Young swngbok, as I( spl~r. Bit is one-eighth of a byte Know “our place, sad Byte IS a umt of data The leader, wh/ch is together, And clubbed the erram back, 8 bits equals one unit of data (a byte) Giving it the Gesellschaft. Baud means ‘bits per second’and mdicates rate of transmission. Resource Management Computer Applications: The Park System’s Developing Response Editor’s Note: The grouping hereunder IS a repre- Community or Recreational-Assimilation clentfor “se by all park staff. sentadve sbce of the Nal~onai Park System as ndr- One of the major problems I” a” Isolated area like I” Sor~na 1983, $125,000 in PRIP (Siqnificanl Re- vidualparks have responded to /he capabilitfes Inher- Big Bend IS the difficulty in receiving information from source Pro&n) mo”,es was approved for work relai- ent m computer technology the “outside world.” Lack of television and radio re- Ing to mIneral developments and associated water ception may be praised by some, but a person totally quality problems. Computerizing the data base was deprived of tnformatio” in a” information age proba- the only logIcal approach to managing these prob- From Big Bend bly is not going to possess a complete set of SOCIO- lems effectively given staffing constraints, so we de- The 730.000 acre Blq Bend NP is one of the moat communicative tools. A community may live without slgnated a large portlo” of these monies for develop- remote National Park; I” the contiguous United “60 Minutes,” the “Superbowl,” and “HIII Street Blues: ment of a Geographic Information System (GIS) Slates. Located on the US’Mwcan border in souih- but can it compete socially or intellectually with com- using a” IBM-PC and dBase II. west Texas, the nearest grocery store is over 100 munities that have access to a variety of media Major hardware purchased for this GIS system I”- miles from park headquarlers and the nearest town of stimulants? eluded a” IBM-PC with two disk drives, a” EPSON any size is over 250 miles away. Spanish IS a primary Residents of Panther Junction (park headquarters FX-100 dot matrix printer, a CONUS ZOMB hard disk language, much 01 the park has no telephone service area) banded together to form a non-proht TV cotpo- with mirror, a” HP 7470A planer, a GTCO “DigiPad 5’ and many of the residences receive their only “out- ration. I” 1983. the “club” slgned an agreement with a digitizing pad, and a” IBM color display monitor. We side” news from shod-wave radio. Because of the cable company to Install two large satellite receiving have a contract with the University of Tennessee par& resemblance to late 19th century Mexico, dishes and a residential cable system which, com- Space Institute (UTSI) I” Tullahoma, Term., to da- many people believe that lnformatio” dissemination bined with a” improved translator system, provides velop this GIS system. UTSI already had developed and management are restricted to the telegraph and subscribers with a wide variety of FM radio and televi- a mapptngldata base system for vegetative types I” pony express. This view perpetuates the ~Goodbye SIO” programs including the Spanish International the Recreation Area under a previous contraCt and God, I’m going to Big Bend” syndrome. Actually, be- Network (SIN) for the 35-40 percent of the rwdents WIII add 20.30 Yhemes” (e.g.. roadsIt& water hind the sleepy adobe facade there loves a” active who speak Spanish. Two small residential areas in areas, endangered spews sightings) IO their existing modern information management program that con- the park still have no TV or radio reception, but the system. The development of software 10 allow for sists of three separate sub-programs: Telecommuni- club is working to have satellite receiwng statlons I”- various analyses and revisions of data also is a parl cation-dissemination; Community or recreational-as- stalled in those remote locations. of their contract. This system IS to be ready by Sep similation; and Administrative-networking. To the uneducated aye, Big Bend may represent tember 1984. Administrative-Networking the epitome of historic information management. But As we await the llnal GIS system, we continue to I” October 1982, the park purchased a” ALTOS wthi” the wilderness setbng, there is a plan and a work with our first IBM-PC system. Currenlly we are series 5 computer system. The multi-user system can certain modern sophistication. Therein lkes the preparing a” oil and gas well data base using dBase run ufider either CP!M or MP’M II. The basic config- paradox - Big Bend NP is a combination of 60 mil- II and compiling water quality sampling data using uration Includes five-megabyte hard disk drive, a 5’/4 lkon year-old mountains, state 01 the art satellite re- Multiplan. Wordstar IS being used for plan prepara- inch floppy dsk drive, three T&video terminal sla- ceiving stations, vast expanses of wilderness, com- tion and daily correspondence. Crosstalk soon will be [ions and a Diablo 630 printer. While the basic system puters, old adobe buildings, microwavetelecommuni- used to tap other park and agency information sys- is small, it has catapulted certain time consuming ad- cations - and people. People talking with people is tems and for electronic malllng. Once adminlstratio” ministrative tasks into microsecond technology. Re- the bottom line in information management. begins using Multiplan extenslvelyfor budgeting, Ra- writing operating programs (10-575‘s) once took Bob Huggins source Management will be able to make accurate hours; it can now be done I” minutes, and recalcula- Big Bend NP budget adjustments as needed. Also planned are the tions can be completed I” seconds. Texas 79834 hiring of a computer clerk and a proposal to acquire The real time sawng may be found I” information a” IBM-PC system for the Obed Wild and Scenic sharing. A division stores its budget I” the computer, River - another park area administered by the Big -... which then can be accessed by administrative per- From Big South Fork South Fork NRRA Headquarters. sonnel who, with a few simple entries, can generate The Big South Fork NatIonal River and Recreation Michael Duwe a status of funds or make administrative changes. I” Area, a developing park unit on the Cumberland Big South Fork National River addition, the park uses the comp!ller to generate bill- plateau, eventually WIII contain more than 100,000 and Recreation Area ing, maintain vehicle mileages, information storage, acres. The area’s resources are diverse and the re- P.O. Drawer 630 flllng, and general word-processing Including lists, let. lated resource management data base IS growing Oneida, TN 37841 ters and mailings. The park already has outgrow” the dally. The staff realized early I” 1983 the need to de- system and IS investigating the possiblity of acquiring velop a” automated data base and to procure com- From Biscavne NP a larger Data General System which will be directly puter hardware and software as early as possible to compatible with other park and regional office equip- prevent future storage, retrieval. and analysis prob- The Parts Hewlett-Packard 9825T computer with ment. Once installed, the park system will be able to lems. Networking possibilities also were consIdered. 68K user available RAM memory was purchased by talk directly with those other systems - further in- The first computer equipment was purchased I” the Southeast Region in 1979 as pall of a Hydrolab creasing the efticlency and networking capabilibes. Spring 1983, wth the main hardware components in- water quality monitoring system and was updated in Telecommunication-dissemination cluding a” IBM-PC mlcrocomputer with two disk 1982. This computer is used to edit, compute values In 1982i83. telephone operations (which were in dnves, a” AMDEK monitor, a” NEC letter quality and store bay and reef tract water quality data. In the AdmInistrative Division) and the park radio sys- datsy wheel printer, a Hayes Smallmodem, and a” 1984 it will be used for statistical analysts of the 10 tem (which was in the Ranger Dlwsion) were com- Orange electronic protection device. Software purch- year bay water quality data base. bined Into a Telecommunication Center operated by ased included dBase II, Multiplan, Wordstar (with The Hewlen-Packard computer also IS used to the Division of Interpretation and Visitor Serwes. Mailmerge), and Crosstalk. In Summer 1983, a Cor- compute and store monthly visitor use data and pro- The move streamlined the entire Information flow in vus 10 MB hard disk system was purchased in antici- duce yearly cumulative totals. Other uses Include the park and consolidated it in a centrally-located pation of large data base. Originally, a one-computer storing addresses, printing mailing labels for public pbsitio”. The majority of information exchange deals system was believed to be adequate for parkwide use sewice announcements, programs to list and locate directly with wtor wv~ces - telephone information by all diwsions. We planned for dBase II to be used dive equipment, training and program needs, and requests, weather and road repotis, etc. The Dis- for all inventory/data base work, Wordstar for word dwe logs for park divers. patchers, who are traIned in both interpretation and processing, Multiplan for budget work, and Crosstalk Currently our sporl and commercial fishing creel law enforcement procedures, deal through a multi- for networking (particularly for electronic mailing and survey data base, begun in 1976, is stored on the channel radio system with Customs Patrol Officers to tap other Information systems). However, it was Wang computer at Everglades NP (EVER) South stationed in the park and U.S. Border Patrol. $00” realized that one terminal would not be suff- FlorIda Research Center, where weekly, quarterly 3 I I E

The Park System’s Developing Response, cont’d. DAY and yearly slal~st~cal analysis of recreational and costs In addltlon experimentatlon was conducted 20.6% commercial flshlng IS done. Analysis of the first five with direct visitor mfarmation access programs. year data base is in progress. Blue Ridge Parkway IS exploring several appl~ca- The Park purchased an IBM Personal Computer tlons in resources management. RM Spec. Larry (PC) with 840K memory in September 1983. Intl~ally, Freeman IS working on a database file to store infor- NIGHT commumcation with the EVER computer to store matton lrom the Parkway’s 400.plus special use par- 61.8% fisheries data IS planned to save time spent m trans- mlts and letters of agreement related to agricultural portation of personnel lo and from the Wang. Eventu- use. lncludlng names of landowners, fence lines DUSK ally this data base may be transferred to the IBM-PC. acreage I” pasture. hay, crops. etc. The program wll 11.8% Due to mcreased memory capabillty of the IBM-PC, automallcaily compute any fees Involved. DAWN the water quality data base stored on the Hewlett. The agricultural use lile is just one example of a 5.9% Packard computer may be transferred to the IBM-PC database appllcatlon whtch is essentially an elec- cc! Storage 01 exotic plant control data is planned to tron~c file system with a surpwng degree of sophIsti- Figure 2 summarize work reports, evaluate herbude efficacy. c&on. Other appllcatlons the Parkway intends to Deer Caused Motor Vehicle Accidents and schedule follow-up treatment explore Include an endangered plants inventory acid Light Conditions-1983 We hope to develop a multi-dimensional data base rain observation file, stream analysts, vista burning mlormation retrieval system which would catalog and program, bear management, forest disease data, make retwable all Information, utlkzlng a coordinate fisheries, exotic plantcontrol, hunter parking permits, lated accidents occurring during different lighl condi- base grid system developed in such a way that data etc. The Parkway’s incident ftle (a database cons~si- tlons. These examples were generated in a matter of could be input and verified by the user on an lndivldual mg 01 mformatlon lrom Case lncldeni Records. Form minutes using the Vector Graphic’s plotting routines data point, data set, or subset basis. This system is 10.343) IS being modified by developing a sews of automatically accessed by Ihe database program. parl~cularly attractive since all data bases would not incident codes specific to resource management ac- Another example of micro-computer appilcaiions IS have to be placed on the computer at one time. The tlvlties. the use of telecommumcations software and a result would be that d&rent types of data or data One application useful In all functional areas is modem to access scienlific databases over tele- sets could be compared or evaluated separately. AC. word processing. Recently the Parkway rewrote its phone lines. The potential related to literature cess to other agency data bases also may be pass,. Resource Management Plan and accomplIshed the searches, abstracts, etc. is just beglnning to be ble. task in a lh!rd of the time It would have taken to manu- realized by park personnel. Some of these databases Other park uses of the IBM-PC Include programs ally draft and edit. Corrections, additions, and revi- are surprisingly cheap compared to alternative ac- lor tracking park administration wantory, personnel, sons can be mseiied easily into the orIgInal to reflect quisition methods. budgets and tralnlng needs, Ranger case incident re- future program changes. Much of the P&s work I” 1984 IS evaluat!ng the ports and as an ald in mtetpretive program planning Frequently, the Parkway staff finds computerized feasibility of microcomputer applications in resources and Statistics. data useful in ways not orlglnally anticipated. For management. The staff has learned that although Past problems wth the park computer Include lack example, a recent resources management project on ceriain types of data and informalton can be kept on of interest and fear of the computer, lack 01 knowl- the Parkway was interested in data related to motor a mlcrocompuler, It IS sometimes eaw and more ef- edge of computer capablllties, mabil~ly to use or pro- vehw& accidents involving whttetail deer. The com- ficient to continue the task manually. Whether it is gram the computer. and the press of other critical puterized motor vehicle accident flle was examined practical 10 computerize depends to a large extent on duties on personnel wth computer knowledge. Train- and valuable lnformatlon quickly retrieved. Two the volume of data and the need for seleclive or Ing of all personnel who will directly or indirectly be af- examples of this type 01 Information are illustrated in sorted retrieval. fected by computer capabiltties and use IS needed Figures 1 and 2 Flgure 1 is a bar graph showing the Tony Bananno The park needs employees htred speclflcally to number of deer-related motor vehicle accidents by Blue Ridge Parkway schedule computer use, determlne and define needs. District. Figure 2 shows the percentage of deer re- Ashville, NC 28807 write programs, put data on the computer. and train In-house employees on capabIlity and use. FIGURE 1 Linda C. Dye Deer Related Motor Vehicle Accidents By District-1983 Biscayne NP B P.O. Box 1369 Homestead, FL 33030 From Blue Ridge Parkway In October, 1982. the Blue Rldae Parkwav took de- lkvery of lhree Vector Graphic Model 4-30 r&om- puters Each umt Included the CPM operating sys. tern. an integrated software package (database, spreadsheet. word processing. graphics, and com- municatlons). a printer with graphics capabllity, a modem Ior telecommunications and 5 megabytes 01 hard disk storage. The Parkway already had several Apple II Plus computers running the MOSS (Malnte- nance Operations Schedulmg System) program. Pror to acquiring the hardware and software. Supt. Gary Everhardl eslabllshed an Inter-diwonai committee lo examine Parkway informatIon needs. wantory computer appllcatlons, and survey software and hardware conflguratloos. During 1983. several appll- cations were up and runnmg with excellent results I” the area of profectlon IIncIdent records) and accldeot IlIes safety electromc mall word-processing personnel records training ~nventaws. property management. monthly and annual interpretation and vis- ~torservices reporls. budgel and volunteer hours and 3

1961), elevation. slope, aspect, polittcal boundaries, The Park System’s Developing Response, cont’d. and subdrainage boundaries. For about 35 percent of the project area, data bases are complete for roads, the entry of metered production and usage values on I&, logging activities, streams, lakes, islands. and From Canaveral a monthly basis and automatically calculates unme- an ecological land type classllicatlon developed by tered figures based on dlstrrbution to various park the Forest Serwe. Addttional data will be added m National Seashore and concesston operated areas. the near future tncluding pwpilation. lightning igni- Canaveral began 11s In-house use of an IBM-PC Through its capablllty of automatlcally adjusting de- tion, forest age classes, fire history. forest disease nearly two years ago. A single unit was purchased; pendent values, the Water System Model also pro- s~tas. wildlife winter ranqe, land ownership, and olher lhls was complemented by two other employee- vides a means of analyzing pumping requirements or land use types or facilities. purchased IBM-PCs. Basic work has been ac- forecasting conservation needs. Washinaton State Universiiv is asslstlnq the pro)- complished I” word processing, spread sheets and The Crater Lake Limnology research program col- ect, pro&g computer hardware and s&are sup- data accumulation, along with electronic mail. lects approximately 400 pieces of data per week in porl Digital files are created in rastor,‘image format Following are the computer programs, listed by the the basic monitoring schedule. When this IS com- for each data base -a process that usually requires software or language used, together with the tasks bined with USGS gaging information and data from prerequisite steps such as map draning, digitizing, they perform. special invesiigatlons into nutrient chemistry atmos- and vector file generation. The files are then regls- pheric mputs and ground water discharge, the data tered to a UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coor- Basic Language volume becomes unmanageable by conventional dinate base. Most functions are accomplished within A monthly tide table calculated for the Canaveral means. Since the program is mandated by PL-97-250 the scope of image processing using batch VICAR; beaches for a period of 10 years, the park qwkly recogmzed IBIS and mteractive I25 system 575 software. A A mailing list to produce mailing labels for var~ou~ that computerized storage, retrieval and manipulation Numonics series 2400 digitizing tablet is used to gen- park interest groups. of the information was a necessity for accurate deter- erate the vector map files. Word Processing (Word Star) minatlon of trends in Crater Lake’s water quality Once operational, the data base will reside with Draft and fInalwe Resource Management Plan and Utilizing park base fundlng and SRP lunding for Lake Flathead National Forest and/or GNP. A need WIII Interpretive Prospectus. Research, the park has: continue, however, for maInframe computer assi% Biweekly staff meetings and park in-house news- 1.) Purchased a 256KB, 1OMB hard disk Wang Pro- iance when old data liles are updated and when new paper. fewonal Computer with associated statistics. flies are created. The capability will exist to display VisiCalc programming, communications and graphics and analyze subsets of the data on image processlng Spread sheet for monthly expenditures and pro- dtware; hardware planned for In-house purchase. Thus, the gramming for fiscal year. 2.) Begun the development of telecommunications system should be readily available for local rasourc~ connectlons to the Oregon State University main dBase II managers and field personnel. frame computer for large data base manipuia- Inventory control on radio communication system. Data base compatibility development by field per- Itons; and Personnel data InformatIon. sonnel, and proximtfy to field operations are ~mpor- 3.) Begun working with the CPSU at OSU todevelop lncldent data accumulation for L!E Management tan! factors determining an information system’s suc- a water qualIly data program for the Wang that deasions. cess. will allow input directly from the park of data that Profile on vehicle B & Es. Carl