Long Term Ecological Monitoring Program on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: An FIA adjunct inventory

Abstract

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (KENWR) has a legislative mandate "to conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity". To improve our understanding of spatial and temporal variation at the landscape level, we are developing the Long Term Ecological Monitoring Program (LTEMP) to assess change in biota on the sample frame used by the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA). Through a formal agreement with the FIA, we completed our baseline inventory of 259 permanent terrestrial plots systematically distributed at 5-km intervals across the 805,000-ha KENWR in 2004 and 2006. In addition to the forested vegetation sampled by the FIA, we sampled vascular and nonvascular plants on non-forested plots, and breeding landbirds, arthropods, and noise on all plots. All sampling methods are passive, nondestructive (to habitat), relatively inexpensive, and require ≤ 2 visits to a plot in a given sampling year. To date, we have recorded 647 species including one insect family and five insect species new to Alaska, two new sedges for KENWR, and a range expansion for Hammond's flycatcher. In collaboration with the FIA, we plan to resample 20% of plots every other year over a 10-year monitoring window. However, implementation of the monitoring phase was delayed as we complete species identification, develop novel ways of estimating species-specific detection probabilities, evaluate statistical power to detect change, and consider modifications to the proposed rotating panel design. Our approach provides a statistically-rigorous framework for landscape monitoring and modeling, yet maintains a great deal of design flexibility. Integration with the FIA ensures that LTEMP is cost effective, and the collocation of floral and faunal sampling permits additional species-habitat modeling and other explanatory spatial modeling. We believe LTEMP can serve as a template for agencies that are developing long-term monitoring programs of biodiversity at the landscape level.

Parent Publication

• Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008; October 21-23, 2008; Park City, UT

Citation

John M. Morton, Bowser, Matthew; Berg, Edward; Magness, Dawn; Eskelin, Todd. 2009. Long Term Ecological Monitoring Program on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: An FIA adjunct inventory. In: McWilliams, Will; Moisen, Gretchen; Czaplewski, Ray, comps. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008; October 21-23, 2008; Park City, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-56CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 17 p.