Integrated Upland Monitoring Protocol for the Southern Colorado Plateau Network

The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. Vegetation composition and structure, soil stability, and upland hydrologic function were selected as core vital signs for long-term monitoring within the Southern Colorado Plateau Network (SCPN).The network will monitor vegetation and soils within predominant upland vegetation types across most SCPN parks. The integrated upland monitoring protocol consists of a narrative, 14 Standard Operating Procedures and 6 appendices. The narrative portion of the protocol describes the rationale for monitoring upland vegetation and soils, establishes specific monitoring objectives, and provides an overview of the monitoring efforts. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) provide detailed descriptions of all activities related to vegetation and soils monitoring. Monitoring methods outlined in this protocol apply to the full range of targeted upland vegetation types occurring within SCPN parks, from semi-arid grasslands and shrub steppe at lower elevations, through pinyon-juniper woodlands at mid-elevations, to montane forests and meadows at higher elevations.