H. Key are compatlble with the OSU main frame StatIstI- Mosquito quantity and spews for pesilclde juslifi- Glacier NP cal analysis packages. cation. West Glacier, MT 59936 Additional uses of the Wang PC include a Crater Data base production for t,me utlllzatlon. Lake research bibliography, a program for prescribed X Talk fire fuel loading calculations, and word processing for From Grand Canvon P&r&g fire weather forecasts and submiswn of Resource ManagementlBackcountry operations. Grand Canyon NP has a DatapoInt 1600 mlcropro- fire Information. Jon Jarvis and D. Hanson cessor with 120K of user memory 1OMB hard disk, Submissron and receiving of informatIon from Crater Lake NP printer, and Iwo floppy disk dnves. The parKs River SERO. P.O. Box 7 Subdistrict has both a teleprinter and an 6200 One interesting devised program is the develop Crater Lake, OR 97064 Datapoint terminal, which is currently linked to the ment of a profile for breaking and entering a vehicle. USGS DEC PDP-11 system in Flagstaff. The park The experiment is beginnmg to produce factors that also has had a centralized word processmq system indicate the most probable location, time. month, etc. _ From Glacier NP for Several years. that an lncldent will take place. All stable canditlons Since August 1962. Glacier National Park (GNP) The oark recentlv acouired two IBM PC’s (with were considered for the data, including temperature, has maintained an interagency agreement with most~oithe optional bell; and whistles) for the’ Re- day of the week, cloud cover, month, cars m parking Flathead National Forest to develop a digital geog sources Management Dwision. The plan is to develop lot. holiday, etc. A total of 31 vaws data elements raphic information system (GIS). Impetus behind the several data bases pertinent to cave inventones, was entered Ior each incident A form was designed agreement has stemmed from regional interagency backcountry useltmpatis, research permit issues, for gathering these data as a supplement to the nor- cooperation and expertise within both agencies for cultural resource inventories. ad almost infinitum, mal repming reqwements. simple and easy to make developing automated inlormation systems. Benefits using the data base management system dBasell. out. It lakes about 30 seconds to enter each sheet of Include the ability to address shared resource prob- There is also the potential for a third IBM PC in the information Into the computer. II is hoped that the lems that are reglonal in scope. a standardized tech- park, assigned to the Maintenance Division, for in- data WIIIhelp us select areas and time of patrol to de- nical jargon and methodology, increased interagency house applications as well as remote access to large crease this activity. communication, and opportunities for reduced cost. maintenance-related data bases currently malntained Dennis Kuenzel The GIS will be relevant to about 6,000 mi’ (20,000 at Boetng Computer Services. Canaveral National Seashore km’) within northwestern Montana. It will not only in- We’re currently struggling with our most corn. Titusville, FL 32792.6447 ventory and monitor resources, but also analyze prehensive sofhv&hardware proposal to date: au- data. User options will exist to merge two or more tomating our backcounlry reservation and permit sys- data planes to formulate higher, more complex levels tem. Our average number of permits issued per year From Crater Lake of information. IS currently 14,000 totalling more than 64,000 user MomtarIng the production, distribution and usage The project goal IS to Implement an operational ‘in- nights and encompassmg an advance reservation of waler supplies throughout Crater Lake NP has re- house” system that addresses a broad spectrum 01 period of 15 months. I?s a tough proposal because cently been improved by the development of a com- resource and research issues. Such a generalized the resultant system must be the most “user friendly” puter model. The Water System Model was devel- approach permits maximum flexibility and requires available (due to the number of temporary seasonal oped on the Parks Datapoint 1900 computer utllizlng many independent data bases. Data bases com- staff that will use it) and wtually fail-safe (we alma@ MULTIPLAN, a spreadsheet program that facilitates pleted for the entlre project area Include two Landsal have fist fights in the permit wailing lines, can you tabulation of numeric data. The program provides for land cover classifications (dating lrom 1979 and imagine what would happen if we had to sayourcom- 5 The Park System’s Developing Response, cont’d. Services (BCS) office in ChIcago and access thw mainframe IBM 370 computer at Vienna, Va. They puter system went down?) Storage and data manipulation have proved worth- possess the Time Sharing Option (TSO) which ena- What we feel we need in a data base managment while in managing bear relocations, mast surveys, bles us to keypunch data sets directly into computer system and the extent and type of files access bear indces. exotic wild hog removal effectweness, files on disk. BCS also matntains several statistical suggests a hardware conflguration beyond IBM PC! and temporal and spatial analysis of wildlife incidents software system packages that allow us to perform Apple/&c options, but the jury IS stall out We also A hog population model has abeen obtained (for an many kinds of analysts. Additional programs can be want to assume responsibilily for our own backcoun- IBM-PC) and will be tested this year. added to the files as needed. We are also able to print try use statistical analyses, currently performed for us Last, a resource management plan project state- quickly the results of any data analysis, by the University of Washington CPSU on a monthly, ment tracking system that interfaces with resource One difficulty is that once data sets are deleted quarterly. and annual basis. management collecting and research activities is from TSO. there only are two very time consuming Finally, we derive weral pasltive benefits from our under construction. The program will display a brief optlons for recreating the data sets; I) if the data are mutual agreement with the USGS Computer Branch abstract of the project, and the three principal actions on cards they have to be reread through a card in Flagstaff. While our time-sharing on their DEC of research, monitoring, and resource management reader or 2) the data can be re-entered by hand on PDP-11 system (for river use statistical analyses IS concerning that project. In addition, alicollecl~ng and the CRT terminal. Of course it costs to keep data sets not cheap, we derive the ban&s of top-notch exper- research activities concerning that project may be in TSO flies even when you are not using them; if you tise and sincere &rest in the parrs natural re- tracked and we versa. have over 50 files, it can be quite expenswe. sources from the USGS ADP staff. Having their facti- Stu Coleman The IBM PC solves these problems. Through the ity withln driving distance has provided technical as- Great Smoky Mountains NP asynchronous card and modem phone line it is possi- slstance at linle or no cost upon occasion. And there Gatlinburg, TN 37738 ble to communicate directly wtth the BCS computer. IS lust no substitute for their level of ADP capabtllty Consequently, data sets can be created and stored knowledge when you’re living on lkmlted money. on PC floppy diskettes and through the above men- Pat Phelan tioned setup It is possible to recreate data set files on Grand Canyon NP From Hawaii Volcanoes TSO within minutes. Other advantages include never AZ 86023 The Resources Management DIVISIONof Hawaii using computer cards, storing data sets in a compact Volcanoes NP recently acquired an IBM-PC. Using form and most Importantly, saving computer cosfs. From Great Smokv software, such as Ashton-Tate’s dBase //, Lotus De- Glitches on the phone line caused by poor connec- velopment Corporation’s Lotus 1,2,3 and Software tions can be a problem. Another problem is the re- System’s Muitimate. the PC has become a useful tool Mountains NP ’ quirement for a special cable so that the IBM PC can in analyzmg field data in feral animal control, exotic be connected to our high speed printer. A printer The Resources Management Division of Great plant control, and nene (Hawaiian goose) restoration should be purchased with the terminal. Otherwise, Smoky Mountains NP recently acquired an IBM-PC programs. The PC also is being used in many admin- output must be printed at a BCS office and mailed to unit. Accessory equipment inclludes a Haynes istrative functions. you. Much time can elapse before discovering you Smartmodem Model 1200, Epson Printer FX-100, The database management system is Ideal for data made a Job Control Language or syntax error in your two floppy disc drives on the system unit, one expan- storage and retrieval. Lotus 7,23 analysis and graph- program, especially when the operator is unfamiliar soon unit (to-megabyte hard disc dwe). IBM Mono- Ing funclions allow data to be presented in many with the software. chrome display, Grizzly power sourca, and a quad ways and can provide the manager quickly, with Application of the system has involved the analysis link board. Software supporl for the system mcludes numerous opilons, greatly enhancing decision-mak- of large complex data sets generated from research Lotus 1.23 WordStar, dBase, Apple-IBMconnetiion. Ing. Technical papers, as well as coorespondence. and applied towards solution of ~sowce manage- ProKey, a Random House Proofreader, and Cross. are handled by the word processing software. ment problems. Examples include the analysis of an. talk. Specific applications so far include entering field vironmental data from road salt on impacted and un- Current uses are for standard budget and FTE obsewalions and vttal statistics in the endangreed impacted portions of Pinhook Bog, analysis of vege- tracking programs and word processing. A sidelight Hawafin goose (new) restoration program, treatment tation data to understand the successional processes of the budget program IS the generatlon of a capital data in Ihe exotic plant control program, properly in- in razed resldentlal sites, the classiflcatlon of vegeta- and non-capital property listtng for inventory and con- ventory, livestock and hunting dog vltal statistics and tion to develop a &-get&n map of dew&red pond trol purposes. This separate llstlng is done when a history and budgetary records. The Research Scien- beds, and the study of plant community patterns in requsition is entered against an account by expand- tist IS using a feral pig population model developed by prairie ecosystems. 1ng the fields to include property quantity and descrip- Dr. Reginald Barrett in evaluating research progress We also have used the IBM PC to store herbarium tlon. Inventory programs also are in “se, or proposed, in feral pig control methods. Although the system has data and inform&n concerning the occurrence of for better accountability of wildlife immobilization been I” the park lor less than a year, already 11has rare plants. Resource management has written a pro- drugs, training records. wlldllfe law enforcement and proven a valuable asset to Resources Management gram to fill out scientific lkterature request forms from observation records, and tar tools and equipment and Research. the Interior Department Ikbrary. Other resource man- A future project that promises a useful data base Christine Iha agement appllcatlons Include storing and analyzing for recreational fishery management and brook trout Hawaii Volcanoes NP road kill stalistIcs, deer fat data, fire weather mforma- restoration efforts is the cataloging of all park Hawaii 96718-0052 tion and eventually, effects of controlled burns on streams, location, order, species contalned, eleva- small mammal populations. tional limits, tribularles, country, and state. A IInk be- In the future, we hope to add a color graphic terms- tween the DIVISIO~‘SIBM-PC and a malnframe IBM nal, increase the storage capablltties of our PC, and unit at the University of Tennessee ~(a the Smati- From Indiana Dunes purchase addltlonal terminals. Thus, Ihe combination modem WIIIallowforanalysis of data obtained in creel of a prmter, a terminal, and a personal computer that and fish population surveys utilizing the SAS pro- The Science D~won of Indiana Dunes NL has de- can be linked to Boelog Computer Serwes enables gram veloped a computer system that enables us to do a data to be stored and analyzed in an efkcient and in- The IBM currently generates 150-175 Yemlnder” wide variety of data analysis tasks with ease The expenwe manner. With such capabilItIes. almost any letters to potential park fireftghters that it IS time to up- hardware consists of a Datapomt 8200 CRTterminal, analysis problem IS solvable. date step tests. The park retests twice annually be- a Datapoint 9621 serial dot (132 column width) maw Noel Pavlovic cause of spring and fall fire seasons. The memoran- pnnter, an IBM PC with an Asynchronous Commune- Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore dum generated also provtdes the prospective flre- cations Card, and several modems. We hope to 1100 N. Mineral Springs Rd. fighter with his last step test score and dale passed acqwe a letter quality printer so the PC can be used Porter. IN 46304 Future efforts WIIIInclude AFFIRMS network interface for word procewng and letter typing. Our piecemeal on the IBM, red card records, and fire history and rec- acqulsitlon of the total system resulted in some dif- ord storage A modlfled U.S. Forest Serwce hazard flcultles. tree ldentlflcallon declslon key IS being experimented Using the Datapoint terminal through a modem wth tar possible application in the park. phone line we can hook up to the Boeing Computer 6 The Park System’s Developing Response, cont’d. emhemlock--western red cedarforestscould be retrieved bv selectinq elevations below 1200 meters and Universal Tra&verse Mercator coordinates less trieval by species or class, cros&ferenclng by other than 650000E. It may be possible to more directly From Isle Rovale variables such as location and habitat-type is not pos- document habitat-type in 1984, when vegetation lnitlally purchased for admlnistratlve and payroll sible. mapping for the park complex is completed. applications, Isle Royale’s Datapoint 8620 Computer A strong need for a multi-vanate wildlife data-re- Presently this system contains information on 12 system is now being used for resources management trieval system became apparent both from internal mammal and 22 bird species that are endangered, applications as well. Located in the mtddle of Lake park-management needs and from numerous re- rare, or unusual in our area. We do not antlclpate put- Superior, Isle Royale does not have direct telephone quests by universities, corporations, and private indi- ting data on the more common species in the com- access to the Mann computer, which is located in viduals. The recenl acquisition of two Datapoint computer in the near future. Hwghton, Mich. A termmal IS hooked nto the proces- puters and a programmer (Roberi Borreu) facilitated Printouts can readily be sent by mall in response to ser w a 1200 baud modem and radio telephone to development of a new system. requests originating outside the park complex. run applications programs. The same terminal IS also The new system permits retrieval by species, This new use of the computer has dramatically im- used as a dumb tube’ along with a matrix printer to class, county, topographic quadrangle map, Urwer- proved retrieval of data on wildlife distribution and rel- connect with the AFFIRMS fire weather computer sal Transverse Mercator coordinates, elevation, pre- ative density in the North Cascades park complex, system. cision (confirmed or unconfirmed), date, and ob- and could serve as a model for systems in other park The Datapoint system is largely business oriented. server. Figure 1 shows an example of the printout. sewice areas. so sofhvare for resources manaqement and scientific For most variables, ranges of values also can be Jonathan Bjiirklund applications IS practically non&tent - particularly selected. Although few habitat data can be directly re- North Cascades NP programs dealing with statistical analysis. Use of trieved from the cards, approximations are possible 800 state St. existing software largely focuses around Datapoint’s For example, most observations in old-growth west- Sedro Woooley, WA 98284 Integrated Elecirorw Office System or Word Proces- ser, whose benefits are obvious in the development Figure 1. Example of computer printout of wildlife-obwvation data. _ and updating of resources management plans and reports. For example, Isle Royale now has a complete Park Bibliography, easily updated, of over 750 references which can be queried by key word or word combinations such as author or sub@(s). This application has been particularly useful in responding to requests for specific lnformatlon by the public or the research community. Development of in-house computer programs at Isle Royale for resources management applications is m the beginnmg stages. lnitlal efforts are geared towards the analysis of wtor use data collected from the Backcountry and SCUBA dung permits. For example, a summary list of the number of dives made on each of the 30 shipwrecks and historic sites is being used to make deciwns on the placement of mooring buoys to protect these significant cultural resources. Because of the t,me conwmng nature of writing software, a -program to write programs”called DATAFAST is used to build the data entry portions of all programs. Envisioned for the future are programs lo develop data bases and do analysis on meteorologIcal conditions, backcountry campsite conditions, and colonial bird rookeries. The first park computer was a Datapoint 1800 with Craig C. Axtell From Olvmpic NP a 1OMB hard disk drw we all shared. Since data Isle Royale National Park Houghton, Michigan 49931 Equipment: Datapunt 1560 w IOMB hard disk - storage and machine access were too lkmited we DOS H. Will run “standalones or underARC. added a 1560 in the Science and Technology Division Programs and Software: Multiplan, Datascan, and two 1560s running under the ARC system in Ad- FORTRAN, IEOS, word processing, CP/M-80 22 (in ministration. The 1800 currently IS in Mamtenance From North Cascades progress), Lemonade, DATABUS and plans are underway to add a 1560 in the Interpre- Wildlife observations reporteo by employees and In the Olympic S&T Division we are using the com- tive Division. Most of us are pleased with the visitors prwde valuable informatIon on the dislribu- puter primarily as a data storage and manipulation Datapoint system but we continue to study alterna- lion and relative density of various species, thus sup tool. Current applications include analysis of perma- tives. plementing field studies by the park biologlcal staff nent plots in plant communities, manipulation of anad- Initial use of our computer system was relatively Data are recorded on Natural History Field Observa- romous fish spawning survey data, hazardous tree slow. Each individual had to become familiar with new tion cards (Form 10.257). Despite North Cascades records, hazardous tree monitoring, statistical equipment and - in some cases -with computers NP Service Complex’s relattvely short existence analyses, budget tracking, wildlife management, drug in general. We have had a computer for approxi- (since late 1968). already we have accumulated sev- inventories, equlpmenl inventories, and word proces- mately 16 months and still feel we are in the em- eral thousand completed cards. These are distributed sing. We expect to use the computer for plant byronic stages of how best to use the system. It is ap among 48 mammal, 155 bird, 7 reptile. 7 amphibian, checklIsts. herbarwm inventory museum catalogs, parent we need at least one and more likely two Pro- and 9 lish species. wildlife observation cards, bibliographies, scientific grammenoperatorson a full-bme basis. Natural History Field Observation cards are stored abstracts. fish scale data. wildlife movements, elec- To take full advantage of a computer system, con- alphabetically by species and class in file &nets at tronic mail, storage of weather data, fire management siderable time must be spent on training. Staff mem- North Cascades park complex headquarters. Al. and as many other appllcafions as our collective bers need to know both how to use the computer and though this data-storage system is adequate for re- imaginations will allow how to determme what types of applications are ap-

