Federal Partner: National Park Service

Student Internship Program at Assateague Island National Seashore

Project Description: The purpose of this project is to establish a student internship program between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Assateague Island National Seashore. Both graduate and undergraduate students will participate in research projects that are of relevance to the Seashore and will be under the guidance of a Seashore mentor and a UMES faculty mentor.

The NPS-UMES student internship program will encompass two projects that will provide support to the mission of the NPS at Assateague Island National Seashore, and valuable research experiences for those students involved. Each project will differ in scope. One project will entail a detailed analysis of nutrient flux in the Maryland Coastal Bays, and how this relates to other environmental factors such as land usage and the influence of water flow and wind forces. As this project will necessitate the need for some expertise in mathematical modeling, we will utilize a UMES PI (Dr. Meng Xia) and graduate student who have the necessary background. The student will participate in data collection during the monthly water quality monitoring survey that the NPS has been conducting at the Seashore for ~20 years. The NPS mentor for this work will be the Seashore Aquatic Ecologist.

The second project is intended as more traditional undergraduate student field study experiences and introduction to management and stewardship of natural resources. Interns will assist NPS staff with a wide range of field resource monitoring programs including invasive plant management, water quality monitoring, vegetation studies, threatened and endangered species monitoring and mapping, wildlife surveys and various other natural resource management field projects. Each student will be housed on-site at Assateague Island National Seashore, along with other student interns.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Joseph Pitula, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Meng Xia,

Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Bill Hulslander

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Start Year: 2014

End Year: 2019

Initial Funding Amount: $37,014.00

Federal Grant Number: P14AC01117

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2018, Amount: $0.00

National Park or Protected Area: Assateague Island (NPS)

State(s): Maryland

Expand Internship Program and Research-based Education and Teacher Professional Development Program

Project Description: The purposes of this project are to cooperatively expand and provide teacher professional development and educational programs with CUNY – a partner institution in the North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit – addressing environmental issues that are affecting Jamaica Bay and its surrounding area; and to advance the internship program in which CUNY faculty advisors work with NPS staff to engage undergraduate, and graduate students from CUNY in all core curriculum disciplines. Subject matter faculty experts in areas of environmental monitoring, geoscience and phenology will participate with NPS staff to lead interns applying educational pedagogy and practices focused on current research projects in areas such as environmental monitoring, geoscience and phenology to accomplish the mutual goals of each organization. Interns’ recruitment will be done collaboratively between CUNY -BC faculty and NPS education staff, using the BC Magner Center recruitment office as well as professors’ identification of their most suitably credentialed graduate and undergraduate students relative to the research study.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Deborah Shanley, City University of New York

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Jennifer Adams, City University of New York

Partner Institution: City University of New York

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Jeanette Parker

Project Type: Education

Start Year: 2014

End Year: 2018

Initial Funding Amount: $20,000.00

Federal Grant Number: P14AC00960

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 0001, Year: 2015, Amount: $28.00
  • Amendment Number: 0002, Year: 2018, Amount: $0.00

State(s): New York

Quantifying shark behavior and habitat along Cape Cod National Seashore to develop safety recommendations and outreach materials

Project Description: This project will develop a site-specific, adaptive probability index for white shark (WS) within Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS). This study will further the understanding of white shark behavior to easily communicate information to improve visitor experience and safety, enhance lifeguard effectiveness, and improve park staff’s knowledge.

This study will directly measure: 1) WS residency, site fidelity and habitat use along individual beaches 2) The presence and behavior of seals 3) Oceanographic and atmospheric conditions 4) Bathymetric and habitat maps via acoustic surveys 5) Provide an index and guidelines for daily conditions and probability of WS presence.

