Examples of Federal Agency Programs that USA-NPN could help support
NPS I&M Program: NPS Inventory and Monitoring Networks in the arid southwest
(Sonoran, Mojave, and Chihuahuan Deserts) and the Great Northern LCC (Rocky
Mountains and high steppe deserts) identified landscape scale, RS-based phenological
monitoring as a high priority for enhanced monitoring to address climate change. The
NPN can help coordinate development and application of RS-based phenological
monitoring, and more importantly, help coordinate and manage ground-based
observations that will be crucial for validating imagery used to estimate phenology.
(JOHN GROSS can elaborate).
Methods, data standards, and the informatics infrastructure developed by NPN now
makes it cost-effective and possible for NPS I&M Networks and park-based staff to
implement monitoring activities that build from and leverage NPN observations. Without
the broader set of observations from the NPN databases, there will typically be too few
observations, from a too-small area, to draw meaningful conclusions from only parkbased observations. (JOHN GROSS can elaborate)
US FWS: US FWS is designing a monitoring program that will facilitate condition-based
management of refuges and allow evaluation of trends in the condition of resources.
Many refuges provide key seasonal resources, such as migration stopovers and forage at
very specific times of the year (Contributed by John Gross; KEVIN KILCULLEN &
JOHN GROSS can elaborate).
US FWS: If wildlife managers are expected to help species adapt to climate change, then
we need to know where they are, how they are doing and, importantly, when they start to
move (in the sense of a species' distribution) and where they are going (same sense). At
the moment, when it comes to climate change and species level effects, we are flying
blind--or at least partially blind. Existing population monitoring programs (e.g., BBS,
BBC, waterfowl surveys) were not designed to detect shifts in distribution outside
historical ranges (i.e., virtually all population monitoring programs only look where the
species has been know to occur). Fortuitously, because it is a national level program,
BBS is capable of detecting some level of species range shifts, but not at very fine scale
or very great precision. New national programs like NPN could help remedy these gaps.
(Contributed by Mark Shaffer, National Climate Policy Advisor, FWS; KEVIN
KILCULLEN & PATTY GLICK can elaborate).
DOI USGS: DOI Climate Science Centers must establish and maintain climate measures
relevant to DOI trust species and landscapes. Phenology is perhaps the best place to start
in assembling long-term climate measures that are scalable from the
organism/community to the landscape/protected area to the region to the nation, etc.
(Contributed by Woody Turner; JAKE WELTZIN & JULIO BETANCOURT can
elaborate).
DOI LCC’s: Phenological monitoring and assessment could be a cross-cutting theme
across the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (Contributed by Bill Hargrove; JAKE
WELTZIN & JOHN GROSS can elaborate).
NASA Earth Science Program: NASA ESP is working to develop satellite-derived
phenology products. Phenology may someday become an “essential climate variable” for
long-term monitoring. But we need the species data to bring to bear with the satellite
imagery. There is no convenient means to assemble these critical datasets without
something like NPN. NASA could go out and establish its own phenology cal/val
program but I believe it would be less extensive, less capable, less inclusive, and less
accurate than what NPN has underway (WOODY TURNER & GEOFF HENEBRY can
elaborate)
NOAA: Climate services assessment, monitoring, attribution, and observations will all
be supported by phenology data. NOAA linkages between weather, climate, and
ecosystems is a major area of interest, especially in relating drought and water resources
management (Contributed by Tim Owen: TIM OWEN & CARRIE ENQUIST CAN
ELABORATE)
USDA FS: As a cost-cutting measure, Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) has announced
that they will discontinue making all P3 measurements on national FIA plots. The P3
measurements are the most recently added, ecosystem relevant measurements. Currently,
the FIA plots and measurements are the principal source of information about our nation's
forests. They are used to prepare the RPA report on the state of the forest resources
every 5 years. FIA plot measurements are extremely costly and labor intensive. The plots
are randomly placed, and their exact locations are kept secret, even from general FS
employees. There is concern about how Forest Service can monitor the state of forests in
a cost-effective way. Phenological monitoring and the NPN present opportunities to
leverage the value of FIA (Contributed by Bill Hargrove)
With fire and insects restarting the clock for many Western forests, changing climate is
often pointed to as THE driver. However, we don’t (I don’t think) have the
corresponding phenological data to link these changes to climate in a more direct (and
also acceptable by the general public) manner (Contributed by Woody Turner: JULIO
BETANCOURT can elaborate)
USDA-NRCS: NRCS accesses an Applied Climate Information System for
agriculture...the climate perspectives information could be strengthened with phenology
information (Contributed by Tim Owen: TIM & JOE RUSSO can elaborate).
USDA Conservation Reserve Program: Phenological monitoring of CRP lands could
be one element of a structured monitoring program. Broader-scale monitoring by NPN
would support more local remote-sensing-based monitoring of CRP lands. Results can
help evaluate the condition of CRP lands, and in some cases may contribute to
compliance monitoring. (CRP is under a lot of pressure from Congress to set up
monitoring for compliance, which has both a condition and a compliance element (e.g.,
the land is not being used for crops, no non-conforming structures, etc) (JOHN GROSS
can elaborate).
NSF: The scientific study of phenology measures to support instrumented and
paleoclimate records is a critical and growing area of inquiry (Contributed by Tim Owen:
DAVID INOUYE, MARK SCHWARTZ & JULIO BETANCOURT can elaborate).
For ecologists, the scale of our observational studies often is limited by timing and
manpower. For seasonal events like flowering or first arrival, it is impossible to observe
or sample everywhere at the same time. In time, the USA-NPN could revolutionize how
we do research. Just imagine a hypothesis that could be tested by a one-to-two year,
interstate field campaign involving dozens to hundreds of loyal USA-NPN observers
(Contributed by Julio Betancourt; JULIO BETANCOURT, BRIAN WEE, AND DAVID
INOUYE can elaborate).
NEON Inc.- NEON has committed itself to measuring ecosystems across NEON regions,
as well as within them, to form a truly national network. Phenology is perhaps the best
integrator for comparing across NEON’s 20+ regions to achieve a national-level product
(Contributed by Woody Turner: BRIAN WEE & DAVE MOORE can answer)
Related Monitoring Networks: As the USA-NPN grows, we anticipate researchers
wanting to link and overlay phenological observations on other metrics, such as
population abundance or plant-animal interactions like pollination. There will be
increasing demand for co-location of related observations (Contributed by Julio
Betancourt; JULIO BETANCOURT, BRIAN WEE, AND DAVID INOUYE can
elaborate).