Monitoring coastal wetland elevation in Southeast Coast Network parks: Protocol implementation plan

Abstract

The National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Division has initiated coastal wetland elevation monitoring at or in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA), Cape Lookout National Seashore (CALO), Fort Pulaski National Monument (FOPU), Fort Frederica National Monument (FOFR), Cumberland Island National Seashore (CUIS), Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve (TIMU), Fort Matanzas National Monument (FOMA), and Canaveral National Seashore (CANA). This protocol implementation plan is based on the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network protocol, The Surface Elevation Table and Marker Horizon Technique: A Protocol for Monitoring Wetland Elevation Dynamics (Lynch et al. 2015) with the goal of ensuring NPS data are comparable with existing, contemporary, and future data sets collected by NPS monitoring networks and other monitoring programs. The Southeast Coast Network?s (SECN) coastal wetland monitoring effort collects surface elevation and marker horizon data at permanent monitoring stations in park salt marsh and mangrove wetlands to provide data to park resource managers on the status of, and trends in, coastal wetland conditions and abilities to adapt to sea level rise within the park and surrounding areas. In addition to sites located with park managed areas, multiple sites located within the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) are being monitored in a partnership with their system-wide wetland elevation monitoring program. The sites monitored through the GTMNERR partnership are near Fort Matanzas National Monument and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (CASA), geographically located between Canaveral National Seashore and Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. Similarly, other partnerships will be perused around other parks to better understand wetland elevation dynamics around those areas. The purpose of this protocol implementation plan is twofold: to provide a monitoring framework for collecting scientifically sound data and to supply information to help evaluate the current status and trends in coastal wetland conditions. Understanding trends in coastal wetland condition and how stressors such as coastal storms and sea level rise affect them is important for managing these important ecosystems. Surface elevation and marker horizon data can be leveraged to determine if current management practices or environmental conditions are sustaining the desired functions and uses of the parks. Data collected under this protocol implementation plan are stored in the NPS Surface Elevation Table (SET) Monitoring Database (NPS I&M 2017). In addition to utilizing customized data handling and reporting procedures, this plan and its accompanying standard operating procedures (SOPs) set guidelines for data to be made available internally to park resource managers and employees along with publication to larger audiences via peer-reviewed reports and briefing statements.