PARK. SCIENCE A RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BULLETIN NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR VOLUME 7 - NUMBER 4 SUMMER 1987 SUMMER 1987 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 In This Issue Page Editorial Seismic Research Protects Significant Ruins at Chaco Culture National Historical Park ....... 3 The extremely untimely death of Thomas Lucke on February 28th of this year left the Park Science editorial board with a gaping hole. Tom had been a volunteer-offering to share the frufts of his careful reading of law fsk Royale Moose Thrive journals as they apply to park matters. He read these journals voraciously; he extracted their Parks-related meat; as Wolf Population Declines ................ .5 he translated it into words we all could understand. Manor to Coordinate Acid Rain Program. ....... 5 Your editor chose not to rush out and attempt to fill the boardb vacancy. She has always found that volunteers Abandoned Well Plugging tend to work harder and to add a personal cachet that gives a little different spin to the whole operation. Protects Parka’ Resources ................... 6 Sure enough. The lilies-of-the-field syndrome proved itself again. Within two weeks the phone rang and it was Visitor Surveys Aid Mount Rainier Harvey Fleet, Chief, Digital Cartography Branch, GIS Division at the NPS Denver Service Center, asking if he in Handling Management Problems ............ 7 might have a little corner of Park Science with its own standing head for dealing with Geographic Information Padre Island Kemp’s Ridley Sea Systems(GIS) matters. (The responseto hisarticlein thespring 1987issue had encouraged him tomake his bid.) Turtle Profact Update ...................... .8 Not wishing to offend the gods by looking a gift lily in the mouth, we accepted forthwith. So Harvey Fleet is our new board member, and he welcomes both questions and information m his area of expertise. Resource Management History Traced by Rangers Thesis., ................ .9 Fragile Dune Envimnments: Managing for Human Impacts ............... 10 Grizzly Compendium Available .............. 11 WILLIAM PENN MOll, JR., Director National Park Service NPS Science Support Staff Announces U.S. Department of the Interior IPM Training Videotapes ................... 11 Regional Highlights ....................... 12 Editorial Board: %Year Study of Falcons Gary E. Davis, Marine Research Scientist, Channel Islands NP Provides Clues to Origins .................. 14 John Dennis, Biologist, Washington Office Specimen Collection Guidance James W. Larson, Editorfal Board Chairman and Chief Scientist, Pacific Northwest Region Takes Time .............................. 14 Thomas W. Lucke, Chief, Water Resources Division, Forf Collins, Cola. New Recreation Texibook .................. 14 William M. Lukens, Superintendent, Padre Island National Seashore Roland H. Wauer, NPS Cooperative Extension Service, College of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix, USVI Information Crossfile ...................... 15 Harvey Fleet, Chief, Digital Cartography, Denver Service Center Meetings of Interest ....................... 15 Resource Data Management System Jean Manhews, Editor: Oregon State University NPSXPSU, Room 110 Forestry Sciences Lab, Launched in Pacific Northwest Region ........ 16 3200 Jefferson Way, Corvaflis, OR 97331 (503) 757.4579; a-420-4579 NY Conference Focuses on Long-term Research ....................... 17 ISSN-0735.9462 VIRMC Makes Intensive Data Collection Effort ...................... 19 Computer Corner ......................... 19 Regional Chief Scientists An NPS Caribbean Resource Anderson, William H. Protection Strategy ........................ 19 Ruggiero. Michael Soukup, Michael NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION MIDWEST REGION Field Courses Announced .................. 19 NORTH ATLANTIC REGION 1100 Ohio Drive, SW. 1709 Jackson St. Biology Conservationists Meet ............... 19 Washington, D.C. 20242 Omaha, NE 66102 15 state street 6(202)342.1443 6-664.3436 (402) 221-3436 Boston, MA 02109 Interpreters. Managers Discuss 6-635-6605 (6171565.6805 Mutual Concerns ......................... 19 Dottavio, Dominic Huff, Dan SOUTHEAST REGION R&her, Millard Superintendent’s Corner ................... .20 ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION 75 Sorina St. S.W. SOUTHWEST REGION Wolf Recovery Plan Draft PO. Box 25627 Alla& i;A 30303 PO. Box 726 Denver, CO 60225 Moving Through Interior ................... .20 6-242-4916 (404) 221-4916 Santa Fe, NM 67501 Erosion Techniques Course Set ............. .20 E-776-9425 (303) 2369425 a-476-&412 (505) 966-6412 Karish, John R. Prairie Restoration/Management MID ATLANTIC REGION Lanon. James W. Lows, Allan L. at Homestead: A History ................... 