7 The Park System’s Developing Response, cont’d. From Rocky Mountain proprlate for computer use Tasks that are to be han- system are based on (1) our current mabllity to ex- dled by the computer must be carefully thought out. It trapolate results obtamed in statlstlcal analyses to National Park is inefficIent as well as frustrating to a programmer to generate schematIc portrayals of numeric trends and Rocky Mounla~n NP IS upgrading its Datapomi sys- have someone continually changing or adding to generate secondaly data for input m statistical tem to the Model 8640. An agreement was made with parameters to a program that has already been writ- computations: and (2) our need for a large capacity the consulilng firm of Arthur Anderson and Company ten. graphics system that can reduce to usable form map of Denver (through the Super VIP program) to Al Olympic we are committed to broad applications base data from the lirst five years of our watershed thoroughly evaluale the park needs. We are now in of the system. As more of our experts on particular rehap program. the process of looking at the various ongo!ng re- sublects become familiar with the computer as a Our “canned” software gives us flexible, powelful search and monitoring programs lncludmg wildlIfe ‘working tool,” we find we are just beglnning to tap the tools that provide analysis of sample univariate or populalion studies, range condwns and trend advantages of ADP. complex multlvarlate data by researchers with no pre- monliorlng and vegetation studies as the first prlorlty ‘S&ware package descriptions: wus axpenance of considerable expertise. In addl- Ior data processing. In the future we see the addition DATASCAN - a data base manipulation tool of tron, a number of programming languages are ava~la- of a basic data file, research protect register, science considerable powar, but operates slowly on some ble for “se when a task cannot be handled by con- library catalog, herbarium file and niildllfe obserwtlon machines. ventional canned software. files. We would be interested in what other programs LEMONADE - a screen generator, allows sat up Two larger FORTRAN programs, SYNTAB. and have been developed throughout the NPS for the of a “page’ on the scleen so that when data is en- ADZBED, written by the author, may have applica- Datapoint system Bung able to utilize what already tered I! is automatically placed in a predetermined for- tions in other parks. SYNTAB is an interactive pro- has been developed would certainly accelerate our mat. gram that WIIIproduce a synthesis table for ranking or program. IEOS - Datapoint’s word processor. classifying data that have been recordcd in the iradl- Owng your own personal computer may offer a DATABUS - a computer language designed by tlonal ZM style, into discrete plant communities. researcher a continuity in data analysis that is ~mpos- Datapoint. called associations RDZBED IS an interactive menu sible when using larger computers. As research pro- FORTRAN - a computer language designed for driven program that WIII produce the contract specs fessionals we don’t thmk twice about purchasmg sclentlfic applications. that enable heavy equipment operators IO bid on books or joining professional Socletles. In time. the CP’M 60 ~ an operating system used by many such lobs as putting a road to bed as part of our pro. ownership of a personal computer may be just as processors including IBM, Kaypro, etc. gram to prevent signtficant sediment sources from common a “tool of the trade.” INS dlfticult to be en- entering the mainstem of Redwood Creek. The thwastic about writing a substantial software library MULTIPLAN-a powerful ‘spread she&set up in rows and columns. Appropriate Ior smaller data sets Geologlsts.Hydrologtsts COTR determines which of if you know that when you are transferred the and maklng tables or malntalnlng runnmg totals m dif- five techntques to use for returmng the hillslope to its software probably will not be compatible with the pre-road proflle, enws the data as the program computer at your new location. Also, data sets may ferent accounts. prompts, and puts out the contract specifications. require an extensw overhaul to meet the input for- DOS H-the disk operating system on Olympc’s Currently the Divisions of Resources Management mat of the new analytical software. By owmng your Datapoint 1560 serves computers. and Technical Services are jointly funding a half-time own. or at least slicking to an Industry standard, such Ed Schreiner (temporary) computing consultant postlion, the d&s as ‘IBM compatible.’ these problems are eliminated. Olympic NP of which Include: (1) liaison with the Humboldt Slate NPS researchers should begin sharing their experi- 600 E. Park Ave. University Computer Center; (2) training staff in the ence with computing systems. Communication ua Port Angeles, WA 96362 use of specific appllcafion programs and utilities; (3) telephone lines wtll permit the sharing of nonproprle- writing programs for applications not available in tafy software. Data sets could be iransmltted for canned software; (4) standardizing and archlwng analysts by others who may have more apropriate exlsfing data: and (5) trouble shooting hardware and sofiware. Calculatrons could be performed by per- From Redwood NP software problems. Benefiting projects provide for sonal computer; the results could then be transmined lheir own data entry and analysts utilizing existing to a faclllty with higher quality output facilities, such In the summer of 1983, Redwood NPs Technical personnel as a plotter or color printer. Services and Resource Management Dlvislons Mark Schroeder, our wldllle biologist, has collected The time seems right for the use of small comput- bought their first computer hardware Ior use in the Ar- a large data base that focuses on the ecology of the ing systems for research. and for coordinating that cata. Calif. office. This system is used for accessing black bear in Redwood NP The largest set consw use on a wide scale. In particular, researchers wll the Humboldt State University CYBER 170-720(Z) of relocation data for the monltorlng of h&tat use by need assistance m lnterfacmg personal computers malnframe. also located in Arcala The University IS bears throughout the mosaic of cutover lands in the with mainframe systems and their associated faclli- authorized to provide computer processing Services expanded poilion of the park. Each relocation 01 a ties. In most cases this will consist of lifile more than to agencies of the U.S. Government on a full cost re- radiomstrumented animal IS coded Into UTM grid establishtng an account al the target facility and usmg covery basis. This IS a parwularly anractlve arrange- coordinates This generates hundreds of relocation the personal computer as a very intelligent terminal. ment for the park because of the power and speed of points. When anaiyzlng these data for associations Dave Stevens this computer and the large amount of software. Both with habitat type, topography’landforms, climate, and Rocky Mountain NP are sewlced and mainlained by the University. en. possibly other instrumented bears, computers greatly Estes Park, CO 60517 abling us to concentrate on data input, analysts. and simplify the work Avatlable sotlware also can prepare program development. tables, graphs, and maps. The Information is easily For our first system, a Stand alone microcomputer slored and can be retrieved far reuse in Similar was ““necessary. due loour ablllly to accessthe VII- wildlife studies This data base also includes Informa- From Seauoia and Kinas versity CYBER. Our hardware conststs 01 a DIgItal tion on food hablts hematology and blood chemistry, Canyon Equipment Corporation VT-100 terminal and LA-100 somatic measurements and condition evaluation. printer and a 1200 baud Racal-Vadlc modem for both Schroeder expects the new technology to aid in I”- The ‘old veterans“ of Sequoia and Kings Canyon’s the park office and the Unwerslty to eslabllsh a com- terpretatlon of the various parameters and to en- growing array of data processing equpment are a munlcatlon line The termlnal has the advanced video hance his contribution to wildlIfe research manage- DatapoInt 1550 operated by the D~won of Ra. option, useful for scanning output from ‘canned’ ment sources Management. and an IBM PC III Research. statistical packages. A Dtgltal Eng~neerlng GENII William S. Lennox both are scarcely one year old. Retra-Graphics board in the terminal gives us the Redwood National Park The Da&point IS a word processing workhorse, ability to display graphics on the terminal screen Crescent City, CA 95531 prowding electromagnetic storage and conwwent We are acqwng a Tektronix graphic syslem capa- updating of plans. such as the Natural Resources ble of locally running the SAGIS resource manage- Management Plan, Bear Management Plan, Fire ment mapping software (revlewd in Winter 82 and Management Plan, and others that reqw? extenswe Wtnler 63 PARK SCIENCE). Our needs for such a amendment in draft and annual revisions. This word either 300 or 1200 baud. Therefore, acombination ol The Park System’s Developing Response, cont’d. hard-and-software was acquired to “translate” be- processing capability has eased greatly what had between the different rates and allow the park to use coma a fearsome secretarial bottleneck. From Whiskevtown NRA AFFfRMS locally. The interface procedures involved were developed Thanks to his previous programming experience, At WhIskeytown NRA, the Datapoint 1800 com- Fish and Wildlife Specialist Harold Werner has devel- by the Pacific Northwest Region and provided to the puter system has been in operation for about one oped local programs in BASIC and FORTRAN to Branch of Fire Management, BIFC, in July, 1983. year and is used by all divisions. Whiskeytown does Once AFFIRMS is telephonically accessed the user manage an extensive water quality data base that not employ any programmers so the capabllities of permits non-expert users to access and enter data. A must then follow the normal AFFIRMS operations. the 1800 for the most pad, have been governed by Paul Broyles co&nation of commercial and focal programs is available software. The computer is used for payroll similarly under development for a bear management Wind Caves NP functions (DIPS, PAYPERS), budgeting (MULTI- Hot Sorinas. SD 57747 data base. Although the Datapoint clearly has been PLAN), GSAvehicle tracking, law enforcement visltor an advantage, its limited memory and available use statistics and case incident statistics, and word From YellowstoneNP software will tend to cramp new uses in the future. processing for repetitive correspondence and modifi- The file handling capabilittes of the Dataooint SYS- Research operates an IBM PC that IS used. at pre- cations in the park fire management plan. sent, for data analysis, data base management, and Each division sees addihonal tasks which could tern used in Yellowstone are useful for Inpining dia word processing. The hardware continues to evolve, use a computer’s storage and processing agility. An to the system. I have used it extensively to Input data from field forms and to manipulate the flies created but presently is configured with 576 KB RAM, 2 DS inventory and maintenance record of buildings, signs, DD floppy dnves, an IBM monochrome monitor with and equipment would facilitate planning of cyclic up for analysis and printed output. These programs are a Hercules graphics card, a dot-matrix printer, and keep. The inventory of the Natural History Asso&+ written in the Databus language and were done be- latter-quality printer on order. We rely extensively on lion’s materials could be updated constantly by a fore Multiplan was available. Some of the work may RAM (psuedo) disk software to reduce the read/write computer cash register system for the wsitor center; be easier to enter under Multiplan, depending on the time that comes with floppy disks. a sensitive screen. user-friendly informational termi- size requirements of the data base. Once the data The IBM is used for a large variety of tasks by the nal would benefit the park visitor. Law enforcement are in a file form from Multiplan, they could be man- research scientists, techniaans, and clerk-typists. An personnel could provide readily available intrapark lpulaled with Databus programs or RMS or DOS on-going acid rain research project generates a num- communication regarding vandals who habitually commands. I have also found the chain file capability ber of extenswe data sets on water chemistry, strike national parks. (One sensitive aspect is the of the Datapoint system quite useful. Two or more programs can be called Into service automatically meteorology downloaded directly from automated problem of adequate secunty to prevent access to after data are input to the terminal weather stations, vegetation, and a bibliography. confidential infomwtion.) Commercial data-base management, stallsbcal For managers concerned with mineral leasing, a I have written seven programs. which so far are analysis/graphics, and word processing programs software program capable of providing a cross- poorly documented but if anyone wanted a copy of are used extensively for data input, analysis. and indexed listing of land characteristics by township, the documentation it could be produced quickly. An edltinglformatting tasks. Local programming to date range and section would be useful. The computer, by example is RDNFPLTflext:W, a program to build a has been in interpreted BASIC, but a FORTRAN com- telephone modem, also could gwe access to the file of vagetabon plot data from field forms. The text piler is available to exploit the many resources pro- AFFIRMS fire weather system, and to the lightning file produced consists of a long list of records. The grams in that language, and we are explortng the use fire prediction program (LLAFFS) prwded by the first record is a plot header that gives the plot number, of “C .” U.S. Forest Service. Ideally. graphics capabillties location, and physical parameters of the s!te. Follow- In terms of console time, both computers are heav- would be of great help I” mapping of vegetation ing that, each spews is listed with itscover value. In ily loaded. In future we may consider a multi-user types, soil types, backcountry trail system, etc. Elec- application programs, the plot header IS used to dis- operating environment with additional terminals. This tronic mall would allow quck, intrapark correspon- tinguish between plots. would require a hard disk to handle the additional dence. One of the next programs I plan to write will look storage requirements and to speed read/write times. Victoria Mendiola through the file and find the locations of a parlicular In FY 1985 Sequoia and Kings Canyon will embark P.0. BOX 188 species. I would be glad to correspond with anyone upon a long-term geo-based resource information Whiskeytown, CA 96095 interested in such programs or other applications of system including the extensive collection and storage the Datapoint systems. Don G. Despain of many large Inter-related data sets. This almost cer- From Wind Caves tainly will require addressable memory and proces- The Greater Yellowstone Area, which includes Yel- smg speed beyond the capability of the IBM PC. We The AdminIstrative and Forest Fire Information Re- lowstone NP, is using an animal tracking program for are considering for this task a “high-end” microcom- trieval and Management System (AFFIRMS) is a the griuly and black bear monitoring system. The puter with large virtual memory capable of supporting user-oriented mteractive computer program designed majority of the 1983 information has been put into the a multi-user environment, and hard disk. to permit simultaneous entry of fire weather observa- system and we are planning to use this system, with- One thmg live discovered that appears to have tions from field stations over an extensive network. out backup from the previous system, in 1984. To been true for all the computers (now numbering 8) in Fire weather data may be entered from any of a num- date, the input program is workno well. and the these parks: There seems to be a several-months lag ber of data terminals; then those data and the asso- search/selection program has provid;d us with a use- period before users become comfortable with the ciated fire indexes may be centrally archived and may ful managment tool. machines and have refined theirthtnking to where the be displayed at any terminal in the network. Wa are using a set of programs for the input and machines are transformed from expenwe playthings Wind Caves IS one of the first parks outside the analysis of the research/resources management to useful tools. Once that point is reached, however, PNR to use AFFIRMS from a Datapoint Computer. data. utility seems to grow in almost a logarithmic fashion; AFFfRMS uses the 1978 National Fire Danger Rating I. Data Input Program (Datapoint -‘Databus” lan- so does use, as more people see the computer in ac- System as a basis for calculating fire danger indexes, guage). Data can be a mixture of literal, numeric, or bon and want to become involved. Then comas a which in turn provide fire managers with an invaluable codedtvoes. scramble for keyboard time. predictive tool in managing fire adivitias. II, Diia Search/Selection Program (Datapoint - These parks recently implemented a Computer Increased use of Datapoint computers throughout “Basic” lanouaael. Management Committee to promote the most effi- the Park Service has made the AFFIRMS program A. T~rou$lnteraction Program cient use of equipment and software presently available to areas that have been reliant on manual 1. User designs search for any combination owned, and to provide systematic planning for the fu- computations or the Texas Instruments TI-59 hand- of data values. ture. held calculator for non-archived index calculations. 2. User designs tabular output of any data David M. Graber Some additional hardware may be required, depend- fields in arw order Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP’s ing on the walls present Datapoint equipment. 3. Sorting of /awrds can be requested. Three Rivers, CA93271 For example, Wind Cave has a DP 1800 Processor 6. Modules can be added to increase capa- with a 2400 Baud modem (2400 baud is standard bllitiesfor special reports, Mlculations, etc. throughout the Rocky Mountain Region for adminis- Sandi Fowler trative transmittals). However, AFFfRMS sends at Yellowstone NP, WY 821% 9 DI. Jack Engle. on board the NPS vessel Pacific Ranger, uses an Apple compuler to determrne adequacy of samples faken for moni!orq populal~on dynamjcs of keep forest oiganrsms~ Channellsiands NP (Photo by D. Gotshall. California Dept. 01 Ftsh and Game) Channel Islands NP Develops Microcomputer Based Info System

