IAN eNewsletter

Natural resource condition assessments for national battlefield parks
IAN worked with the National Park Service to develop natural resource condition assessments for three national battlefield parks. Habitats within Antietam, Monocacy, and Manassas National Battlefield Parks were defined as being either managed for natural resource values or managed for agricultural values. Habitat maps were created, and desired/degraded conditions were defined for each habitat. Metrics were then assigned to these habitat types compared to established thresholds, leading to the condition assessment for each habitat. Assessed habitats included forests, deer populations, bird diversity, wetlands and waterways, biological stream diversity, pastures, and grasslands.

NPS workshops on natural resource assessments and lessons learned
On January 27, IAN staff Bill Dennison, Tim Carruthers, and Jane Thomas met with natural resource staff from Antietam National Battlefield, Monocacy National Battlefield, and Manassas National Battlefield Park, along with staff from the Inventory & Monitoring Program of the National Park Service (NPS) National Capital Region Network. The workshop focused on the outcomes from the ongoing natural resources condition assessments for these three cultural resource parks. An outcome from the workshop was the production of two 'lessons learned' brochures, based on some overarching themes and results from the assessments. These brochures were presented at the NPS Water Resources Division meeting at Fort Collins, Colorado.

UMCES researchers attend biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Conference
IAN and UMCES researchers attended the biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation's conference in Daytona Beach, Florida in early November 2011. This international conference brings together all the diverse disciplines within coastal and estuarine science, such as geochemistry, physical oceanography, biological systems, management, and education. Several IAN researchers presented on their integrated assessments of Baltimore Harbor, National Park Service parks, and the Great Barrier Reef, as well as attended plenary and poster sessions.