www.npca.org/stateoftheparks

George Wright Society 2009

Threats To Water Resources Across National Park System Units

Gail Dethloff, Ph.D.Megan Lowery

Center for State of the Parks®

NPCA• Founded in 1919

• A private, non-profit, non-partisan organization, independent of both the National Park Service and the Federal Government

• Advocates for the health and preservation of the National Park System

CANY – NPCA

Center for State of the Parks®

• State of the Parks® program initiated in 2000

• Goal is developing a complete, comprehensive, and informed understanding of natural and cultural resource conditions in our national parks

• First assessment completed in 2002

• Center’s role expanding to include research aimed at better understanding system-wide conditions

OLYM – NPCA

• Comprehensive, peer-reviewed methodologies developed for both cultural and natural resource assessments

• Methodologies standardized to provide consistent, reproducible frameworks for examining and scoring resource conditions

• Also allow identification of information gaps

Methodologies

LAVO – NPCA

Metrics for Water Resources• Acid deposition

• Algae

• Alkalinity

• Benthic Index

• Chlorophyll a

• Climate Change

• Diatoms

• Discharge/Drainage

• Dissolved Gases

• Diversion

• Drawdown

• Flow

• Metals

• Nutrients

• Organic Matter

• Organic Wastes

• pH

• Plankton

• Recharge

• Salinity

• Sedimentation

• Submerged Macrophytes

• Temperature

• Turbidity

• Xenobiotics

CSOTP researchers gather information and assign a score to a metric indicating level of impairment of the resource.

• 3 - No net loss• 2 - Limited/contained/restored loss, degradation or alteration• 1 - Pronounced/widespread loss, degradation or alteration• 0 - Complete and irreparable loss• IND - Insufficient data available• NA - Not relevant

Data are often available only for a limited number of waterways in a park.Ratings are assigned using best professional judgment based on the evidence available. They are point-in-time assignments.

Rating Guidelines

Data from 54 parks (insert map)

Diversion• Dams,

impoundments, pipelines

• Upstream water users

• Historic canals, raceways, ditches

• Land development

• Decreases in water quantity and quality; alterations to the hydrologic cycle

BIBE – NPS

Organic Wastes• Grazing animals

• Improperly maintained or aging septic systems

• Municipal sewage treatment plants

• Visitor use

• Sewage contamination and possible presence of disease-causing organisms. Nuisance algal blooms, impaired system health

CHIS – NOAA

Sediments• Logging

• Increased urbanization

• Past & present agricultural and ranching practices

• Altered deposition patterns

• Increased turbidity, increased streambed instability, smothering of benthos, loss of habitat

INDU - NPS

Metals• Long-range

atmospheric deposition

• Dumping into and concentration of industrial pollutants in major waterbodies

• Non-point sources

• Impairment of biological processes at multiple levels of organization

CABR – NPS

Nutrients• Atmospheric deposition

• Agricultural practices both inside and outside parks

• Wastewater

• Nonpoint sources

• Increased turbidity and algal growth (eutrophication), elevated temperatures, and decreased oxygen and flows.

CA Desert Parks – NPCA

Acid Deposition• Coal-fired power plants

• Assessed parks at highest risk – eastern US, industrialized areas

• Track pH and alkalinity (buffering capacity) to forecast impacts

• Alteration of chemical cycles, metal and Al bioavailability, habitat loss, shifts in species composition and declines in diversity

GRSM – R. Weisser

Themes• Limit development or just

be isolated (and big)

• No one is safe, but it’s good to have your headwaters

• Air and water quality are linked

• Stakeholders and water law complicate matters

• Resource extraction or use is often not kind to water quality - and effects linger

LACL – NPCA

Themes (2)• Management can

mitigate some impacts

• Educate boaters, and visitors in general

• Cultural and natural resources can conflict (historic uses such as grazing, historic structures, canals, etc.)

• Changes in water resources can contribute to invasive species issues

FOPU - NPS

Data Issues• Basic water chemistry

data (DO, T, alkalinity) unavailable (25-30%)

• Timeliness, quality, consistency of data available

• Across parks assessed, found wide range in terms of data available

• Data on biota were frequently not available

Benthic Organisms

Data Issues (2)• Recharge data are

critical for understanding and projecting water quantity - no information on recharge found at approximately 60% of parks assessed

• Over 40% of assessed parks did not have information on climate change

GRBA – NPCA

NPS Ongoing Efforts• Vital Signs water

quality monitoring efforts

• Baseline water quality Level 1 inventories conducted through I&M networks

• Coastal Watershed Assessments

• Natural Resource Condition Assessments

• Service-wide database, “Waterbody Designated Uses and Impairments” from state assessments

CANY - NPS

Acknowledgements• NPS Park, I&M, and WRD staff for their contributions

to these assessments

• CSOTP researchers for their analysis and synthesis

• CSOTP staff for their questions and contributions

PORE – NPCA