By Gary E. Davis agement System was the No. 2 priority research prw on the abundance, distrlbutlon reproductive efforts. Channel Islands NP began an ambitious natural re- ect for the monitoring program and l&&sign pro&& recrutment, phenology, population age and sex com- sources monllorlng program I” 1980. The basis of the followed four steps: posltlons, growth rates, and moriallty rates of a dl- program IS a senes of 16 research projects. Each 1) definition of the task, 2) selection of avaIlable ap verse assemblage of plants and animals must be project deslgned a population dynamics monitoring plication software (programs) 10 do the job, 3) selec- stored, manipulated, and retrieved Taxonomlc data system for a major taxonomlc group such as sea tion of hardware available 10 supporl the software, for the nearly 2,000 species that occur in the park birds, island plants, or marine Invertebrates. In addl- and 4) implementation and modification of the must be maintained to provide ready reference for lion to provldmg managers with information they need selected hardware and software for the specific tasks wentists and managers. and to produce speclallred to prolecl and manage park resources, the mowor- of the resource monitoring program. species lists lor lndlvldual islands. biogeographic lng program will satisfy Section 203 (a) of Public Law The first lhree steps have been completed. The zones, or lnlerpretlve programs. 96-199, which requires that the status and probable fourih slep IS an ongomg process that integrates the The scientific literature on the parks natural re- future condition of plant and animal pop&lions m the results of the research design sludes as they are sources is extenwe (over 4,000 stations) and IS park be determlned and reporled to Congress blew completed Into a unified monitoring program. Minor growing steadily A system ior managing this b!bllog nlaliy. modiftcations probably will continue at a low level as raphlc mformatlon IS needed to provide managers Al the outset, with normal constraw on manpower long as the system is I” use with the best available lnformatlon lor timely deci- and funds. it was apparent that an automated system Task Definition s~o”s, and to allow sclent~sts and reso”rce managers was needed for managing and analyzing population Natural resource monitoring at Channel Islands NP to efficiently reww prewus work on parl~cuiar re- dynamics data and for preparing species lists and re- requws management of population dynamics data. so”rces I” the park. Preparation and presentation of polls. The design of this Resource Informalion Man- blbltographic mlormatlon. and textual material. Data professional reports on the status of park ~?sources 10 requires sophisticated word procewng and high data I” a vawty of graphIcal formats. Wordstar, with quality printing capablllties. In summary this system its auxiliary programs, Mallmerge and Spellstar. pro- must be able to store. manipulate retrieve. and pro- vlde professional word processing capabIlIty. information wde hard copy of digital. graphic. and textual mate- Selected Hardware rlal. In 1980. when the Channel Islands NP Resource The work environment also IS an important aspect Information Management System was being de- crossfile 01 deflnlng the task. Channel Islands NP consists of sIgned, the selection of microcomputer hardware was live Islands, isolated from the manland by 11 to 36 more limited than it IS today. Among the companies Daniel S. Greenberg, &or and publisher of SC+ miles of ocean. fully one half of the park consists of that had established reliable reputations and would ence & Government Reporl an independent newslet- submerged lands and waters surrounding the IS- probably s”rvve long enough to support the re- ter based m Washington. DC wound up a recent lands. Much of the resource mon,tor,ng actIvlty. even sources monltorlng program, Apple computers had a column with ‘two other elements” he sad he had rec- of island-based resources. ut\l~zes relatively large clear advantage in the array 01 available software that ognlzed as ‘fairly standard in the computer trade ~ NPS vessels, which can provide quawel~able elec- would provide future flexibility for the system. “The first IS that all machines are adverbsed as slm- tr~city and shelter from the weather for exlended Nevertheless, there were several Important programs ple and self-explanatory - 10 the effect of just turn It periods of field work. Under these ctrcumstances, lt IS needed for the nlormation system that required a dif- on and you are ready to go, which IS akln to telling dewable and possible to take some aspects of the in- ferent operating system than that oflered by Apple. career pedestrians that they can dwe on the information management system mto the field to This problem was solved by placmg a Z-80 muopro- terstate highway first time out The second IS that it is evaluate the adequacy of samples or confirm unusual cessx in an Apple II Plus computer to provide both a rare salesman who knows how to operate these observatlans wlthout lncurnng the extraordmary ex- Apple and CP M operating systems in one machine purported embodiments of s~mpllclty.’ pense of addItIonal lield trips. The ma,or data man- Wordstar M~crostat. and dBase II run under CP’M, agement lunci~ons of the system must be selfan- and the rest of the programs in the information sys- _I talned and at least partially portable to provide this tem run under the Apple operat,ng system. Both letter Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor of computer capability. quality and graphics prlntlng were required, and a science at Massachusetts lnstltute of Technology and Another factor ~mpotiant to delining the requw printer that could withstand the rigors of shipboard a pioneer in the development oi the computer. was in- ments of the system was that little. If any. mformatlon operations was needed These diverse requrements terviewed for the March 1984 issue of Harpers. and would be exchanged wth other automated data were best met with two printers: one an expenave, offered a dwntlng wew on what he calls “the com- bases This system should be able to IunctIon as an complex impact type, a Qume Sprint 5. for ofhce letter puterfad.‘ independent tool as well as being linked with other quality products, and the other an inexpensive dot ‘The temptatlon.‘he said’@ send computers wher- systems to exchange information matrix type, an Epson MX-80, lor shipboard opera- ever there IS a problem IS great. The introduction Selected s0nware tnns and graphic displays. This confIguration of of the computer Into any problem area, be II medl- The nature of these tasks and fhe anticipated low hardware: an Apple II computer wth aZ-80 mizropro- cone, education, or whatever. usually creates lhe em- volume of mformatlon mdlcated that a microcomputer cessor, four 5%” floppy-disk dnves, a h!gh resolullon press~on that grievous deficiencies are being cw system would be adequate. Hewlng to the axiom that wwmg screen. and two printers. supports the appll- rected, that somethlng IS being done. But often Its simple is best. we set out to select the best available cation soHware needed for the Channel Islands NP prlnclpal effect IS to push problems even further Into microcomputer soflware for data management and Resource Information Management System obscwty ~ to avoid confrontation with the need for word processing Two things overwhelmed us al System Implementation lundamentally critical thInking” once. the vast array of ~nexpenwe applications lmplementatlon of the information system is pro- software on the market and the extremely high rate at gressmg slowly as data are acquwd and analyl~cal which I, was growg. AHer struggling for years with and reporting reqwements are deftned by the re- And then there was Shoe the disheveled maswe programs costing hundreds of thousands of search design studies Population dynamics data on editowl owl. by Jeff MacNelly. In a recent strip. Irving dollars. It was astomshlng to find similar data man- sea birds, pinnlpeds (seals and sea Lyons), maw in- informs Shoe that he has bullt a new word-processing agemenl capabllltles in programs costing $90 to verlebrates. marme plants, and fishes presently are system ‘with all the glitches removed No more worry- S500’ managed wth DB Master and Data Factory files. 1ng about losing your stuii someplace I” the memory At thls lime our system ut~lkzes 10 software pack- These data are analyzed with Microstat and DB Mas- bank - or hawng your screen jus’ go blank - or ages lor data management, modeling, StatIstIcal ter Stat Pak programs. Parkwide species lists are waiting for the prlntoutl! No str! This little beauty analysts graphic presentat~an and word processing malnlained on DR Master flies A 4,000-&y blbllog- bypasses all that complex mlcroclrcultry. the floppy Three programs were selected initially for data man- raphy on park rewurces is mamtalned on an MDBS discs, the bulky pnnters. and other this and thals” agement, and a fourlh was added when it became av tile A model for monitoring boating actlvlty in the park This IS the 21st century answer to todays awkward. able two years later. The Channel Islands system runs on VisiCalc Weather data files are being devel- cumbersome word processors. With my new system currently manages data bases with The Data Factory, oped with The Data Factory and DB Master. and you can actually compose right at the keyboard and DB Master. and MDBS Data bases “smg dBase II dBase II files are being studled for management of get nstantaneous printout- with a foolproof memory are being developed. These generalized programs vegetation records. The first biennial report to Can- and retrieval capabIlIty AND ~ the grealest range in complexity and capabIlIty from extremely gress required by PL 96-l 99 was prepared using technological breakthough 01 all - it sells for only simple to sophisticated They permit reswrce mana- Wordstar. and the preparation of a large number of 5119.50. Gentlemen I gwe you the UNDER- gers and swnt~sts with IlHle or no computer program- other reports. manuscripts, and correspondence has WOODI” mung ab!lity to create and use customized data files been iacllltated by the system’s word processing and reports for their Individual needs. capabllItles management action continues at Channel Islands. An electronic spreadsheet program. VisiCalc. IS Park operations beyond research and resource the Resource lnformatlon Management System will used to model boat and visitor use m the park for the management have benefltted from the establishment become the focal point 01 cr~tlcal decisions wolwng momtoring program and has a number 01 administra- of the Resource Information Management System the future of park resources. While It will be crucial tive uses as well. SlatIsllcal analyses of resO”lce Property wentor~es. SCUBA dive logs and case in- that the system be able to manage the nformalion. 11 monltorlng data are conducted wth Microstat, which cadent records are managed with The Data Factory ~111be even more ~mpottant that park managers and prowdes a wide array of descriptive stattsttcs. and DB Master. Routine status of funds repotis are scientists be able to effectively manage the system analysts of variance. correlation and regrewon. time prepared usmg DB Master, and monthly publx use The kind of InformatIon developed here at Channel sews. and nonparametrIc tests DB Masters Stat report data are developed and maintained on VISI- Islands NP has the potential of solwng one 01 the Na- Pak has a more llmlted menu 01 analyses. but IS very Calc flles Preparation and revlsnn of lengthy reports tlonal Parks most pressmg challenges how to do converuent for use wth data stored in DB Master IlIes and plans have been facilitated by the word proces- more high qua&y work with fewer people in less time. and provides most of the standard analyses. The s,ng capablllt,es of the system Slgnlflcant cultural Today’s managers and went~sts need to become Apple Stepw~se Multiple Regrewon program pro- data bases on the park‘s archeological and historical .hands-on‘ users 01 these information systems il we v,des the capabiltty of sophisticated analyses Of en. resources are being prepared for ~nclusw in the in- are to keep pace with developments outside of Ihe wonmental !actors and populai~on dynamics formation system Blbllograph~c information on al- parks and continue to protect the mtegrlty of park re- In addition to the graphlcal displays awlable in lural resources already has been ~ncorpotated. SO”lCeS. these statlst~cal programs. a program called Apple As the process 01 translating research results Into Plot provides the system with the ability to present 11 Microcomputer - New Tool of Communication There Is No Microcomputer for All Seasons Our diverse prolesslonal roles rule out fIndIng any By John Hoke basic. or standard microcomputer system - something everyone WIII use. Trying to find a single system In the Spring of 1980, lhts writer acquired a small and analysis of data and conversion of this summary that can network the whole National Park Service, microcomputer system - primitive. by today’s stan- data into graphic and, ultimately, written format. and thus be cheaper-by-the-dozen. can be hazard- dards, and lacking many of the bells and whistles” Somewhere along the line it IS equally Important to ous. Their baw wrtua - flexibility - may well be current machines exhibit But this modest system en- write up whatever you are doing in clear, concise sacrificed IO the process. Developing a smgle vehicle abled the war to vastly improve the efficiency and ef- English. that will fly, land on the water, sall on it, travel sub- fectivenessof a host of many workaday tasks. New Programs Combine These Abilities merged, crawl out on dry land and then traverse it - A ‘Field’-Suppariing Tool The resource manager wrll find that new microcom- and do all these things fast - sounds like a great While a microcomputer is usually associated with puter technology Includes combined data-managing Idea. It may even be possible lo make a vehicle that ‘numbers-crunching’ its capabilities go further. I have and ‘writing’ software that can help provide the krnd does all these things but there is doubt that it could used 11frequently to help communicate Information of bottom-line results rn Ihe format best understood do any one of them we//. No such vehicle exists - about such chores as the testmg of new tools and by management staff These new “lniegrated’ pro- and lhls goes for mlcrocompulers, too technology. An example includes an effort to make grams make it easier both to gather and analyze data The key to any search for uniformity lkes in select- the management of the waler bodies on the National - and then to render it in a form easily understood ing sobare programs that are wdely used by the Mall less costly. ‘Swimming-pool’ treatment by people of many differing disctplines. many mlcrocomputer syslems now available - pro- techniques used earlier involved frequent, messy, A Microcomputer is Simply a New grains that can “talr to almost any system. If you and costly purges and cleaning of the pools. These Communications Tool select compatible software program packages. systems now are kept healthy by managing them as Resource management specialrsts and related pro. equipment choice can lhen be confined to hardware self-sustaining, self-cleaning living aquatic ecosys- fessionals will find the microcomputer an effective that handles graphics requirements best, IS easily tems. But thrs involved making many changes in our communications tool. Aside from its ability lo produce portable (for use m the Peld) or otherwise best meats maintenance techniques and the use of new tools. results in a hurry ii is uniquely able to render results some Individual or special requwment. Complete with Pictures with greater clarify With a microcomputer one parson They Can Really Reduce Costs Each change in technique had to be tested first. - one mind -can stay on top of the process, from The Darnell Institute of Business indicates that the The writer would photograph the trial operation with beginning to end. Often. the vital element of clarity cost of doing a standard letter-from idea to malled polaroid shots-and than quickly dash off the whole becomes lost when too many people, lapses of time, envelope - has risen to $7.60. Hewn lies another thing on the microcomputer, while the memory of it and sometImes even lapses of memory occur during mundane, but fruitful, use of the microcomputer. was still fresh. Using a word-processer program, ihe the execution of work. Many communications can be moved via a short note story-telling sequential aspects of the effort could be Their Programs Make Them Flexible Tools - attached -one that you quickly compose and type set down, with gaps left rn the evolving text to accom- For Everybody yourself. The use of formal letters and memoranda modate those pictures that best illustrated the test ef- With the ever-growing kinds of programs the micro- thus can be reduced. fort. The final result was usually a one or two-page computers can use - available at a nominal cost Using a mtcrocompuier vastly simplifies filing treatment then run through a copier for distribution to compared with almost any form of fixed-station com- needs: Reams of copy can be stored on small floppy staff and mamtenance forces who would have to puter or word-processing systems-a microwmpu- disks. Whole filing cabinets full of stuff will 111on make the system in the future. Bemg a ‘one-man’ op ter system can be as varied as the tasks thal face maybe a dozen of them - in a small box on the elation and used to being strapped wilh the multiple- NPS resource management. To make sure that what corner of your desk. Professionals who are bereft of drafts process lhat so often attends going from Idea comes out at the end of the process will be readable, (or must share) secretarial support will find this fea- to final copy, I found Ihe microcomputer process was it is suggested that the data-related programs you ture 01 padicular benefit. And with the ‘search-and- fast and got Ihe results quickly into Ihe hands of those select also include a good word-processing program. fin8 capabilities of the microcomputer, records on who needed il. (And this includes hardware capable of producing let- disks are worlds easier to find. To Make ‘Spreading the Word’ Easier and Faster ter-quality copy: Unless it is of superb, almost decep- They Can Vastly Expand the Scope of Your Work These mlrvreporfs were not works of art (although tive quality, dot-matrix printing of textual material Microcomputer capabilities are mind-boggling and polarold pictures reproduce well on a photo-copfar in gives many readers - particularly editors - a often frighten the timid. But the instrument remains no good condition), but they guaranteed that everyone headache.) more than a fine new tool. The use of only a fraction involved had a clear understanding of whatever new You Don’t Have to Know Something of its potential can result in savings that more than ra- process was being explained. On occasion. from start Special to Use Them turn the Investment, compared to doing business “the lo finish the time lapse was one of overnight delivery. You do not have to know touch typing to utilize old way.” And those who have reason and ability lo Subsequent refinement made these papers publish- word processing programs with these systems. With exploit the technology’s full potential will find they able in journalswith wider distribution. a word processor program any kind of typing is made have increased incredibly thetr professional scope Simple Chores Made Easier worlds easier; correcting mistakes is a snap on a and productivity. While also respected for ifs ability lo handle vast microcomputer - regardless of how well you can Hake IS with the NCR Division of Resource Man- amounts of data, equally appreciated is the easy way type. agement and I/rsrtor Protection. the mwxomputer handles such mundane chores as writing up flawlessly-executed requisitions and other administrative ‘formulary.’ For example: you can “blank out’ a basic DI-1 form as a small mini-program you can store on a disk. Ikthen becomes a snap to Everglades System Facilitates call it up when needed and just ‘“ill in the holes’ with specific ordering information. When you print it out on Data lLansfer the 13-l form itself, everything falls m the right blocks and lines of the form. Should it be a frequently re- By Rick Dawson erated in the programs w&d are currently being quisitioned item, this, 100, can be stored for future call In the process of managing the natural resources put on two data management systems. up, revision, and re-ordering. of Everglades NP and Ft. Jefferson National Monu- One system (512K CPU, 8 interactive terminals, Their Use as ‘Word Processors’ ment. many types of information are generated. This BOMB hard disk drive, .75MB triple floppy disk drive. Will Always be important information may have its genesis in formal research O-track tape drive, drum plotter, card reader, and high While microcomputers are noted for handling num- studies or in natural resources monltormg programs. speed matrix prtnter) is housed at the South Florida bers and data manipulation chores, their potential However, all of these data can be used to assess the Research Center and primarily handles data con- really is much broader. The typical resource manage- condition of the resource and evaluate corrective or cerned with research studies. The other system ment project consists of hvo major tasks: Collection mitigative measures. The massive loads of dala gen- (256K CPU, 8 interaCtive terminals, BOMB hard dtsk 12 Irive, .50MB dual floppy disk drive, daisy wheel cupies about 5MB of Storage. ,ri”ter-plotter. and high speed m&IX printer) IS The research vegetatlo” database co”Cel”S Itself loused I” the Resource Management sectlon and with data generaled from evap-tra”Splratl0” studies. IBM Personal ximarlly processes data accumulated from monitor- these da will be used to determine thd amOU”t Of l”g and resource manlpulatw studles and programs. water 10% through evapo-transpiration for the eve”- Both systems are Wang Model 2200 MVP 16 bit pro- tua, deve,opmeot 01 a park water management Computer Lab cessors and are equipped with AIMS PLUS Software model. This database requires ZMB 01 storage Much packages. Since the systems are esse”liaily ider$ of the software used for the analysis of research cal, da baa?” the two are transferred easily for in- databases is custom deslgned for a specific database Showcased tegratio” and analysis. and a desired product; however, there IS a” I”Cr’SaS- The major resources problems affecting the park ,“g level of “se of the AIMS PLUS app!lCatlO”S By Dominic Donavio currently are centered around water management. generator for routine data management fu”cto”S. fisheries management, endangered SpeCleS mO”ltOr- The resource management databases are marl”e For the past hw years the NPS Southeast Region ,“g, management of exotic vegetation. fire manage- resources, fire, vegetation, and backcountry camp- has bee” developing microcomputer capabIlitIes me”,, and backcountry camps,te utllkzatio”. Addltlon- s,tes. The ma”“e resources database ConSlSt of data throughout the parks of the reglo”. These efforts s,,y, programs are being developed 10 handle budget- collected by recreai~onal fishermen creel census. have resulted in a network of over 50 IBM Perso”al ‘“g and personnel, training. case-l”clde”t repOrtI”g, mandatory catch log reporting by commercial and Computers (PC). Concurrent with this effort. the GA- special use permits, and collecting permits. Both SyS- proless~~“al guide hsherme”, llsh length measure- lege of Forest and Recreailo” Resources at CiemSOn terns are capable of supporting word processing: the ments, boa, toiler ramp counis, actual boat COu”!S University has been engaged I” 8 program IO UP- rewxe management system is equipped with the jawal census), and commercial’gulde fishing permlt- grade the management of “atu!al areas through a re- Wang word processmg software. tee Information. These data are managed IO be reglonal i”formatlo”icommu”icatlon network. The U”I- Utility of the current hardware IStwofold: data entry ported on a variable time increment basis with Stan- vers~ty’s program received major Impetus through the editing, and analysts: and. data management for, Use dard statistical treatment of the database selected locat~o” of a” NPS Cooperative Park Studies U”lt r,” ma,“frame systems. These hvo uses are crltlcal This database contains 40MB of data colleded from (CPSU) I” the College. One of !ts mlssions IS to assist s~“ce many of the studies that contribute data to fhelr ,958 lo the present. Uses for these data are 10 in developing the regional NPS computer system. respective databases requre prelimi”av StatIStIca’ monitor harvest and effort on the park fishery. Also, The College viewed the National Park Se~lce‘s de analysis in order to test for significance a”d generate they can be conveniently integrated wl!h the research veloplng network as a model that should be emulated by other federal and state land management agen- reso”rcefli”ess reports. age_grwvth database for a mole d&led a”alySlS Of However, many of the problems being studled. finflsh populal~ons and their response to e”Vlro”men- WS. along with the re~wrce use and abuse bel”g mo”l- tal and human impacts. The database has the ablkty As both programs developed, It became clear that tored, may be influenced by water management to generate the 270 commercial and professlo”al the capablllties of the techoologles were OutstrippIng strategies. Therefore, to gain a clear underSta”dl”g guide fishing permits wued peryear. the capablllbes of the users to make full and creative of var~c,us ecosystem forcing functions it WIII be The flre database is concerned with management use of the systems. Both orga”lzatlO”S were Con- “ecessary to integrate many varied databases with of the extensive library of llre data collected by the cerned that the personal computer network would fall those colleded and assembled by the hydrology re- park since 1952. This database occupies about 5MB. short of its promise due to human Constraints. search group, This Integration may require Pre-treat- The vege,at,an database stores data collected 0” To address this problem, the College of Forest and me”! pdorto analysis on a time shared manframe. park exotic vegetation and farmland recla~atl0” pro- Recreation Resources and the Clemson CPSU aP proached lnternat~onal Busyness MachInes. 1°C. The databases on-line on the research Ce”ter SYS- jects. These data are analyzed 10 determIne the ex- fern are: hydrology. wildlIfe, mar~“e resOurCeS, a”d tent and effects of exotic vegetation contlol work and (IBM) seeklng the company‘s cooperatlo” and partnership I” developing a tralnlng laboratory featUr- vegetation. Of these, hydrology IS ,the largest a”d ,,, document ~ucce~~i~“al vegetation changes 0” most complex. It is subdivlded Into into files dealmg abandoned farmlands within the park. They OCCUPY ing the IBM Personal Computer. In September. 1983, with water depth at monitoring stations. discharge, about 7MB of storage. IBM responded favorably to the request. estuarine tidal data, temperature, and preClpifat~0”. The backcountry campsite database utilizes i”fOr- The pioposed laboratory will be located 0” the The analyses to which these data are subjected are mation collected from the backcountry permit pro- Clemson University campus adjacent to the CPSU and WII provtde network links lo the NPS system. The m&y standard statistics but include reports and Pr* gram and provides data a” site use at backcou”tv laboratory will be wed to accommodate PC to PC dictions of flow/discharge. facilities. It requires about 4MB for storage. MOSt of commun~catio” PC to main frame (the Clemson IBM The system provides data for a monthly Sy”OPSlS the fisheries and backcountry “Se databases are 3081) commu”/catio”, and stand-alone PC capablll- of hydrological conditions which IS distributed tO all analyzed with custom designed so~are, whereas, park divisions. The water re%“r~eS database OC- all of the fire, vegetaBon, and budgetl”g sOftware has ties. IBM is waving the lab as a showpiece 0” “@work. cupies about 17MB of storage. bee” generated us,“g AIMS PLUS. i”g possibilifies and is therefore considering InSi&- The wildlife database handles collected i”fOrmatl0” Coincident to the maintenance and use Of these t,,,” of the most advanced commU”lCafl0” Systems on ospreys, bald eagles. alligators, and freshwafer databases, we are currently developing programs for avaIlable for the Personal Computer. fishes. I” the case of ospreys and ‘@?S. “eSt Xtlv- the entry and analyw of Case Incident Reports and Equ,pme”, for the laboratory will Include 19 IBM ity IS recorded with subseque”t a”aiySeS f.0’pOPUla_ fish kill investigations. On both systems resides personal computers, wth a least one of each model tlo” size, “estlng success, and envlronmenta~ software for the tracking of funds, budget prOjeCbO”S. type being represented: printers. l”,StructiO”a~ prolec- parameters that may affect their productlvlty. Data and FTE’s. fro” mo”~tors. modems. and a variety Of aPpllCafl0” collected on alligators records such parameters as Besides prowding the capabililies for more efflCie”t software. I” total, the grant from IBM IS expected 10 nesting success, food habits, and age-growth,. Fresh- maoagement and storage of data collected by approach one-quarter mllllo” dollars. water f,sh data are concerned primarily wth food monitoring and research programs. the real benefit Of This facility IS being viewed noi only habit stud,% The majority of the analyses performed these two identical systems lies I” the relative ease as a showpiece for displaying sophisticated equipment. but alSO 0” the data are to determlne the ma@ prey items for ,,f transfer of data between researchers and resource as a model of federal, slate, and pm’ate Sector COOP- each species along with the frequency Of OCCUrIe”CB managers. Th6 integration of data will deliver the Uftl- eratio” and partnership. The combination Of the re- and percent volume of the prey Items. mate goal of both programs, wh!ch IS a” \“creased s,,urces and talents of the three organlzatlons has re- The research marine resources database cO”tai”S understanding and more competent management Of sulted in a mutually beneficial, cost-effedlve means information from on-going studies o” shrimp abun- a” extremely complex ecosystem. The tool to ac- of meeting the needs of each organlzatlo”. dance and seasonal distrlbufio”; Coral reel W&i compllsh this goal will probabiy be a fully integrated Donavro IS Research Coordinalor at the NPS quality; and, sportfish age-growth. All these StudleS model of the Everglades ecosystem. The develop- CPSU, Clemson Un~versily require standard statistical analyses to be pedormed ment of such a model would be impossible without on their data sets. The appllcat10” Of these PrOdU,Cts versatile and adequate automatic data prOcessl”g ~111be to determine habitat preference (shrimp), Im- equipment. pact of onshore development and human ImPa! 0” coral reefs: and, length-age relatlonshipslmorlalIty Of s&?&d sportHsh populations. Thts databaSe OC- The Office of Plannmg and Design will use Ihe HP 9645C as an enwonmenlal stmulator for the Battle Road Developmem Concept Plan being prepared for regional highlights Minute Man NatIonal Historical Park. The impact of proposed Scenarios 101 Route 2A (running through North Atlantic much of the Park) on cultural resources and visitors The quantilawe nature of the dlgitlred maps per- ~111be assessed by means of three dimensional com- The North Atlantic Region’s Division of Planning mits numerical analysis of vegetation change or, as in puter graphic slmulailons of the Banle Road Corridor. and Resource Preservai~on has purchased a small the case of shorelme maps. the rate o! shoreline This process also WIIIbe used to help guide the final computer system, based on a Hewlett-Packard change can be determined. Temporal variabllay m slilng of a through-park bIkeway Most Importantly. 9845C microprocessor with a color CRT, a 9674A dl- shorelIne mobility trends range from Ihe long-term the simulation capabIlity will help park management gltlzer, a 9872A 6 pen plotter. a 9895A flexible disc (l50-year coverage afforded by NOS ‘T sheets) to to prepare well documented responses to State and dwe, a 26316 lmpacl prtnter. and a 9871A daisy- the shot%term intervals 01 recent aerial photography. RegIonal lransportallon proposals and to better plans wheel printer. The Division of Management and Oper- The area changes also aie combined with selected. for preserving the mtegrlly of the historic Battle Road ations. (encompassing Natural Resource Manage- dlgilized beach proflIes to yield the volumes for sedl- The Datapoint 1800 system in the Diwon of Man- ment and V~s~lorProtection) has acquired a Datapo~nt ment budget analysis. The monitored data and di- agement and Operaf~ons includes a Uwersal Data system, which includes an 1800 microcomputer with glttzed maps are updated perIodically to show re- System IUDS) 212A modem (300 01 1200 Baud) two diskette drives and a dot matrix printer. Since the source changes in response to nalural and an- which connects the DatapoInt muocomputer. using Wallatlon of these two systems several program op- thropogenlc sowce disturbances. telecommunlcallons 10 other computer systems m erations have been automated with new computer Resource managers in several park units in the Re. the NPS as well as lo other agerues (such as BLS applications be!ng developed 10 assist research, glen (three to date) have easy access to this system Inquire Data Bases and AFFIRMS). A Co-axial cable planning and resource management efforts. usmg HP 65 remote terminals These areas have connects the Datapolnl 1800 to the ARCNET syslem For example, m the Office of Scientific Studies. begun to lelecommunicaie resource mlormatlon for which uses the Datapoint 6600 as a flle processor. momtored air and water quality data bases have been analysts and storage. The terminals also are used to With access lo the 6600 system ilocated m the NAR computerized and vegetalion. soils and shoreline relrleve meteorological data from remote automated lnformatton Management Dlvislon within Ihe Dlrecfor- maps have been digitized from recent aerial pholo- weather statIons (RAWS). RAWS transmtt ate of Admlnlstral~on) the storage capabilily of the graphs and hlstorlcal maps These computerized and meteorologtcal data through the GOES salella to 1600 m!crocomputer is greatly mcreased. Several dlgltized data are easily displayed in graphic form on several surface locations. allowmg the measurement NAR parks also have DatapoInt systems so. with use the 9872A for mlerpretatlon by staff scent,sts and re- of wealher condaons al remote park areas These of modems. natural resource mformalion can be SOUE managers. Vegelatlon maps such as the Frre data are accessbe through the AFFIRMS system for transferred eleclronically island Natronal Seashore Vegetation map shown in “se in calculating fire weather Management and Operations obtained the Figure 1 have been used extensively m field research New appllcat~ons planned Include calalogulng all Datapolnt 1800 last year and the development of protects The F!re Island maps have been used in a natural resource reference material, which IS located computer applwtlons for managemenl of Natural fire ecology research protect as well as to ldentliy air I” the regional office and available for “se by regional Resource data has begun. For example. wildfire re- quality sensitive vegetailon. and field sclenllsts, resotmx managers and planners ports (Form Dl-12Oii are now entered on the com-

-IRE IS VEG(NF-4R) Dl@‘Z9:H7,7,1 I Ynl “-=PC=‘rRRS_SHflDBU*H putar as they are rewed from the parks. The Multi- have a priority from one to six, as well as iha %I- ing programs, and changes in adjacent land usa plan software allows easy access to ftre recor$ and mated cost and person years for the fiscal years t-5 practices. The computerized approach I” managing quickly tabulates reglonwide totals of variables such for each project. You would also reca~va the totals 101 and planning park resources WIII immeasurably, Im- as acreage burned and expenditures related to the each park along with the grand totals forboth parks. prove the NCR capabllities to respond to environ- fires. The AFFIRMS system has been used to access Finally, with RESDEMO a resource management mental chanaes. and r&we weather data to use in fire weather calcu- specialist could access a listing of resource manage- CONTACT: Stan Lock, NCR, 1100 Ohio Dr. S. W, latlons. Special Use Permits also are on the ment experts on a park, state, or expert area basis. Wash,nglon. D. C. 20242. Datapoint system usmg Multiplan. Phone numbers, addresses, and parks I” which the This year the 1984 Pest Management Program experis have had experience are provided. * * * submiwons (FORM 10.21A and pestlclde use l0g.S) RESDEMO was written “sing dBASE II and r”“S will be entered on the microcomputer. This WIIIfaall- on an IBM Personal Computer with 128K of memory From Malcolm Wilbur, aiso at NCR, CornaS word Of CPT Word Processlog equipment installed ln all tate rqonal and WAS0 wew and allow rapld CONTACT: Dominic Dottavio. NPS ‘CPSU. &VXOn parks and most offices in the Regional Dlractorala. searches for control measures currently I” “Se at University Clemson, SC 29631. NAR park areas. Access 10 WAS0 computer Systems Most of these CPTs have telecommunlcatlons cap* may eventually allow submission of pest manage- Pacific Northwest blllty. most commonly used to send massages between the parks and RegIonal offices. ment reports uslog the computer. During the past year. the College of Forestry. Ora- In the evolution of NCR’s telecOmmunicatlonS gon State Uwers~ty, has offered three Introductory The North Af/anf;c ari;cle was prepared by Mary K. capability will be the implementation of ” Regional rmcrocomputer workshops for resource ma”agarS. Foley, Rolf Diamant, James R. Alien, and Nora J. Electrorw Mall system, using the axlsiing Ser- Ed Starkey of the NPS CPSU has served as a co-dl- Mitchell vicewide Mallbox and Bulletin Board. The Mailbox iS rector. An additIonal workshop is planned for June 19. for more formal memos and may only be recwad by Southeast Region 20,1984. those specified by the sender. The Bullat!,n Board, Ob@e of these workshops is to familiarize re- less formal, is Intended functionas aclaar\oghouSe For several years Clemson University has Mn- source managers with the general operation Of rrwro- to Ior questloos, suggestions, and ideas on any topic ducted a resource management training lnstitula for computers. No prwous experience with computers the user cares to address. NPS. In Spring 1993. a mlnicourse ln mlcrocom,puter IS required. Instructional format combines lectures applications was offered for the first time. coverlog 1) and dnxsslons with ample opportunity for ~hands- * * * an lntroductlon to basic microcomputer concepts, 2) on” axpawnce. Participants are introduced,to a sari- hands on application of a resource management ety of commercially available programs, $h exam- A computer based inventory and information SyS- computer program, and 3) mtroduction to database ples and exercises emphaslzlng managarlal appiica- tam has been Initiated for the nearly 2.000 elms management. tiona. lndiwduals contemplating the selection of which comprise the major arboreal component of the The hands on resource management computer microcomputer hardware and/or softwe find the Monumental Core of Washington. D.C. Development program (called RESDEMO) was developed by the workshops especially uselul. of this system by Ecological Services Laboratory stati Clemson CPSU I” consultation with the Ranger ac- CONTAC? Ed Starkey at 503~754-2056 Or the Con- was spurred by the need 10 prepare an annual r,apOd tlwties dlwsion of SER to provide resource managers ference Asas/ant at 503 754-2004. for the city-wide Save-the-Elms taskforce and 1” r* with examples of how microcomputers could help sponse ,o the expressed need for such a System In them dothelrjobs more effectively. the NCR Central resource management plan. The RESDEMO software package is a self eXplan- National Capital Region The system takes advantage for a” exIStlog SarIaS atory pn,,ne query system that allows easy access to of grid maps utilized by Ihe electrical utilkty, PEPCO. the following kinds of InformatIon: %?r~lCes and The 14 parks of the NCR are in an area marked by Each map represents a 1000 sq. ft area on a Scale of facilities in specific parks, emergency procedure in- rapld enwonmental change. A systems approact! - 1 inch 1050 feat, which permits good visual spacing formation. rasourca management project statement w!th the ald of computers - IS needed Ior creating. of the elm trees. The tree locations were plotted in Ihe storing. updatIng. and accessing natural and Cultural Information, and a listing of resource management field by startlog from known points and maasurjng resources data to assist park managers and their experts around the country. distances using a measuring wheel. After belog If, Ior example, you wanted general lnformatlon slaHs in making appropriate decwons. With the guid- plonad on the map, elm locations were llxed, by ance of the Science and Remote Sensing Sections 01 about the Great Smoky Mountains NP, RESDEMO suparlmposlng a gridded mylar. Each tree on a glVen the Denver Sanxe Center, the NCR is developlog a would provide you with the parrs address. phone map was prowded a three diglt X coordmate and a computerized system for use in the parks and in the number, a brief description of the park. and a list of three dlglt Y coordinate. corresponding to the mapjo- Regional otilce. Currently all data are being entered the facilibes and services awlable. YOU could alSO catloo. Data were collected on each tree lncludlng into computers in DSC for later use by the Region access all the parks in a specltic state or ragIon: you spews, we. condition, location features. etc. These could specify the order of the listing: you could list the and parks as hardware becomes available. During data, a backlog of hlstorlc data and future data On parks alphabetically. by date of establishment. or by FY 1984 various types of hardware mcludlng software these alms WIII be entered I” a soon to be acqulrad packages with graphic and dIgIta! plo$ng capabIlIties s,ze (acreage). computer system using a data based management With respect to emergency procedure InfOrmatIon, WIII be examined toward developlog mhouse capabtl- package (DBMS). The intent IS to compile data and RESDEMO provides inlormatlon on how to deal with ity by FY 1985. develop them into a tracking system which WIII yield emergency situations You could list fire emergency As part of this program the entire Region was flown the loformation needed for a more eflectlve elm man, procedures for either structural or wi!dlde fires. during FY 1983 to obtain color infrared photography agemaot system. This system is designed so that It search and rescue procedures, natural disaster pro- and aircraft multispectral scanner data for all park can be expanded to Include other COmponentS Of the units. PhotoInterpretation followed by ground truthing cedures, law enforcement emergency procedures landscaoe. and 011SDIII or abandoned chemical container han- IS bemg completed on a systematic basis, one park dling procedures. at a time. while at the same time several plots or One of the most useful aspects of RESDEMO IS themes involving soil groups. hydrogaology. bound- WAS0 the abllkty to obtain resource management proiect anes, roads, ira~ls. utllitles and other land use pat- statement niormatnn by park or entlre ieglon terns are being prepared I” digital form. The NPS has its own electronic Bulletin Board Sy+ RESDEMO WIII identify cost, person year, priority. fIS- Once basic resources are mapped and the corn- tern, available (tree of charge) as a Communications! cal year, and project descrlptlon ~nlorm?