Federal Partner: National Park Service

Document, Evaluate, and Prescribe Treatment, Defense of Rose Ridge and Houck’s Ridge Cultural Landscape, Gettysburg National Military Park

Project Description: This project will provide Gettysburg National Military Park with the research, written and graphic documentation, and resource management prescriptions to support the preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation of the historic Rose Ridge-Houck’s Ridge cultural landscape within the Gettysburg Battlefield. The project will document the historic development of the cultural landscape occupied by the Rose, Warfield, and Snyder farms during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, encompassing approximately 400 acres. It will also document the existing conditions of the landscape, including current park uses and resource values; analyze and evaluate the cultural landscape, including an inventory of landscape features that identifies those that are historically significant and those that are not; and provide recommendations for the future management of the cultural landscape that address enhancement of the landscape’s historic character and improvement of its contemporary use and natural resources.

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

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniel Cronan, 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: 2022

End Year: 2024

Initial Funding Amount: $128,500.00

Federal Grant Number: P22AC01897

Location: Gettysburg National Military Park

National Park or Protected Area: Gettysburg National Military (NPS)

State(s): Pennsylvania

Development of a Web-based System to Geoenable NER Parks and Programs

Project Description: Faculty, students, and staff at URI will work jointly with NPS staff to research and design a web-mapping platform and applications, compliant with emerging NPS standards and policy, that are both sustainable and useful in the land management context typical of NER sites. This research focuses on the practical efficacy and policy implications of using emerging technology to address resource management objectives, particularly for sites that are small, staff-limited, remote, or all of these. The cooperator’s research on the design of analytical and communication tools that utilize geospatial content and operate in a distributed web-based environment informs their development of experimental techniques addressing the types of resource management issues occurring on many public lands. In this case, selected NER park “real world conditions” provide (1) input to the design criteria and (2) validation sites at which to test both hypotheses and functional components of their designs.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Peter August, University of Rhode Island

Partner Institution: University of Rhode Island

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Dennis Skidds

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Other: Technology

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2018

Initial Funding Amount: $35,000.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC01618

Amendments

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

Assessment of Natural Resource Conditions for Martin Van Buren National Historic Site

Project Description: The purpose of this project is to conduct a natural resource condition assessment for Martin van Buren National Historic Site. Condition assessments document the state-of-knowledge and known conditions of natural resources using science-based, quantitative metrics. Assessments also identify threats to resource condition and identify gaps in natural resource information. This project addresses public purpose in accordance with the promotion, facilitation, and/ or improvement of the public’s understanding of natural, cultural, historic, recreational and other aspects of areas such as ecological conservation areas, and state and local parks. In addition, the scientific community and/ or researchers external to NPS gains by new knowledge provided through research and related results dissemination of natural, cultural and/ or historical resource information.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. James Gibbs, 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: Tammy Cook

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2020

Initial Funding Amount: $50,011.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC01578

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2019, Amount: $0.00
  • Amendment Number: 02, Year: 2020, Amount: $-321.59

United States Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB) Assistance

Project Description: The Recipient will involve students in capacity building, educational outreach and data acquisition for the UNESCO Biospheres in the United States including the re-designation of the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Resource, and UNESCO Biosphere youth Forum. The public purpose is to promote the public’s stewardship and management of US Biosphere Reserves, especially youth living in or involved with Biosphere operations. The project promotes the education and training of a new generation of natural resources scientist manages and planners who will extend the benefits of natural and cultural resources stewardship to a greater, diverse audience.

Lead Principal Investigator: Paul Hai, 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: Jonathan Putnam

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2022

Initial Funding Amount: $30,444.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC01557

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2019, Amount: $0.00
  • Amendment Number: 02, Year: 2020, Amount: $0.00

Ethnography: Ethnographic Overview and Assessment for Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota- MORU

Project Description: This project proposes to collect historical and contemporary accounts from Native American Indian Tribes and traditionally associated peoples that will elucidate their historic and contemporary relationship to and values and beliefs about Mt. Rushmore Historic National Park (MORU). The project will also seek to identify, map and describe land features within the MORU park region that hold cultural significance for Native American tribes, park neighbors and residents who are traditionally associated with the park. This research will result in a description of the historical and physical environmental features, and a description of the belief systems (Wolcott 2010) associated with Mount Rushmore as a dominant feature of the Black Hills. Findings will assist resource managers in the identification of sensitive areas and significant landscape features, enhancing their ability to describe and publicly present those features from the perspective of Native American tribes and traditionally associated groups.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Elizabeth Brabec, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Matthew Hill,

Partner Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Michael Evans

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Cultural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic

Start Year: 2015

End Year: 2019

Initial Funding Amount: $89,927.00

Federal Grant Number: P15AC01108

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 001, Year: 2016, Amount: $102,194.00
  • Amendment Number: 002, Year: 2018, Amount: $0.00

National Park or Protected Area: Mount Rushmore (NPS)

State(s): South Dakota

Evaluation of Dune and Beach Restoration and Resilience at Selected Sites in the Mid-Atlantic Region

Project Description: Changes in coastal topographical landforms vary both spatially and temporally. Understanding these variations is key to early recognition of interaction of change, restoration trajectories, and management policies affecting natural and cultural resources in coastal parks and refuges. An understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of geomorphological change is vital to optimal management of any coastal park, refuge or habitat because the interface of marine and land systems: 1) is highly dynamic and driven by multiple forcing mechanisms, 2) results in alterations to resource dynamics at habitat and ecosystem levels, and 3) can eventually result in the loss of static resources.