Lead Principal Investigator: Mr. Bryan Legare, Center for Coastal Studies

Partner Institution: Center for Coastal Studies

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Geoffrey Sanders

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Biological (Ecology, Fish, Wildlife, Vegetation, T&E)

Start Year: 2021

End Year: 2025

Initial Funding Amount: $189,538.00

Federal Grant Number: P21AC10859

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2022, Amount: $114,813.00
  • Amendment Number: 02, Year: 2023, Amount: $85,305.00
  • Amendment Number: , Year: , Amount: $

Location: Cape Cod National Seashore

National Park or Protected Area: Cape Cod (NPS)

State(s): Massachusetts

Monitoring Estuarine Condition at Fire Island National Seashore and Gateway National Recreation Area (FY 2022-2024)

Project Description: Coastal environments include several habitats of concern for resource managers in coastal parks. Estuaries, beaches and nearshore areas are nursery grounds for many species of recreational and commercial importance, and they contribute significantly to visitor experience (e.g., boating, fishing, wildlife viewing) at coastal parks. Compromised water quality in coastal environments often results from regional population growth and local development. Water quality monitoring data collected by National Park Service (NPS) Inventory & Monitoring network programs and coastal parks allow the NPS to evaluate conditions and track trends within park boundaries. However, effective management of both estuarine and marine resources requires understanding water quality issues beyond park boundaries since most water quality problems originate there. Understanding this larger picture is a critical step in the successful management of coastal waters.

The objectives of this project are to implement the estuarine water quality and seagrass monitoring protocols at alternating parks per year. Measurements of water column condition indicators will occur at Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE) and Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS) in alternate years; and measurements of seagrass indicators at FIIS July-August of
all years as identified in the project scope of work. Monitoring will follow the standard methods described in the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network (NCBN) Vital Signs protocols for monitoring estuarine nutrient enrichment. Seagrass condition indicators will be measured and the sampling approach is consistent with the global seagrass monitoring protocol described at
http://www.SeagrassNet.org.

This project is part of the NPS long-term Vital Signs Monitoring Program and the protocol being used was developed specifically for the coastal parks by United States Geological Survey (USGS) scientists (Kopp and Neckles 2009) to be implemented by the NPS. Both USGS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) depend on NPS to collect water quality data in the park units. At this time there are no other government or state agencies collecting similar water quality data at this high a resolution that covers all park estuarine waters within park boundaries for Fire Island NS or Gateway NRA. The water quality data is made broadly available to partners and state agencies, filling a vital need for water quality data of estuarine waters along the east coast.

Lead Principal Investigator: Bradley Peterson, SUNY, Stony Brook University

Partner Institution: SUNY, Stony Brook University

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Dr. Jim Comiskey

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Water (FW & Marine)

Start Year: 2022

End Year: 2024

Initial Funding Amount: $53,776.00

Federal Grant Number: P22AC00601

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 1, Year: 2023, Amount: $58,551.00

Location: Gateway NRA and Fire Island NS

National Parks or Protected Areas:

  • Gateway (NPS)
  • Fire Island (NPS)

State(s): New York

Student and Other Involvement:

  • Doctoral Students: 1
  • Undergraduate Students: 1
  • Interns: 1

Summary of Student Involvement: The graduate student calibrates all of the field equipment prior to deployment. They also participate in all water quality and seagrass monitoring. The undergraduate assists in both the field and lab sample collection and processing.

Summary of Other Involvement: Field help

Complete Cultural Landscape Treatment and Maintenance Plan for Flight 93 National Memorial Landscape

Project Description: The project will provide recommendations for the treatment of the Flight 93 National Memorial landscape. This project will provide Flight 93 National Memorial with a treatment plan to guide short and long-term management of the landscape, based on the objectives of preserving the landscape characteristics and features that convey its historical significance. In addition, the project will provide preservation maintenance guidelines to ensure that the memorial design, and in particular its vegetation, is sustained. Both components will build on the first phase of this preservation planning project funded under a separate task agreement (P19AC01006).

Lead Principal Investigator: John Auwaerter, SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Partner Institution: SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Robert Page

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Cultural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic

Start Year: 2020

End Year: 2024

Initial Funding Amount: $80,000.00

Federal Grant Number: P20AC00929

Location: Flight 93 National Memorial

National Park or Protected Area: Flight 93 (NPS)

State(s): Pennsylvania

Student and Other Involvement:

  • Masters Students: 1
  • Undergraduate Students: 1

Apply Remote Sensing Methods to Map Tree Species and Tree Health for Species of Management Concern in Acadia National Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

Project Description: The goals of this project are to map the locations tree species and the condition of tree health in Acadia National Park (ACAD) and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KAWW) so that the parks can understand the threat of invasive insect pests, like Emerald Ash Borer and Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, and protect threatened tree species traditionally used by the Wabanaki tribes, such as ash. This project will map select species of trees and tree health for all forested lands in ACAD and KAWW using existing ground, airborne, and satellite imagery because the parks currently lack maps accurately representing tree species occurrence and tree health at fine spatial resolution. These maps will provide a valuable resource for a number of management and resource applications including: 1) management of invasive insect pests and diseases, such as Emerald Ash Borer, Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, and red pine scale, and 2) anticipating and managing changes in forest species or mass mortality events that may occur with climate change and drought, and possibly in combination with insect pests.

