National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Program Center An Evaluation of Biological Inventory Data Collected at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site Vertebrate and Vascular Plant Inventories Natural Resource Report NPS/CUPN/NRR—2009/135 ON THE COVER Narrow cultivated valley surrounded by rich forested slopes on the Knob Creek Unit at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site (ABLI), Inset Photos Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus), Eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus), and Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) from ABLI. Photographs by: Erin Lunsford Jones, Mark Gumbert, and John R. MacGregor An Evaluation of Biological Inventory Data Collected at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site Vertebrate and Vascular Plant Inventories Natural Resource Report NPS/CUPN/NRR—2009/135 Bill Moore Ecologist/Data Manager Cumberland Piedmont Network National Park Service P.O. Box 8 Mammoth Cave, KY 42259 July 2009 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Program Center Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Program Center 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. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report are those of the author(s) and 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 National Park Service. This report is available from the Cumberland Piedmont Network Inventory and Monitoring website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/im/units/CUPN) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/NRPM). Please cite this publication as: Moore, B. J. 2009. An evaluation of biological inventory data collected at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site: Vertebrate and vascular plant inventories. Natural Resource Report NPS/CUPN/NRR—2009/135. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 338/100198, July 2009 ii Contents Page Tables............................................................................................................................................. iv Executive Summary........................................................................................................................ v Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1 Methods........................................................................................................................................... 1 Results............................................................................................................................................. 2 Discussion..................................................................................................................................... 11 Future Inventory Efforts .......................................................................................................... 11 Monitoring ............................................................................................................................... 13 Management............................................................................................................................. 14 Summary....................................................................................................................................... 15 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................. 17 Appendix A. NPSpecies Data Dictionary..................................................................................... 19 Appendix B. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site Local List............................. 23 Appendix C. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site species-area comparisons with other Cumberland Piedmont Network parks. ....................................................................... 38 iii Tables Page Table 1. Count of organisms by Park Status categories at ABLI ................................................... 2 Table 2. Count of organisms by Abundance categories at ABLI ................................................... 3 Table 3. Non-native plants, occurring on ABLI, with an Invasive Species Impact Rank (I-Rank) containing high ....................................................................................................... 4 Table 4. Organisms on ABLI’s local list which possess a state heritage program rank and/or other designated conservation status ........................................................................... 8 Table 5. Number of organisms designated as Present in Park or Probably Present in Cumberland Piedmont Network Parks ..................................................................................... 11 Table 6. Summary of findings/recommendations by CUPN staff for ABLI, based on staff expertise and a review of recent inventory reports and other NPSpecies data................................................................................................................................................ 15 iv Executive Summary An important function of the National Park Service (NPS) is protecting and maintaining the biological diversity found within parks. In an effort to assist parks in documenting vascular plants and vertebrates, the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M) provided funding and technical assistance through its 32 I&M Networks. Abrhaham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site (ABLI) is within the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN). In cooperation with ABLI, CUPN compiled existing information on vertebrates and vascular plants (i.e., species listes with related attribute and spatial data) and initiating additional field investigations in an effort to document 90% of the species of vertebrates (amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles) and vascular plants believed to occur on ABLI. All data were entered and certified in NPSpecies, the NPS master database for documenting the occurrence and status of species. Based on the number of organisms categoriezed as Present in Park (i.e., documented) and Probably Present (high confidence of occurrence in park but undocumented), 95% of ABLI’s vertebrates and vascular plants are documented. However, the fact that some expected amphibians went undetected is of note considering increasing reports of declines within this group. No, federally listed threatened or endangered organisms were documented on ABLI. However, 87 non-native organisms were documented on the park including 21 with a high Invasive Species Impact Rank. As a result, non-native species are potentially the most immediate threat to the overall ecological health and biological diversity of the park. Additional findings, based on a review of the available data for ABLI, are discussed in this report. v Introduction As part of the National Park Service’s effort to “improve park management through greater reliance on scientific A natural resource inventory is knowledge,” a primary role of the Inventory and an extensive point-in-time effort Monitoring (I&M) Program is to collect, organize, and to determine location or condition make available natural resource data and to contribute to the of a resource, including the presence, class, distribution, and Service’s institutional knowledge by facilitating the status of plants, animals, and transformation of data into information through analysis, abiotic components such as water, synthesis, and modeling. In pursuit of that endeavor, the soils, landforms, and climate. I&M Program’s Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) Monitoring differs from recently completed multiple efforts to inventory the inventory in adding the vertebrate species and vascular plants at Abraham Lincoln dimension of time, and the Birthplace National Historic Site (ABLI). These efforts general purpose of monitoring is included cataloging all existing data, followed up by to detect changes or trends in a additional field investigations. The primary goal of these resource. efforts was to document 90% of the vertebrate and vascular plant species believed to occur in the park. This report provides a summary of results. Results are also briefly discussed within the context of future inventory efforts, long-term monitoring, and management. Methods Prior to the initiation of any field investigation, an effort was made to assemble extant data on species occurrence