21 PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION Ferguson Bldg, Rwm 209-B ALASKA REGION 63 S. King St. Groundwater Contamination Charted Pennsvlvania State Univenltv 2525 Gambell St., Room 101 at Big Cypress Well Drilling Site ............. 22 Un~ver&y Park, PA 16602 ’ Suite 212 Anchorage, AK 99503.2892 6(814)665-7974 Seade, WA 961W 6 (907) 271-2612 Letters ................................. 23 E-399-4176 (206) 4424176 Book Review .............. L............ .24 Kilgore. Bruce WESTERN REGION Divers to Meet in Seattle .................. (24 450 Golden Gate Ave. PO. Box 36063 San Francisco, CA 94102 Cover: Author Ken King, foreground, checks machine s-556-4966 (415) 556-4966 lhat registers ground hansmission and a&walion of energy inputs typifying condihons at Chaco Culture Please address requests for inlormalion to approp~ate Regional Chief Scienhst. Nahonal HistorM Park. Stow beak~s on paw 3. ,” .” 2 Seismic Research Protects Significant Ruins At Chaco Culture National Historical Park By Ken King and Keith A. Yarborough Boom! Crunch! Rumble! Thump! for industrial blasting, which will protect structures, IS These comic strip expletives are also apt expres- 50.8 mmisec (2 inisec.). This standard is used by sions of energy inputs that can shake your house many states and results in only minor cosmetic dam- down-whether produced by real earthquakes or by age. A more conservative, safe level for dwellings is human activities. Whatever the source, such perfurba- 2.0 to 3.8 mmlsec. European maxImum allowable in- ttons are of great concern to cultural and natural re duced ground motion levels for residential sites are source managers throughout the National Park Sys- equally conservative: tem. In the Southwest Region these energy inputs 1) 10 mmlsec. from commercial explosives in pose a major threat to the ruIned remains of the mag- Czechoslovakia. nificent Anazazi constructions which are preserved at 2) 10 mm/w at frequencies greater than 12 Hz Chaco Culture National Historfcal Park in northwest- and 12 mm/w at frequencies less than 12 Hz in err! New Mexico. These delicate treasures are the Great Britain. cultural remnants of the “City of Towns,” which 3) 4 mmlsec. or greater not permitted at German flourished in this arid area from the 10th through the building sites. 13th centuries, C.E. 4) 12 mmisec. at 10 Hz and 6 mmhec. at 5 Hz in This unique and sigmficant part of the nation’s cul- Australia. tural heritage is threatened by a number of activities 5) For historic buildings and sites in Germany, in and around the park. Externally coal strip mining Great Britain, and Sweden: 2 mmhec., 2.5 mmlsec., is imminent to the north and northeast of the park, 2 mmlsec., respectively. entailing extensive, continual blasting with large quan- Note that both ground motions, representing tities of high explosives. Add to this a coal-hauling energy inputs and frequencies of the ground motion, railroad, to be constructed only two miles north of the to which the fundamental or higher harmonic w- park, and then throw in oil and natural gas develop sponse frequencies of the structures may be luned,” ment, which surrounds the park. Internally, the park’s are important. road system loop, which carries wtors among the In considering energy inputs, one must ask: (1) ruins, has been “upgraded” and paved. All of these What is the energy input of the source type, as to both activities go “boom,” ‘“crunch,” “rumble,” and ‘Ihump.” frequencies of vibration and magnitude and (2) How To protect the ruins from further damage, the Divi- does it attenuate (dissipate) while being transmlned sion of Natural Resources Management in the South- through theground (surface/sub-surface media)10 the Seismometer mount.4 on a lypicai Chaco wall is west Region initiated an investigation by the USGS structure (receiver)? employed to delermine the v/a//b vibralional response Seismic Risk Assessment Branch located at the Col- This requires direct measurement of real ground to energy inputs. orado School of Mines. This research quantified the motions and energy attenuations at the site(s) to de- two main factors of seismic damage to structures, !n termine if a damage problem will result. An attenuation general: (1) energy input(s) causing vibrations and (2) equation was developed for each individual ruin. The responses of the receivers, the ruins at Chaco. fundamental frequency and higher harmonics must The objective of this work was to develop risk zone be determined, as well. The three energy source types maps showingthezonesaroundtheruins within which which most threaten the Chacoan ruins were certain activities involving seismic perturbations and evaluated: structural responses could be permitted and outside 1. The Railroad and strip mining activity exclusive of which