Natural resources are not bound by park borders, and stressors to natural resources may be shared across parks and the landscape. Management across parks and at the landscape level is essential. RAMS provides a landscape level view of these resources and informs collaborative management.

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National Parks span multiple ecosystems, and threshold (target) conditions of natural resources indicators may vary by ecosystem. RAMS assesses indicator conditions across ecosystems. RAMS provides snapshot of Vital Signs conditions across ecosystems. RAMS transects illustrate indicators and variation among park ecosystems.

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RAMS, or Resource Assessments for Management Strategies, provides the next generation of Natural Resource Condition Assessments in the National Park Service National Capital Region. It uses Inventory and Monitoring data to assess natural resource conditions and inform management in the parks.

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These National Park Service Resource Briefs are the next iteration of Natural Resource Condition Assessments. They analyze and present the condition of important natural resources in 11 National Capital Region National Parks to guide local and regional management of these resources.

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The National Capital Parks–East (NACE) provides a natural haven for the urbanized Washington, D.C., area. NACE includes 14 major park areas that comprise more than 8,000 acres of the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Anne Arundel County, Maryland, through the eastern part of Washington, D.C., to Prince George’s and Charles counties, Maryland.

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SINCE ITS INCEPTION, the National Park Service (NPS) has been charged with preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the United States for future generations. It is only recently, however, that the NPS has fully embraced the need to understand and describe the ecology of parks. The infusion of an ecological perspective into the natural resource management of the national parks is what separates today's park management from much of that which preceded it (Sellars 1997).

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This poster series outlines the work of the National Capital Region Network's (NCRN) Inventory and Monitoring Program. The program's role is to monitor the status and trends of the parks, their vital signs and development pressures. Park vital signs monitoring is designed to inform managers of the condition of water, air, plants and animals, and the various ecological, biological, and physical processes that act on those resources.

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National Capital Parks-East includes 14 major sites covering over 8,000 acres within Washington, DC and three nearby counties in MD. The parks lie entirely within the Coastal Plain physiographic region and are managed for a variety of natural, cultural, and recreational resources.

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Environmental management is not practiced in a vacuum. Effective stewardship of natural resources requires the adoption of multiple objectives set forth by diverse groups of stakeholders with varied perspectives and interests. Within this management landscape, integrated environmental assessments provide a useful framework for evaluating resources and directing management efforts.

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This newsletter is the product of the May 2005 Vital Signs workshop, with participants from each of the 11 National Parks within the NCRN. The National Park Service (NPS) is implementing a series of programs designed to provide a stronger scientific basis for management actions. The Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program was initiated in 1990 to help fulfill this mission.

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