$on. Totals, puterizad data base is created lor each park, a mu!- message exchange system lo anyone. Servicewlde COSIS,and parson years Ior selected pro]acts are au- titude at analyses can be accomplished with a mlnl- To use the system, all that is required is a terminal. tomallcally provided. For example, you can ask for a mm 01 me and money. These analyses may invOlVe microcomputer, word processor, etc. with asynchr@ statement of the natural (versus cultural) pro@ lntegratlon of several themes that can, be quickly nous telecommunications capability (i.e., a modem). having a priority 01 one to SIXfor Biscayne and,Graat wwed v~acomputer capabillbes, enhancing the deci- The system runs on the Hewlett-Packard 3000 Smoky Mountains NPs, mcludlng a list of projected sion process. Examples include fire management minicomputer in Washington. costs lor I-5 liscal years. This request would result in planning, exotic spews management, vegetabon Users may read, write, and exchange messages a list of all the natural resource management projects management, wildlife management, wetlands man- with other users throughout the Service. Massages for Blscayne and the Great Smoky Mountains that agement, historic scene restoration, agricultural leas- are “oosted‘ under various topics. Users can create 15 newtopic araas as the need arises. d&s, and the fundamental capabilities of the sys- mounted on the Region’s new 32 bit CPU’s, IS ex. The WAS0 Natural Resources Gfhce is interested tem. pectad in October 1984. !n promoting the use of the Bulletin Board as a com- Our goal for 1985 season and beyond is to mte- A fourth program, developed by Valeriana Enter- municatlons medium for park and Regional Office grate use of the computer iti processmg boating ap- pnses and kcensed to the Southwest Region, is the natural re~owcas staff to share ideas and compare plications and river use stattstics. This may require IJCREATES Foriran Generator System. This system, notes on various natural resource sublect areas. modification ot some present procedures. Ideally, the written for Data General computers, allows inexperi- Some iniilal natural reso~rca topics now on the Bulle- computer would be used to screen applicants, assign enced users to create Fortran source codes and com- tin Board include Pest Management, Natural Re- lottery numbers, assign launch dates and camp- plete workmg programs simply by answering sets oi sources Traimng Opportuniiles, Exotic Plants, grounds, issue permits. sort passenger lists for re- menu driven questlow. New programs have been Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Fire Ecology, Man peaters, and compile monthly and annual boating wrltten usmg UCREATES for artifact curation. biblio- and the Biosphere, and Energy, Mimng and Minerals. statistics. We also use and intend to expend use of graphy creation, inventory, stock room accounting. CONTACT: Anne Frondorf, B;ological Resources Di- the computer in word processing of boating forms, etc. vision, NPS, Wash;ngton, D.C. or Keith Car< Data correspondence, and other printed materials. The San Juan Basin Archeological data base has Systems Division, NPS, Washnglon, D. C. CONTACT. Gary DeBusk, Dinosaur NM, PO. Box grown to mclude data on over 30,000 archeological 210, Dinosaur CO 81610. and cultural sites located I” the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Midwest Region In other fields. the Southwest Region expanded its compulerlzation most recently into the realms of ot- The SI. Croix National Riverway IS using a Mid-Atlantic Region fice automation and mter-computer networking. In DatapoInt 8600 primarily for word procewng applica- Shenandoah NP has only recently utilized its CPT 1983, the Southwest Regional Office procured two tions. Datascan and Multiplan software packages word processor in the data processing mode for re- Data General MV4000 super mini-computers as the also are available. The park’s Resources Manage- source management actwtties. The only such currenl hub of a Reglonal computer network. The first was in- ment Plan is on the system, which allow for quick computer project is the recordmg of data from the stalled in February 1984. These are the same type of and easy updatIng. Floral and fauna1 IISIS, coopera- nearly 8,000 backcountry permits issued in 1983. computers that the U.S. Forest Serwe is lnstallmg in tive agreements, and the Fire Management and Land These are entered into the TIM data base manage- all its installations, nationwde. The two computers Protection Plans also are on the syslem. The park ment system. Several reports summarizing lotal will be used with a comprehenwe office manage- does not presently have the personnel expertise or nights, group size, location, day of week, issue point, ment software system called CEO. This system in- the programs to do any resowx management etc., are available. Resource management activities cludes word and latter processing, document filing analysis or resource inventory applicallons. we expect to computerize in 1984 include air quality, and transfer, personnel calendar and office schedul- CONTACT: Wiiiam Sigafoos, Si Croix Nalionai backcountry Impact studies, creel census, stream ing. The combined Data General systems will be able Rwerway analysis data, wildlife data, etc. We also hope to enter to handle up to 128 terminals. pedpherals and dlal-up the resource management library into a library pro- lines. The two CPU’s will be linked using an X.25 Alaska Region gram soon. packet switching software package called Zodiac. In other fields, the computer is used for budgeting, This will permit a user to access either CPU and also The Natural Resources and Science Division in the law enforcement reporting, motor veh& accident, allow the additton of other CPUs should the need Alaska Regional Office has recently acqutred a Hew- manpower and equipment analysis for A76 revlaw, arise. An RJE80 interface to permrt access to IBM len-Packard 9718-S computer wth printers, plotter, etc. Several additional computers are to be added to Hosts has been included with the system. and communications capabtlity. The system became the Park for administration, maintenance and man- Eight of the Southwest Region‘s parks have pur- operational in October 1983. It will be used to conduct agement acriwties. OH-the-shelf programs used be. chased comparable Data General Eclipse m~nmcom- statistical analyses of wlldlife data, to generate fire sides TIM, Include Plan 80 (budget). FMS-80 (DBMS) puters in order to take advantage of mature scientific hlstorles based on tree ring data, and to develop and and Compupak (CPM). software developed at Region and elsewhere. and to manage data bases on plant community data, fuel In the word procassmg mode, we have entered participate in the planned network. Most of the Re- loading data, etc. lnltial applications have used com- several resowa management plans including Back- gion’s 36 parks are expected to follow suit as funds mercially available software. Fulure objectives in- country Management Plan, Resource Management become available. elude the development of a geographic mformation Plan, and Vista Management Plan. system. CONTACT: DL Waker Waf!, FTS 476.1775, CONTACT Larry Hake/, Shenandoah NF: Luray; VA CONTACT: Gary Ah/strand, Alaska &g&w Office. 22835.

Rocky Mountain Region Niche Splitting Dinosaur National Monument owns a Model 1800 Southwest Region Nuthatch Datapomt DOS processor wtth 120K. Two disk drives The Southwest Region for more than six years has Works allows for 2,OOOKdisk storage. A Universal Data Sys- maintained a Data General Eclipse mlnl-computer, tems, Model 201C, modem enables data transmis- used almost entirely for archeological and cultural re- A ree %on between the park and the Regional office in Den- source programs. In 1983, the Branch of Cultural To a Lonely Hermaphmdte Trunk ver. Commercial software mcludes Datapoinls IEOS Data Systems mounted the MOSS gee-based mfor- Know (word processing), Datascan (a database-marupula- mallon processing system on the Eclipse. The Down tion programi, and Datafast (a program IO write pro- software system, developed by USFWS and sup- Thyself grams). Multiplan also IS used on the system. ported by the ELM and USGS is designed lo permit Other parks in the Regmn have wntten programs to the scientific study of biological and enwronmental Creeper track the park’s funding obligations, annual budget data bases using high resolution graphtcs display, Does and programming tequlrements, PRIP account sla- The software is currently under evaluation. 1us. and law enforcemenVcase incident statistics. The The Chaco Center continues to expand the capa- It Regional office has written programs allowmg payroll bililies of its Chaco PARKMAN data base program information to be put directly at the park level, which and IS anemptmg to add predictive mod&g routines UP IS much more satisbing to park employees. to the extensive archeological and environmental Brown. We are in the process of computerizing our rivers graphics system. permit system. We have programs to compile com- A program to three dimensionally model the effects mercial and non-commercial monthly boating statts- of solstlca and other sun and moon declinations on tics and applicant data screens. The datascreen pro- La Fatada Butte pelmglyphs has been awarded to gram has just been received and has not yet been IBAR Associates of California. This program will use tested. Use of the program materials in 1984 will da. its base Precision Msual’s Dt3000 core graphics pend on time available for data entry after other software. Dellvery of this system, which will be 16 Systems Application for Fire Management Data Analysis Ice-developed software and databases m order to In- By.Scoti Erickson tegrate management loformation for, declslon pur- Inform&on management and systems applications poses. Database work has scored mayor accomplish- Management ara no stranger to the mteragency ftre management ments I” the last two years and further advances are community. By Park Service standards. astoundlog in the oHing. In Remote Fields amounts of ,,me and money have been invested to It must be noted that all the applications (other than model and integrate informalloo pertainlog to wild- AFFIRMS) are resident on the USDA Fort COIlinS By Robert Stottlemyer land fire management. The NPS Branch of Fire Man- Computer Center Univac 1184. The Univac Is a maln- Data management I deflne as a process for making agement, established I” 1979 by the Director, has ag- frame and currently utilized by Branch staff almOSt data accessible and usable to others. If Ona accepts gressively pursued mov!ng the S~NIC~ t0 the state- excluwely This centralized accesS to apppiications my definition, I, logically follows that good data ma* &the-art level in systems applications. has bean a bottleneck to effective use by parks; SO agement should also lead to better data analySlS by The Administrative Forest Fire InformatiOn Re- the Branch is obtainmg Departmental approval to a* the researcher. trieval Management System (AFFIRMS) with 55 quire a major minicomputer. All applications will be in- Four years ago I left the plush security, of the users Serwcewide, IS the prmcipal fire management stalled on the minicomputer, decenirallzing access 10 bureaucracy and reentered the research business In application in use by parks. Several other Systems fore management sofiware applications. The cu,rrent an academic community. The array of InfOrmatIOn 1 applications, adapted or developed lor “se by the timetable calls for having the mini fully OperatIOnat found routinely collected in field ecological study. Service, include National Fire Weather Data Library and available to park, regional, and national users by which I had been familiar with years before was a (NFWDL), NPS Fire Occurrence Data Library, YOSe- mid-1985. Several administrative and technical prob- startling change. But SO 100 was the @noiOgy now mite NP Pilot Geographic Information System Data lems remain to be solved but the Branch of Fire Man- available to handle such data. The qUeStIOn MS. and Base, FIREFAMILY, PRESCRIBE, and others. agement is cornmined to providing slate-of-the-arl IS, how to match the two, fordatagenerated in lH!IOte Exhibits 1 and 2 shown here briefly portray major systems applications directly to end users. field locations. databases and interactive/batch packages. The Enckson is Fire Management Spanalisl at the Severe fiscal constraints, a long-term habit 01 Corn- FIREPRO effort provided the mayor impetus for Sew Bo;se Interagency Fire Center; So&a ID 83705. posing on the typewriter, and faculty frustration with peripheral wwes on the unlV~rSlty malnframa made the decision to buy my firstmicrocomputer with word processing software easy. This was four years EXHIBIT 1 ago. sure one can type laster on ” wordprocessor. DATABASES WHAT IS IT? SOURCE OF DATA WHAT IS IT FOR? LOCATION but it is the library buildup that realty IS the tlma Saver. It IS truly amazing how much of what we do On an an- National FiraWaath National multi-agency 1300 hrs t 1 hrfire USDA, Fort Collin! Planning forfira nual bus is repetitive. That carefully prepared Computer Center er Data Ubrary collection ofcompu- weatherobserva- supprewon and abstract for a national meeting can, with editing. tlons: WS form D-9b. (FCCC). (NFWDL) terized historical prescribed fire use. sewa as a progress report. Updating annual reports, weather data. vitas, follow wt. Fortunately. I purchased eqUIpmaRt FIREPRO Inven- 109 parks Serwe FIREPRO input Budget evaluation for FCCC from one of the three major manUfacW?rS so a for- tories” wide Inventories, of forms. fire suppresslo”. midable array of software is wallable at modest cost. weather statloos, This also was a big help when I had 10 decide On an equipment, engines, SPS package 10 handle the mounting data set being aircraft, prescribed generatad by a laboratory analyzl”g SeValal burn plots, agree- thousand samples a year, each with over 20 Yall- ments, real property ables. I could easily have gone with the WerSity’S valueestimates. mainframe. But faculty colleagues encouraged ma to ’ USFS developed program go’nxro’ali theway until Illa size dlctated otheww? ** NPS developedprogram Hardware advances have moved much laster than my file was and analytical demands. data organization and structure all too often do not get enough thought early I” the game. I Was iOrtU!ate - I” having to address this question at the beginnIng, when we developed a ~unlversar field data form. TWO EXHIBIT 2 questions arose:

Big Thicket National Preserve Hunting Permit System. Big Thicket is one of the few NPS areas 10 allow regulated hunting, and just Hunter’s Report about the only publichunting ares in east Texas.Con- iunting Permit Number sequently,demand is high; we have had as marryas 6,000 applrcationsfor less than 2.600 permits. Last year, we rnstituteda procedurewhere applicantsfill out a machine-readable form, which can be fed Number of trips to the Preserve thus season ____~ througha dared-inputdeviceto build a databasewrth- Number of Anrrnals taken. out laborious keyboard entry A simple ionery pro- Deer (Buck) _~~_~ Deer (Doe) _~ _~~ Squirrels __ gram selects the permittees.Custom-designed per- Rabbits ___.~~~ Hogs mit forms (which include two copies of the permit and a hunter survey card which must be returned to en- we a place in the next yea

For information or assistance call (409) 839-2692. Geogaphic Information System. No longer will computer maps and map analysis be the sole prop arty of the Denver Selvice Center or the ar- Big Thicket National Preserve chaeologists at Chaco Canyon! We are on the verge Hunlina Permit of implementlog the first phase of a MOSS (Map Hunting Permit Number Overlay and Statistical System) program in which the major ecological, cultural, and management,feature,s Only For the of the Preselve and surrounding areas wrll be dr- Expires gitized. MappIng and map analysis WIII be done lot- ally utilizing a Tektromcs graphics terminal (acquired Leave this copy of the permit on the dashboard of through GSA surplus) and a small multi-color plotter. your vehicle so that the permit number can be read MOSS software is in the public domain, but it re- from outside the vehicle whenever you are hunting quires large CPU and disk space as well as considerable sophistication to implement. Our project 1sa pilot in the Preserve. for the Southwest Region, and we are working closely with reglonal Natural Resource and ADP staffs (as You must obtain a copy of the Preserve’s regulations well as the Fish and WIldlIfe Service’s Natlow. and a map of the hunt area for the unit you selected Coastal Ecosystems Team, which developed the program) as we take the first steps. Our need for geopro- cessing IS acute, as we strive to address the cumula- we impacts of oil and gas development within the Big Thicket. Fortunately, the largest hurdle - the resource mapping-already has been passed. We will phase in the MOSS project as our budget permits, but we expect to have a worklog analytical tool up and For information or assistance call (409) 839-2692. running for the most critical Preserve units within a year. Big Thicket National Preserve The needs and concerns discussed on these Hunting Permit pages could be met by a variety of hardware and software combinations. As we develop and ample- t iunting Permit Number ment our Information Management Plan, we have CInly For the made a real effort to identify needs and not vendors, since it is our requirements and goals that must drive EIxpires our procurements, rather than the latest technology offered by a particular company. After assesslog the options available, we have agreed with the assess- Carry this copy of the permit with you whenever ment reached in the Southwest Region Computer you are hunting in the Preserve. Management Plan: Data General equipment WIIIbest meet our diverse needs, at the lowest cost. The specific configuration has yet lo be worked out, but plans You must obtain a copy of the Preserve’s regula- are underway to transfer the DG mlnlcomputer now tions and a map of the hunt area for the unit you in Santa Fe to Big Thicket, once it has been replaced selected. by the newer system described elsewhere in this issue. Regardless of equipment, however. Big Thic- ket WIIIcontinue to serve as the lead alea in the region in mformatlon management. It’s a role we have worked hard to attain. and we look forwrd to sharing the lessons we learn with other oark wwe areas.