The outcomes of this project are a peer-reviewed report and a map of tree species composition and tree health in ACAD and KAWW that describes the condition of a range of forest types across both parks. In addition, two in-person workshops, one each in ACAD and KAWW, will be held to communicate findings to park staff and other stakeholders (e.g., researchers, friends’ groups, land trusts, municipalities) and to get input to improve and revise the maps. A communication product (e.g., resource brief, web article, or story map) will also be completed to share the findings more widely.

Lead Principal Investigator: Nick Fisichelli, Schoodic Institute

Partner Institution: Schoodic Institute

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Dr. Jim Comiskey

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Biological (Ecology, Fish, Wildlife, Vegetation, T&E)

Start Year: 2022

End Year: 2024

Initial Funding Amount: $29,786.00

Federal Grant Number: P22AC00405

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 1, Year: 2023, Amount: $32,144.00

Location: Acadia and Katahdin Woods and Waters

National Parks or Protected Areas:

  • Acadia (NPS)
  • Katahdin Woods and Waters (NPS)

State(s): Maine

Assessing the factors affecting the condition of vegetation in eastern NPS Parks (2018 – 2023)

Project Description: This is a two-part project collecting vegetation community data at 1) the Northeast Temperate Network’ s long-term freshwater wetland monitoring plots located in Acadia National Park, and 2) long-term forest vegetation monitoring plots located within
NPS parks from Maine to Virginia. Both of these ecosystems are important to park operations, visitors’ experience, and are valuable resources that are constantly affected by environmental change and stressors. Monitoring data collected under this agreement will be used by NPS Inventory and Monitoring staff and Dr. Nicholas Fisichelli of Schoodic Institute to assess the overall condition of and factors affecting NPS vegetation communities and provide recommendations to park managers. For example, annual assessments of the condition of park vegetation can help park’s prioritize invasive species management, identify and adapt to newly emerging threats, and alter management practices as needed to promote healthy ecosystems. Schoodic Institute in cooperation with NPS IMD staff will perform analyses of the vegetation communities and environmental data to evaluate the roles of climate change, invasive exotic species, forest pests, and other stressors on vegetation health within eastern parks.

The resulting analyses will increase the public and scientific community’s knowledge of how a variety of local (e.g., deer browse, culverts) and regional (e.g., invasive species, climate change) stressors affect the condition of vegetation resources. This information is critical for evaluating current and future threats to regional vegetation structure, biodiversity, and other linked natural and cultural resources so that strategies can be developed to mitigate their impacts in the future. For example, scientific data is needed to understand and manage how the arrival of invasive forest pests, high deer browse, and invasive plant species are affecting the forests within our parks and local communities that not only provide refuge for species and are important to high water quality, but also contribute to the visitor experience as an integral component of many park’s cultural landscape.

Lead Principal Investigator: Nick Fisichelli, Schoodic Institute

Partner Institution: Schoodic Institute

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Dr. Jim Comiskey

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Biological (Ecology, Fish, Wildlife, Vegetation, T&E)

Start Year: 2018

End Year: 2023

Initial Funding Amount: $85,134.64

Federal Grant Number: P18AC01230

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 1, Year: 2019, Amount: $114,462.37
  • Amendment Number: 2, Year: 2020, Amount: $203,374.13
  • Amendment Number: 3, Year: 2020, Amount: $71,253.43
  • Amendment Number: 5, Year: 2022, Amount: $61,752.18

National Parks or Protected Areas:

  • Acadia National Park (NPS)
  • Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (NPS)
  • Booker T. Washington National Monument (NPS)
  • Colonial National Historical Park (NPS)
  • Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (NPS)
  • Gettysburg National Military (NPS)
  • George Washington Birthplace (NPS)
  • Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (NPS)
  • Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park (NPS)

