A new decision support tool for collaborative adaptive vegetation management in northern Great Plains national parks

• Published in: Parks stewardship forum 2020-09, Vol.36 (3), p.510-518
• Main Authors: Ashton, Isabel, Symstad, Amy, Baldwin, Heather, van der Burg, Max Post, Bekedam, Steven, Borgman, Erin, Haar, Milton, Hogan, Terri, Rockwood, Stephanie, Swanson, Daniel J., Thomson, Carmen, Wienk, Cody
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal diseases; Badlands; Collaboration; Decision making; Decision support systems; Ecological monitoring; Extreme weather; Flowers & plants; Forbs; Grasses; Introduced species; Invasive plants; National parks; NEW PERSPECTIVES; Parks & recreation areas; Plant diseases; Prairies; Prescribed fire; Vegetation; Weather; Woodlands
• ISSN: 2688-187X; 2688-187X
• DOI: 10.5070/P536349865

National Park Service (NPS) units in the northern Great Plains (NGP) were established to preserve and interpret the history of America, protect and showcase unusual geology and paleontology, and provide a home for vanishing large wildlife. A unifying feature among these national parks, monuments, and historic sites is mixed-grass prairie, which not only provides background scenery but is the very foundation of many park missions. As recognition of the prairie’s importance to park fundamental resources and values has grown, so too has the realization that invasive plants threaten these values by reducing native species diversity, altering food webs, and marring the visitor experience. Parks manage invasive species despite uncertainties in treatment effectiveness because management cannot wait for research to provide definitive answers. Under these circumstances, adaptive management (AM) is an appropriate approach. In the NGP, we formed a collaborative adaptive vegetation management team to apply AM towards reducing invasive species (with a focus on exotic annual grasses) and improving native vegetation conditions. In our AM framework, the team uses a Bayesian model built from NPS Inventory & Monitoring and Fire Effects monitoring data and experimental results to predict the effects of management actions on park management units, according to those units’ vegetation condition and management history. These predictions inform management decisions, which are then applied. Vegetation monitoring data are collected and used to update model parameters, and we apply what we learned from our actions to management planning the following year. We explain how this science-based approach to decision making improves vegetation management over current practices and discuss the challenges we face in its implementation and sustainability.