~~For information or assistance call (409: 839-2692.~~

~~19 3~~

On the other hand. the computer and its program- Tension Headache #84 mer may specify overly restrictive requirements or not appreciate the informational needs of the user. Com- puters do have legitimate hardware and software re- Users and Computers qulrements which are either unavoidable or circum- vented only with great difficulty. People control the in- ammale machine, but there still exists a point beyond By Celia Waker computer system lo accept dates in the format which il IS unreasonable to expect the syslem to flex. Without a doubt we exist I” a highly technological you desire (01’24,84 instead of Janualy 24, That point needs to be recognized and appreclaled. age. We approve of compulerlzed banking, ap- 1984). or ISthat format predelermmed and un- The two outlooks comprise a power struggle: preclate word processors. and even admre auto- changeable? . humans, according to their needs. command mated blbliographlc searches. lo say nothlng of our l as the program is run on the system. does II computersvs. awe for computer games These are all services pro- prowde alternatives? l computers. because of technical necessities, vided by computers. We use them wth only slight Example: after entering expenditures in a overrule user needs. hesitations and with little regard for Ihe design con- computerized accounting system can you exit The two outlooks greatly affect computerized man- slderatlons involved in creating accurate. efficient, the progam or must you proceed to a balance agement dwgn and lmplementatlon, but lhey remain and useful computer programs far our use. sub-program? continually I” Conflict. If IS not 100 utopian to propose The ‘Yension headache” beglns. however, when we l if the program ISpurchased. is it ‘locked up‘or that the tension produced also can be vwwed as a neophytes must become more deeply involved in can your programmer customize the commer- constructive force. The phenomenon of tension in data processmg. Just the vocabulary - baud, bits clally available program 10your needs? physical slructures and even I” humans serves useful and bytes, fiopples and fllpples - could convince a Example: can you ~nserl a brief dewption of purposes. and this tension IS no d&rent. It prevenls person that two aspire” and going to bed may nal be rwolced items as a customized part of a stan- the user or the computer from dominating data pro- sufficient. Foreseeing a longer stay in data proces- dard accounting package? cewng. sing, perhaps involved m computerized data man- . 11the program IS purchased, can or will the The over-all efficiency of a given program is better agement systems. one might wth justification lea the software development firm from whom you sewed by strlklng an equitable and efflcienl com- debilitating effects of the tension Inherent between purchased the programs make alterations for promise between user needs and computer require- two perspectives of data processing design: you? For what fee? Who retams ownership of ments. Users may find that the computer capabilIties . humans control computers. determining how the new elements7 more than compensate for imposed restrictions. The and what they are capable of accomplishing: Example: will the company develop a linking structure the computer insists upon prevents the and program from your ~spread sheet’ program user’s needs from creating InefficIent and unteason- l computers, based on their technical restric- (where you can do math calculations) to your able programs. The computer system. on the other tions, dictate to humans, structuring how func- word procewng program (where you can hand, may be challenged lo increased capabilities by tlons WIIIbe accomplished and therefore limit- edrt)? the demands of the user. Without Ihe impetus of Ihe Ing what will be accomplished. Pay spwal attention to the planning phases of de- olher,, neither aspect would be goaded to the qualify On the one hand. humans create marvelous, intro- signing how the entire system will funcl~on, how com- of which It is capable. cafe programs deslgned to accomplish thousands of ponents will Interact, and what the accomplishments Awareness of the user-compuler pow struggle simultaneous banklng transactions natlonwlde On of the system will be and could be in the future. should alert data management system destgners to the other hand, the bank clerk notifies you your ad- l has the Informallon user thoroughly planned potential %nslon headaches” m store for them. How- dress IS restricted to 12 characters because ‘the com- the funclions of the program so mid-stream ever. awareness of the problem also affords oppor- puter won’t allow more.” changes will be less likely? tunltles to develop creallve, efficient. and very useful Theodor H. Nelson candidly discusses the Example: ~111a list of the parks need to be al- appllcat~ons which challenge even our current ad. “leetle (sic) white lies about how such-and- phabetized, in which case the “key” to each vanced stageof technoloqtcal develooment. such ISthe computeis fault and not your decl- park unit must be the park name, rather than soon ‘The computer won’t let us’ (means) an alphabetic or numeric code? WE DO NOT CHOOSE TO PROVIDE, IN l what system-wide, basx restricrlons apply to OUR PROGRAMS AND EQUIPMENT, ANY this typeof programmlng? ALTERNATIVES.. NOW.it is often the case Example: a new program designs graphic dis- Nelson. Theodor H., Computer Lib, the dis- that good and suffictent reason exists for the plays of research results. Is the prinler capa- tnbutors. South Bend, Indiana. 1974. p 8. This un- way things are done. But 11is also often the ble of producing graphics? usual book is based on the premise thal everyone case lhatcompanles and the publfc are incon- . at what polnl does maklng the computer sys- should know about computers and deserves explana- venlenced. or worse, by declsw,s the com- lem and the programmers “jump through a tlons in layman’s terms. II deserves status as “re- puter people make and then hide with their hoop,‘although possible, become inefficient? quired readlng.” claim of technlcal necessity.” Example: a program will soti park unit Informa- lndivlduals responsible for initiating data manage- tton to three levels (region. then unit type, then ment systems must mediate belween the needs of alphabetized park unit). but a wet would like the information user and Ihe requirements of the the program altered 1ogo to five levels. River Use Model computer system. The goal IS to use the powerlul lndlwduals who mediate between information capabiliiles of the computer system (remembering it users and data mampulators (computers) oflen find Aids Management does have legltlmate IimitatIons) to efficiently ac- themselves “interpreting” Ihe requirements for each complish a task defined by the user. The lollowing Involved party. On the one hand, the user may not un- of Visitor Flows suggestlons and examples are Intended to be helpful derstand the necessity of abiding by computer sys- I” this process tem requirements Perhaps because of an over-estl- By A. H. Underhill Try to determine how immutable a software pack. m&n of the omnipotence of computers, the user The closure of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 made age, Is. especially If you are assessmg a commercially may feel responsible for only the broadest scope of a white water rafting on the Colorado River through available. pre-programmed software package The data management system: the ends. rather than the Grand Canyon NP awlable to almost anyone. River greater the flexiblllty offered by the software. the meant However, the critical argument remains ‘gar- use increased from a few hundred 1o more than greater the likelihood of meeting the Information bage in. garbage out” 15.000 annual visitors. In 1982. over 95,000 visItor user’s needs - accompanied perhaps by a greater Planning, lo a great degree determInes the quality days were spent on the wer. A management plan for risk of offering too many possibilities and being ex- of the results It behooves Ihe user to prowl his or use and protection of the river became a necewy ceswely cumbersome to use her own mterests by carefully deflnlng the lnformatlon Forest Serwce studies of wilderness users lndlcate l can large. systemwde changes be made? according to the data requirements of the computer that enjoyment of the experience generally IS in- Example can the program be w&ed on Ihe system versely propotiional 10 the number of contacts be. 20 a - Visitor Data Facilitates Resource Management By Laura B. Szwak statlslics for the Statement for lnterpretatlon (SFI) an annualreport that requires a llstlng of visitor use During the sumnw of 1983. a pilot project was con- st&tIcs. As a program development tool, the SFI ducted m three National Capital Region parks to gain should Identity shltilng trends m the visiting public and planning information about park wtor composltion show adjustments in programmmg response. and act,w,,es. Mapping was used to record obsewa- The bases created to store data lrom this pro@ bie characteristics of wtors and their actlv~ties. The included ENTRANCE and ONSITE. An auxiliary data pIlot pro@ was to develop a procedure for obtalnlng base housed necessary control lnformatlon (date, day of the week, observer. weather, time of day) Data in ENTRANCE came from statlonlng observers at park en,ra,,ces to record the characleristlcs 01 tween padies. Robert Lucas of the Forest Setwe groups as they entered. Variables I” the ENTRANCE and Mordechal Shechter of the Israel lnstltute Of data base Included group we. age composltiOn. Technology developed a Wilderness Use Slmulaiion ethnnty. gender, mode of entry, HP or the intema- Model, which simulates the man characlerlstlcs of tonal handicap symbol on the license plate, and wilderness visItor movements and interactions. Van- state, also from the lkcense Since a descrlptlon of ac- ous combmatlons and numbers 01 wiors. entry tlvity orwte also was needed, the ONSITE data base points, trip lengths, and arrival times can be entered repeated the same variables and added actiwtles and the model simulates what occurs. Its output con- pursued by the gioup. sists of matrices on wsual, meetmg. and ovellaking Observers lollowed a systematic path through the encounters: tables of data on arwals and deparlures: park, recording the visitors by group. Group size characterstIcs of user partes: and summary tables on varied depending on the mode of entry and actlvlty overall levels of encounters on the trail and I” camp. pursued. Smce an axle counter was used to corn- This basic model is available on the Forest Servce’s puter visit&on, group we by mode of entry con- Univac computer I” Foti Collms, Cola. lirmed or determined an appropriate mull~pller. Group In October 1981, together with Busa Xaba. Unwer- size also was llmited by Ihe mode of entry 01 size 01 sity of Anona graduate student, I undetiook modlfl- vehicle. so group we was expected to differ orwte. cation of this model for rwr travel through Grand Only observable visitor characterlstlcs and aciiwtles Canyon A program was written for an Apple rmcro- were determined through this system The number Of computer to create 48 wer trips for oar and motor handicapped was expected to be underrepresented. travel, varying in length lrom 6 to 18 days With this since only observable handicaps could be recorded. input data, the model was programmed for the cur- Success aiso depended on training g,ve” observers rent comblnatlon of oar and motor trips being so that slmilardeflnltions were used by all. launched weekly during the peak ~“mmer season, A WANG word processor was used to analyze the One female, one male, and one dog the ‘&wp and a three week simulation was run. The output of data. Its List Processing function stored and relrleved composrtnon” of one data sef in the Nat~oonalCapital numbers of dally encounters. anract~on site use and data on any variable contained in the system and al- t?egron s pbt project to garn planning mformatnon contacts, and campground use was very close to the lowed creation of certain subsets of the visitor popu- about park V,S,$IS. actual field records. lation. such as “children,” ‘lemales,” or ~plcnickers’ Is was then possible to change I” the model the mix The system could select subset data by iour variables 01 oars and motors, mcrease ordecrease the number in ranges or by specific values, usmg and or logic. As of launches per day and per week. change trip an example. one data set contained (1) children who lengths. and measure how these and other modlflca- (2) picn,c in (3) groups of wer 4 persons (4) on Sun- tions affected encounters between parlies and the days. use Of “arlO”S locatIons. Once the population was selected. ii could be out- Visitation Census The real advantaae of this kind 01 CompUter SImUla- put to a word processing document so that other In June 1983, the Olllce of Management and t~on IS the opporiu~ty to experiment with options on statistics, primarily simple mathematical lunct~ons. Budget (OMB) approved a survey. entltled Park VISI- the computer. and not on the public or on the re- could be applied. The major llmltai~on was SelectIOn tatlon Census, for NPS use. The core mstrument con- SOUICB.A repori on this work was published in May by only four vanables. Processing time alsO I”- sists of questions that determlne wtors’ length of 1983 as CPSU U of A TechnIcal Repolt No. 11 creases with the number of entries. stay. movement patierns within the park, repeat “IS- Recently the model was used to show that by re- Major use 01 the system was to provide a cons~s- t&on. group we and composltlon. and act~v~tlespur- structuring the launch schedule so that no trips 01 the tent mechan!sm for recording wtor use lnformatlon sued onsite An open-ended sectlo” allows park same length were launched on the same day. dally we, t,me and to select and analyze celta~n subsets manageis the opportunlly to ask questlons about a encounters between parties could be signillcantly re- of the park population The use of a WANG IS only a speclflc park problem or issue. The survey can be ad- duced while still launching 31 trips a week. the mechanical means to achieve lhls oblectlve. For mlrxstered as a matled questionnwe or a personal m- planned number lor July 1984. The CPSU IS currently elaborate data analyses requiring computation 01 lerww. The OMB authorization lor use of the Park parl,c,pat,ng ,n a study of the sociologIcal and ecolog- statlstlcs other than percentages this system IS not Visitation Census expwes Dec. 31, 1985 A totalof 14 lcal affects 01 fluctuating releases from Glen Canyon recommended. Ii IS also not recommended for data NPS areas nationwide are wng this survey ~nslrw Dam. Several flow regimes, varying lmm 2.000 to bases with mole than 5.000 records. ment. 32 000 cub,c feet per second. are being incorporated Szwah IS with the Recreal~oon Resources Ass~s- The Uplands Field Research Lab in the Great Into the simulation model Trips can then be monl- tance Div;sion. NPS Dept of Ihe Intenor Washmg- Smokv Mountains NP is develaplng a data analysis tored lor changing flow speeds. naugabikty of raplds. lo”. D c 20240 software package for the Park Vlsltation Census I”- wallability of campgrounds. and other Impacts 01 strument. The package will be destgned for an IBM fluctuating water levels on the recreation experience Personal Computer. The projected date01 completion 01 the package is lall of 1984 For a copy of the survey Instrument. contacl the Recreation Resources Assistance Division. WASO. 1100 L Street. NW WashIngton. DC 20240 CONTACT Dr John Peine. Uplands Field Research Lab. Great Smoky Mountains NP, Gallmburg, Term 37738 NPS Microcomputer From Washington, D.C.: Software Inventory The NPS Office of Information Management has formation canoe rransferred electrowally to parks or conducted a” inventory of the uses the Service Natural Landmarks regions that have CPT compatible equipment Hard makes of small compulers. The purpose of mamtatn- copies 01 the information also can be generated for Information System ing the inventory is to let NPS staff know what infor- units that do not have TTY or CPT compatible equip- The Nafurah Landmarks lnlormatlon System IS a m&n in their subject area has been automated, to men,. user-friendly means of malntainmg and accewng an assist I” planning or designing of computer systems, The Pesticide Use Tracking subsystem IS designed automated dala base on destgnated. potential and and to help NPS stafl exchange ideas and sofhwe. to track pesflclde “se on a park by park basis lrs d&ted NatIonal Natural Landmarks (NNCs), which The inventory shows that I” the last two lo three unique fealure IS that the Pesticide Use Proposal are slgnlficant examples of geological features and years. computers have proliferated in the parks, and Form (Form 10.21A) can be transferred electronically ecologIcal communities. Data storage IS by location, that park staffs have put them to good use Over 130 to the Region 0, WashIngton Office This subsystem status, condillon, ownership management and re. kinds of appl~cal~ons are in the inventory. rangmg IS also the foundation for the Management Reports swrce 1ype. from visitor and resource management to a wide subsystem the workhorse of the Pest lnformatlon The WAS0 Interagency Resources Diwion uses v&y of administrative uses. Management System. the system to add, update and delete natural land- The mventory has miormatlon on 14 computer sys. The Management Reports subsystem provides mark records, to prepare repotis in response to pubilc terns, 11 of them in parks. which maInlaIn naturalre- summary reports on pestlclde use and related topics. request and to catry out analyses to aid management some data. These include systems on marine The versatility of this subsystem lies in its ability to decnons on where lo direct program re~ourw from spews and on bears. goats, and other mammals, select information from the Pesticide Use Tracking site study and nomination. It IS also used to provide and systems on ground cover and cave use. There subsystem based on a group of selection commands Information for the annual repoti 10 Congress on are also four natural resource bibliography systems that can be used singly or in comblnatlon, depending threatened and damaged Landmarks. ldentifled. on the mformatlon needs of the user. For example, Regional &es use the system to provide informa- Systems in NPS use now run on a variety of kinds summary reporls can be generated for the following tlon to the public and to cornpa”,% and agerues with 01 hardware. Commonly used brands include categories or combination of categories: pest, acwe management responsibllkty. planning, revw 01 im- Datapunt, IBM-PCs, Data General, Apples, Vector mgredlent, type of pest, location of pesticide use, and plementatlon activws related 10 potenilal or desig- Graphics. and others. Much of the software is from amount of pesticide used. naled slles; and for analysis to assist m program ad- commerclaliy available ‘off the shell’ packages. In mtnlslration. For example, the Pacific Northwest Re- CONTACT: Dr Michael Ruggiero or Gaiy Johnston. addilton lo dBase II, most frequently used ate elec- gion has used the data base to provide 11~1sof desig- NPS Biological Resources Dwision (485). Washing- lron~c spreadsheet packages such as VISICALC, nated and potential NNLs located on Federal land to ton, D.C 20240 MULTIPLAN (for Datapo~nt), and SUPER-CALC. each of the Federal land-managlng agences in the Graphics and statlsttcal packages also are used, and Region. 