State(s): Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia

Integrating Geospatial Capacity with Management and Operations in NPS Interior Region 1

Project Description: Develop core geospatial functionality and content for National Park Service (NPS) Interior Region 1 (IR1) parks and programs to support park operations & management, federal geospatial mandates, and contributions to Servicewide datasets for wide, public access.
Project Objectives:
1) Develop a) authoritative geospatial data for National Parks of IR1, b) web tools to create and steward the data, and c) related web applications for use in park operations, management, resource protection, and interpretation.
2) Enable NPS IR1 contributions to Servicewide datasets that, in turn, roll up to the Department of the Interior (DOI) geospatial datasets made widely accessible across the NPS, DOI, and distributed for public use.
3) Provide guidance and technical support of NPS IR1 staff in joint pursuit of objectives 1 and 2.

Lead Principal Investigator: Yeqiao Wang, University of Rhode Island

Partner Institution: University of Rhode Island

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: David Gadsby

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Discipline: Other: Multi-disciplinary

Start Year: 2020

End Year: 2024

Initial Funding Amount: $94,080.00

Federal Grant Number: P20AC00952

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2021, Amount: $101,080.00
  • Amendment Number: 02, Year: 2022, Amount: $121,080.00
  • Amendment Number: 03, Year: 2023, Amount: $136,080.00

Location: Northeastern national park units

Engage youth in climate resilience education and employment

Project Description: The goal of the agreement is to develop and run a graduate course and summer research fellowship program that provide the opportunity for City University of New York (CUNY) students to apply their skills gained in academic programs in sustainability and resilience to Gateway National Recreation Area’s (GATE) real-world research needs. Students will complete the course and a summer research project to gain work experience in urban natural and cultural resource management that helps GATE advance its public engagement and research goals. The agreement establishes a more formal link between CUNY academic programs, CUNY research institutes (Center for the Study of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay), and the NPS to help train the next generation of CUNY students to understand, engage with, and develop solutions to urban public resource management issues.

Students will complete a unique graduate course in research methods that focuses specifically on urban parks prior to a full-time, 8-week summer research internship at GATE. The internship will primarily consist of individual or team research projects chosen and supervised by CUNY faculty in partnership with GATE. Students will also engage in additional professional development such as specific trainings and networking opportunities with NYC-based researchers, city agencies, and public institutions. They will produce an appropriate research product and present it widely, providing a strong foundation for careers in publicly-engaged sustainability and resilience research and planning.

Lead Principal Investigator: Brett Branco, City University of New York

Partner Institution: City University of New York

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Suzanne McCarthy

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Biological (Ecology, Fish, Wildlife, Vegetation, T&E), Cultural and Historic, Urban and Built Environment

Start Year: 2021

End Year: 2022

Initial Funding Amount: $74,060.00

Federal Grant Number: P21AC11538

Location: Gateway National Recreation Area

National Park or Protected Area: Gateway (NPS)

State(s): New York

Landscape Preservation Student Training and Technical Assistance

Project Description: This project will allow the SUNY ESF Center for Cultural Landscape Preservation to provide technical landscape preservation planning assistance to National Park Service Region 1 parks, and to use that assistance to train future park planners and conservationists. This project will support SUNY ESF (Recipient) to maintain its cooperative relationship with the NPS Olmsted Center and support student participation in Olmsted Center work; to support development of digital modeling as a research tool; to manage a summer 2021 internship program; to provide technical assistance to Gettysburg National Military Park for management of its commemorative landscape and Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park for management of its historic landscape resources; to respond to parks’ requests for Section 106 review; to scope a project to create a methodology for inventorying landscape resources in the Erie Canalway NHC; to provide technical assistance at other Northeast Region parks where SUNY ESF has done research; and to disseminate findings.

Lead Principal Investigator: John Auwaerter, SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Partner Institution: SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Robert Page

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Discipline: Cultural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline: Cultural and Historic

Start Year: 2020

End Year: 2022

Initial Funding Amount: $80,000.00

Federal Grant Number: P20AC00968

Location: Northeastern national park units