National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Natural Resource Condition Assessment Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Natural Resource Report NPS/UCBN/NRR—2012/602 ON THE COVER Map and Photographs of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve located in south-central Idaho with insets of pictures acquired from the website at: www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm and from Northwest Management, Inc. Natural Resource Condition Assessment Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Natural Resource Report NPS/UCBN/NRR—2012/602 John A. Erixson Northwest Management, Inc. P.O. Box 9748 Moscow, ID 83843 Mark V. Corrao Northwest Management Inc. P.O. Box 9748 Moscow, ID 83843 December 2012 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received informal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data. Data in this report were collected and analyzed using methods based on established, peer-reviewed protocols and were analyzed and interpreted within the guidelines of the protocols. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This report is available from the Upper Columbia Basin Network Web site (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/ucbn/) and the Natural Resource Publications Management Web site (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). Please cite this publication as: Erixson, J. A. and M. V. Corrao. 2012. Natural resource condition assessment: Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Natural Resource Report NPS/UCBN/NRR— 2012/602. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 131/118223, December 2012 ii Contents Page Figures ............................................................................................................................................ v Tables ........................................................................................................................................... vii Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... xiii Prologue ...................................................................................................................................... xiii Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................................... xv Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose and Scope ..................................................................................................................... 1 NRCA Background .................................................................................................................... 2 Study Area .................................................................................................................................. 3 Historical Setting ........................................................................................................................ 6 Natural Resources ...................................................................................................................... 7 Methods ........................................................................................................................................ 21 NRCA Project Scoping ............................................................................................................ 21 GIS and Geodatabases.............................................................................................................. 22 NPS Data Sources .................................................................................................................... 24 Natural Resources .................................................................................................................... 25 Results .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Wildlife .................................................................................................................................... 29 Wildlife Inventories ................................................................................................................. 35 Wildlife Monitoring ................................................................................................................. 39 Vegetation ................................................................................................................................ 65 Water Resources....................................................................................................................... 69 Geology and Soils .................................................................................................................... 74 Air Quality ............................................................................................................................... 87 Land Use .................................................................................................................................. 94 Climate ................................................................................................................................... 106 iii Contents (continued Page Summary Discussion and Recommendations ......................................................................... 115 Fire ......................................................................................................................................... 115 Water Resources..................................................................................................................... 116 Animal Resources .................................................................................................................. 117 Vegetation Classification and Mapping ................................................................................. 118 Threatened, Endangered, Sensitive, and Species of Special Concern (TESS) ...................... 119 Non-native Plant Species, Invasive Plant Species, and/or Noxious Weeds ........................... 121 Climate Change ...................................................................................................................... 124 General Threats and Stressors ................................................................................................ 125 Data Gaps ............................................................................................................................... 126 Management Action Recommendations ................................................................................ 127 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................ 129 iv Figures Page Figure 1. Map of CRMO in Central Idaho. .................................................................................... 4 Figure 2. Number of visitors to CRMO between 1945 to 2009 . ................................................... 6 Figure 3. Lava flows within CRMO. ............................................................................................. 9 Figure 4. Map of existing vegetation types at CRMO. ................................................................ 12 Figure 5. Map of the CRMO subwatershed. ................................................................................ 17 Figure 6. Screen capture of the ArcMap Project file for the CRMO project area. ...................... 23 Figure 7. American Pika Inventory Data for CRMO, 2007-2009. .............................................. 44 Figure 8. Pygmy Rabbit Field Observation Location. ................................................................. 48 Figure 9. Pronghorn Observations Documented Within CRMO. ................................................ 51 Figure 10. Greater Sage-grouse Lek Data. ................................................................................... 55 Figure 11. Location of Greater