10 provide reporis of designated NNCs by COMMON Data Base packages such as LOTUS i-2-3. which integrate county to a prlvale energy developer locating an oil some of these functions. pipeline, and to share natural landmark informalion Contains Park Basics The mventory IS available in printed form now and the past there has been no cen!ia; so”rce of key with NPS regional enwonmenlal review staff and In will be made available later I” an automated data information about park unlls thal could provide rapid state herltage program offices for “se when com- base. It includes lust enough detail to let you know answers to questions asked by decision-makers. The menting on public and prwate development proposals who’s doing what kind of busmess on computers in COMMON database has been developed to meet requlrlng pews the parks, and the name and phone numberof some- that need. The Ofhce of Information Management is The system runs on the NPS Hewlelt.Packard one to call to find out more about il. working with each program area to define the set of 3000 m~nlcompuler. Reports may be obtalned by un- lniormatlon they need lo make day-to-day as well as CONTACT: John Peterson. NPS Office oflnformalton tralned users through a user-friendly menu system. policy-level decisions. Management (WASO-0051. Departmen of the In- The Hewlett-Packard language, QUERY, may be The COMMON database contains basic park ~nlor- fedor Washmglon. D. C. 20240, used lo mantpulate data and to produce ad hoc re- matIon such as Supenntenden~s name. phone nun- ports tailored to spectfic inform&on requests. ber and address, percentages of park area in differ- CONTACT: Arthur Stewarl. Interagency Resources ent land “se zones. Clean AK Act statUs, status of Dw;s~on. NPS, Washington. D C. 20240, park planning documents, amount of federal and non- Microcomputers federal acreage. park type, NPS region, and State Afford Flexibility Pest Information and county location. The database IS stored on the NPS Hewlett-Packard 3000 minicomputer rn WAS0 ByR.Gerald Wright Management System and can be accessed from any term!nal. rmcm or The use of large maInframe computer systems The B~ologlcal Resources DIVISIONof NPS has de. word processor with communications capability by lknked to dedicated termmals at remote sites IS not veloped a Pest lnformatlon Management System using the HP database language. QUERY Detailed common in the National Park Service In part thls IS IPIMS) IO sallsfy the needs of the Pest Management InformatIon pertaining to particular program areas will because many parks are geographically Isolated, Program PIMS resides on a CPT 8525 m~croproces- still be stored I” separate data bases mamlalned by semi-autonomous uruts often connected to low grade sl”g un11utllizlng floppy disk storage and a 5 mega- vanes offices on different computers. telecommunlcatlon lanes. Another reason IS that the byte hard disk. Software accessories Include’ Com- The COMMON database is being expanded to in- resource-orlented educational backgrounds of many pupak. a CPM programmng system; and TTY, an clude more inform&on about park units. Informalion NPS personnel have lradltlonally de-emphasized about COMMON data items will form the beginnIng of asynchronous communtcations system The TTY the use of computers. Finally, there is a managerla the ServicewIde data dlctlonaty which WIIIInclude in- software enables communlcatlon wth nearly any re- susplc~on of large. complicaled, centralized computer mole unit that can “se ASCII.BesIdes olher CPT sys- formation about all data used in the Serwce that systems. crosses major organlratlonal and functional knes. tems. the cenlral CPT unit has commumcated suc- The advent of low cost, powerful microcomputers IS cessfully wth IBM-PC. TRS’Radlo Shack. Apple, The dictionary will not only define the mea”,ng of rapidly changing this picture. In recent years. parks Hewlett-Packard. and Raytheon Lexttron processors. each piece of data: it will establksh who IS responsible have been acquiring a variety of microcompuler sys- for Its accuracy and currency, where it is generated PIMS encompasses three major subsystems. IPM tems, either on thelr own or as part of regional oh Information. Pesticide Use Tracking. and Manage- and stored, and what values 11may have. programs. These computers are being used Ior sw- men1 Repot% The IPM Information subsystem pro- Some standard QUERY procedures and a Users’ era1 tasks. One application, the management of re- wdes current. compreheoslve, theoretical and practl- Manual WIII be developed I” 1984 by the WAS0 Of- sowce data bases. is dwussed below. cal mlormatlon for managing pests wllhln the National fice of lnformatlon Management As many park personnel are aware. the manage- Park System. When completed. this subsyslem will CONTACT. Kaihleen Gundry NPS Office of Informa- ment 01 park data bases IS an arduous task. Manual prowde up-to-date technical mformatlon on the man- tion Management, Department of the lnlenor Wash- compilation. update. and ftling of lnfarmatlon has long agement of 49 pests of concern Servlcewlde This I”- !ngton. D C 20240. been the norm. The result IS that data. particularly 22 historical data, often are unavailable when needed. In an effort to remedy this situation. several Service- , . wide resource u%rmalion systems were established From DISC._ in recent years. These included systems for back- Landsat MSS, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM] 01 country use data, bear mformat1on, threats to the Digital Cartography high resolution aircraft MSS. parks and pesticide data. All were tied to a central An ambitious program has evolved whereby this of- Editor’s Note: In the Winfer 82 issue of Park SC;- mainframe computer The problems in the use and fice will be developing a dIgItal data base for al/ ence, Fleet hrst described his program 1” Digital Car- maintenance of these systems reflect, to a large de- Alaska parks with prellminaiy emphasis on vegeta- tography Anofher art& descnbmg a specff!c appli- gree, those inherent in any centralized data base. tion and fire fuel clawfications. Funds have been ob- The systems were constructed to include all possible cafm appeared ,n the Winter 83 issue. Here he gives a bnefupdate. ligated through a cooperative agreement between contingencies and. thus, were complex and dlHlcult to NOAA, EROS Data Center, NASA, and this oHice to alter and update, particularly as they grew in size It By Harvey Fleet acquire TM data (30m or ‘/n-acre pixels) for ~26 was also hard for i-&duals using these data bases Program Manager DigItal Caitography for scenes from Landsat D’ launched in February 1984. 10verify the accuracy of the data entered. The DigItal Cartography Program at DSC con- Therefore, TM data for the program WIII start to be- The result has been that many of the centrally tinues to build and analyze digital cartographic data come wallable during the summer of 1984. Digital maintained data bases have been abandoned !n bases. These are line-type (or ‘vectoi’) data bases terrain data for 121 1’ X 1’ scenes coverIng the parks favor of systems that keep relevant porlions of the and are used for research, enwonmental analysis. have been acquired and processing steps are pro- data base accessible to the individuals who have the resource management, and planning. Data bases ceeding. greatest involvement with those pat% As an exam- have been contructed for Cape Cod, Upper Dela- To carry out the aforementioned projects new mod- ple, bear Information for Glacier NP would be entered ware, Great Smokies, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Tar ules or other modlflcatlons have been made to ELAS and stored on a mwocomputer at Glacier. These lat- Sands Lease Unit (Utah), Prince William Forest, (Earth Resources Laboratory Applications Software). ter data bases are called distributed systems. Saratoga, and Capitol Reef. Typically, these data the software package we use for multIspectral class- Distributed systems are ideal for organizations that bases include boundanes. landuse~landcover, soils, lfiation and geographic information system (GIS) have large numbers of geographically separated hydrography, roads, 1~118, structures, and topog analyses enabling us to dew? elevation, slope, as- units. Each ““I!, e.g. the park, stores its own data; raphy, among many other themes. Most of our data pect, and average slope length classes: maklng thus data entry and !etr!eval !!me is minimal, and processing IS done using SAGIS (Systems Appllca- much Easter the lumping of multlspectral classes Into communication problems and costs are significantly tlons Group lnformatlon System) on a CDC (Control desired thematic (e.g. vegetabon landcover) classes reduced Equally as Imporiant, the park assumes the Data Corporation) CYBER mainlrame, on which we because the color melhodology used retains color responsibility for accurately updating the data and timeshare, and which is owned and operated by the meaning and contextual Information: and taking the maintaining its polt~on of the total data base. The im- Bureau of Reclamation. We supplement our use of vector data flies of SAGIS (the software package pact of changes ,n personnel responsible for ma,“- the CYBER by maklng extenwe use of ourTektronix used at DSC) to build %ne-type” data bases and co”- taining a data base is lower in distributed systems for. 4054 for plotting. analysts, and data display. We veti them to ELAS (Earth Resources Lab Appl~ca- I” the event of disruptlow only a poltlon 01 the total routinely produce high-quality color plots of the data tions sdiware)format dais base IS affected the various data bases contan We look forward to sharing the results of these and Distributed data bases are typically heirarchlcally Our principal product is a digltal data base. rather other pending developments followlng @sling and ac- structured, with the most detailed Information kept at than specific plots of data I” the data base. and we tual park applications. the local level. Syntheses of these data are made ant,c,pate that our clients WIII“se the data base regu- available at higher management levels, e.g., regional larly over the years Unlike remote sensing. we do not offices and WASO. Compatible formats for coding create the them&c maps that we enter into the com- and storing the dlHeren1 data types are necessary for puter, but concentrate on entenng existing maps (of And NPFiora such a system to operate smoothly. Analyses and in- any kind of reswrce feature). The technique IS espe- tegration of data sets are easier, and individuals who clally subted for faithfully and precisely capturing line- By Gary S. Waggoner (DSC), lack training and experience I” indexing information type data (polygons, lines, and points) in digital for- Virginia 17.Brueggemann (DSC), and James P. Bennett (WASO-AWOD) are aided by having a uniform format to follow. mat. One way to achieve uniformity IS to develop corn. Recent and upcoming developments include the The NPFLORA program to build and maintaln a mon formats for specific data types and distribute addition of polygon overlay and a data base manager computerized wontory 01 the vascular plants occur- them on diskettes compatible with the respective to our list of analytical tools, the acquisition of an ex- ring in the National Park System has progressed slg- computers to the parks. Where appropriate, exlstlng tremely powerful. high resolution color display nlficantly smce it was first descrlbed m Park Scimx commercial software, such as MULTIPLAN, could be monitor and complementary ink-let plotter, publIca- (Spring 1983). At that time. we rep&d data on 19 used for this purpose In spew1 cases, data specific tion of the second wue of the Data Base Newsletter. parks As of January 1984 NPFLORA contaIned data software may have to be developed internally. For publication of The Manageis Guide to Resource In- on 45 parks. The data base IS currently about 10 example. the Southeast Regnnal Office recently de- formation Systems. and the capability lo merge re- megabytes in size IS stored on magnetic tape and veloped a museum records cataloging program for mote sensng data with our digital caiographlc data. costs about 515,000 annually to operate on the parks wtten in dBase II The development of a com- Bureau of Reclamation CDC CYBER Kxluding data mon format and accompanying software for specific base expansion, querying and maintenance. We are data sets could be directed by a Sewce-wide com- lnvestlgat!ng the acquisition of a microcomputer that mittee, such as the Natural Resource InformatIon Remote sensing can provide equivalent capabiktles for our purposes Management Working Group, working in concert with By Maurice Nyquisi, Chief in order to avold these annual charges appropriate dwpllnary experts. Since the glit 01 a modest muucomputer system by As 01 January 1984 NPFLORA had an average of The rapld proliferation of microcomputers in the NASA’ERL a year ago. the program has been deeply 690 iaxa per park of wh!ch 87 percent are natives. 11 NPS undoubtedly will continue to increase. Many wolved with constwct~on 01 digital data bases for percent are Introduced, and 2 percent are undeter. parks already are developing their own or adapting several parks and reg,ons. At three areas (Big Bend, mined. the number of parks in the data base has commercial software to meet their data management Great Smokles. and Yosemite NPs] high resolution more than doubled, but these percentages have re- and inventory needs Effortsto assure compallbility of alrcrafl multlspectral scanner (MSS) data are being malned wtually stable it appears that the average data storage, at least al the regional level, need to be used in conjunction with dIgital topographic data number 01 introduced taxa in the Park System is underiaken quickly before the problem gets out of These data bases will be used for park speofic nalw roughly Ii percent of the total flora occurrIng. hand. Implemented correctly. dlstrlbuted data bases ral science. resources management, and 11re fuels The NPFLORA pr,ntou,s have provided park staffs can be a real ad to the data storage and retwval mod&g applications. and in the case of Yosemite with a target for CorrectIons, deletions. and addltlons needs of the parks and also provide necessary lnfor- methodology development of Resource-at-Risk de- The result has been a considerable Improvement I” Matson to other management levels term,nat,ons for FIREPRO Other ongoIng projects the overall accuracy and quality of the data base. Wnghl is an ecolog,st wrlh the NPS CPSU a/ Unl- lor North Cascades and the Nabonal Capital Region which was set up originally from sowces such as versily of Idaho. Moscow are wng various comblnatlons of dIgItal topographic. publications. theses, anapark lksllngs 23 -