Rutgers University will conduct geomorphological monitoring, data collection, data processing, data analysis, and reporting at New York, New Jersey, and Delaware beaches that have had beach nourishment in the post-Sandy period for the purpose of evaluating the efficacy of beach nourishment to meet project objectives and provide ecosystem resilience. Results of this project will contribute to improved stewardship by partner agencies (NPS, USFWS, and New Jersey Audubon) and other federal, state, and private conservation land management agencies; provide a regional evaluation of beach nourishment a management tool for resilience; and provide an increased understanding of ecological resilience; and contribute to improved scientific understanding of beach and dune geomorphological change.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Norbert Psuty, Rutgers University

Partner Institution: Rutgers University

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Patricia Rafferty

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2022

Initial Funding Amount: $966,642.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC01486

Location: Riis Beach (Gateway National Recreation Area, NY); Pierce’s Point, Reed’s Beach, and Moore’s Beach (NJ); Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge (US Fish and Wildlife Service, DE)

Inventory and Monitor Endangered Archeological sites at Great Island and Great Beach Hill, Cape Cod National Seashore, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Project Description: This project involves conducting a remote sensing survey and limited excavations at the locations of several known archeological sites, including the site of a tavern dating to 1690, and other multi-component sites dating from the Late Woodland prehistoric period through the mid-18th century British colonial occupation of the area. Several of the sites are already identified as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and have the potential for yielding important archeological information about the lives of the earliest settlers of Cape Cod, their lifeways, their economies, and cultural intersections. It is expected that other previously unidentified sites are still left to be discovered. The results of this project will provide critical information about these sites. The archeological investigations will include detailed background research into the history of the project areas and history of previous archeological investigations. Following this, the project will include a remote sensing survey of the project areas, including the locations of known sites and surrounding areas. Archeological shovel test pit (STP) excavation, complimented by test auguring to access deeply buried deposits will then occur in areas identified during the remote sensing survey. Funds will also be used to catalog artifacts and write a detailed final report on the archeological investigation.

Lead Principal Investigator: Stephen Mrozowski, University of Massachusetts Boston

Partner Institution: University of Massachusetts Boston

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: James Nyman

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Cultural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2020

Initial Funding Amount: $79,988.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC01329

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2019, Amount: $0.00

Location: Cape Cod National Seashore, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Forest Bee – Plant Network Assessment at Great Lakes (GLKN) Parks MWRO

Project Description: Bee pollinators are essential for maintaining ecosystems, because nearly 90% of plant species are animal pollinated. The habitat associations and management needs of most North American bees are poorly known. The focus of pollinator restoration efforts to date has been almost entirely in restoring open meadow-type habitats with plants that bloom in the summer. Forest provides a phenologically distinct resource/habitat that is critical (a) for the many bee species that are on the wing as adults only in the spring, and (b) for long-season species like bumblebees that use forest resources to support key portions of their life cycle. There are no known published studies that determine what forest plants are most essential to forest bee species, nor the impacts of deer density to bee communities. The objective of this work is to study pollinator and plant associations in forested ecosystems in Great Lakes parks; and understand how various forest dynamics may influence bee communities.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Rachael Winfree, Rutgers University

Partner Institution: Rutgers University

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Carmen Thomson

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

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

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2021

Initial Funding Amount: $98,992.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC01093

Geophysical Survey of Fossil Trackways and Lake Formations

Project Description: For this project a geophysical survey will be conducted to locate and record covered fossil trackways and lakeshore features. This is an initial survey to test the capabilities of geophysical equipment and gather data and images for public sharing and resource management and protection. The survey will take place within the western half of the monument at a highly concentrated track site. A test survey was conducted in April 2017 for a two meter by two-meter area that successfully allowed buried prints to be detected. The information gathered from this project will provide the knowledge to conduct an extensive survey in the future of the western shorelines of Monument. The information from this survey will provide new media for public interpretation and understating. From this survey, GIS layers will be created and a final report on the significance of the unique characteristics that from these type of fossil prints. The associated analyses, models, and supportive maps will provide important baseline information about the nature of geological conditions that formed and preserve this incredible fossil track site.

Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Sturt Manning, Cornell University

Partner Institution: Cornell University

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: David Bustos

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2019

Initial Funding Amount: $30,122.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC00762

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2019, Amount: $0.00

National Park or Protected Area: White Sands (NPS)

Water quality analysis of estuarine and freshwater water samples

Project Description: CCS will analyze water samples collected by Cape Cod National Seashore natural resource management staff for nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) and elemental constituents and anions. This project will be conducted through close collaboration among the CCS investigators and National Park Service scientists and managers at Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO). CACO kettle ponds and estuaries are not only outstanding natural resources, but also popular recreational resources for park visitors. Monitoring water quality and changes to the physical, chemical, and biological features of these systems of a primary function of the Cape Cod Ecosystem Monitoring Program. In addition, several estuaries, including Herring River and East Harbor, have artificial tidal restrictions that have led to water quality and habitat degradation. The water quality monitoring programs provide critical information about the condition of CACOs water resources and aquatic habitats.

Lead Principal Investigator: Amy Costa, Center for Coastal Studies

Partner Institution: Center for Coastal Studies

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Federal Agency Technical Contact: Sophia Fox

Project Type: Research

Project Discipline: Natural Resources

Project Sub-Discipline(s): Natural Hazards & Environmental Quality (NRDA)

Start Year: 2017

End Year: 2022

Initial Funding Amount: $20,000.00

Federal Grant Number: P17AC00670

Amendments

  • Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2018, Amount: $51,538.00
  • Amendment Number: 02, Year: 2019, Amount: $22,512.00
  • Amendment Number: 03, Year: 2020, Amount: $40,550.00
  • Amendment Number: 04, Year: 2021, Amount: $6,000.00

Location: Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO)