Monitoring Plan
Introduction
The Monitoring Plan Toolbox provides guidance for developing monitoring plans that address both the social and biophysical elements of wilderness. It includes a process template, along with guides, checklists, examples, training resources, and references to support effective and efficient monitoring plan creation and implementation.
Why Monitor in Wilderness?
Monitoring is important for protecting wilderness character and safeguarding the benefits and values wilderness provides. It involves the systematic collection and evaluation of social and biophysical data to establish baselines, assess conditions, and identify changes and trends over time. The primary goals of monitoring in wilderness are:
- To identify and mitigate the biophysical and social impacts of human activities.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of management actions.
- To determine how well the requirements of the Wilderness Act, agency policies, and management objectives are being met.
A monitoring plan serves as a strategic framework, specifying the information needed and outlining how to efficiently and effectively collect it.
Developing a Monitoring Program
When creating a monitoring program, it is helpful to outline the program's essential components to maintain focus and avoid inefficiencies. Consider the following questions:
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Goals and Objectives:
- What are the goals and objectives for your area?
- What is the desired future condition for each component of the wilderness resource?
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Public Issues and Resource Concerns:
- What are the key public issues and resource concerns for the social and biophysical values of wilderness?
- How will these be identified?
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Indicators and Measurements:
- What can be measured? What are the indicators?
- Are the indicators measurable, meaningful, and repeatable?
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Scope and Scale:
- What level and type of monitoring is necessary?
- Should all sites or only specific areas (e.g., threatened sites) be monitored?
- Should all parameters be measured, or is mapping sufficient?
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Data Management:
- How will data be managed (e.g., downloaded, entered, stored, and mapped)?
- How will it be analyzed, used, reported, and interpreted?
Implementing the Monitoring Program
Once these questions are addressed, implementation can begin. Limited time, funding, and resources often make it challenging to establish even a minimal monitoring program. However, citizen wilderness stewards and volunteers can significantly support the program by collecting, processing, and analyzing data. While these contributions can be invaluable, wilderness managers must provide appropriate training, equipment, and supervision.
For more information on engaging volunteers and forming partnerships, see the Volunteers and Partners Toolbox.
Law and Policy
The Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act does not specifically require monitoring, but the need for monitoring is implicit in the law. Here are two excerpts from the Wilderness Act that support the need for monitoring in wilderness:
Section 2 (a) Purpose:
"For this purpose there is hereby established a National Wilderness Preservation System to be composed of federally owned areas designated by the Congress as "wilderness areas," and these shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character, and for the gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness;..."
Section 2 (c) Definition
"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.
An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which
(1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable;
(2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation;..." and
"(4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value."
Agency Policy
FWS
610 FW 2.28 How does the Service conduct inventory and monitoring activities in wilderness?
Long-term wilderness stewardship requires that we inventory and monitor wilderness character. Conditions prevailing within a wilderness area at the time of designation serve as a benchmark for the area's wilderness character.
A. We will not allow degradation of these conditions.
B. We should conduct baseline inventories for key wilderness resources and identify the nature, magnitude, and source of any threats that originate both within and outside the wilderness area. Baseline data also provide a frame of reference for the limits, thresholds, and indicators identified in the WSP that may trigger refuge management activities, including limiting public use.
C. Inventories also give us the information necessary to evaluate the effects of refuge management activities, refuge uses, and external threats on wilderness character. We will evaluate proposed inventory and monitoring protocols and activities in an MRA and document inventory and monitoring activities in the refuge's WSP.
610 FW 3 Wilderness Stewardship Plan Outline
VII. Monitoring. To determine if we are meeting our wilderness stewardship objectives and other refuge management objectives in wilderness, identify: monitoring requirements; associated protocols; partnership, funding, and staffing needs; indicators of change in resource conditions; standards for measuring that change; and desired conditions or thresholds that will trigger management actions to reduce or prevent impacts on the wilderness.
701 FW 2 Inventory and Monitoring of Populations
2.1 Purpose. This chapter provides guidance in planning a program to inventory flora and fauna at a Service unit, and to monitor the status and trends of key flora and fauna as they relate to management of Service units and Federal trust species.
2.2 Scope. These guidelines apply to all inventory and monitoring of plant, fish, and wildlife conducted by Service resource managers. They do not reference plant inventories beyond the scope of basic species lists, general distribution, and abundance; nor do they reference plant surveys in the context of habitat monitoring. They apply to survey schemes developed for a single service unit, as well as to comprehensive schemes for multiple units.
FS
FSM 2322.03 - Policy
2. The wilderness component of the forest plan shall include, as a minimum, the following:
c. Monitoring requirements for determining whether prescriptions, standards, and guidelines are met.
Definitions
Wilderness Monitoring
The systematic gathering, comparison, and evaluation of data for use in wilderness planning and management. It can include efforts to inventory current use and conditions and to compare current use and conditions with past inventories to determine natural or human-caused changes.
Monitoring Program
The type of use, impact, or experience to be monitored such as campsites, trail impacts, visitor use, and visitor encounters.
Indicators
Biophysical or social variables that can be measured to track changes in conditions, visitor use, and experiences. Indicators are the measures that determine a change in condition and identify trends. For example, an indicator for campsite condition might be "percent of bare soil." This is a variable that can be measured and tracked over time and can determine if a threshold or standard is exceeded. The measurable standard for this indicator might be "no more than 50% bare soil within any campsite."
Monitoring Method
The type or types of monitoring to be implemented. The types vary by information needed, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, visitor burden, and resources required. For example, campsites may be monitored using photo points, conditions class ratings, multi-parameter, or a hybrid that combines all or part of several methods. Some practitioners may use the term "monitoring systems" synonymously with "monitoring methods".
Protocols
The rules, procedures, and techniques used to implement all parts of your monitoring methods. They specify what is to be measured and how, and where and how often data will be collected. The protocols articulate clear, standardized definitions, and specific procedures for training the workforce in that data collection. For example a protocol for determining the "percent of bare soil" at a campsite would provide a definition of bare soil to address whether any vegetation could be present and also describe the specific techniques and equipment to be used for measuring the area and recording the data.
Processes and Programs
Information Needs Management
Information Planning
Templates
- Wilderness Threats Matrix
- Wilderness INA Worksheet
- Wilderness INA Costing Tool
- Wilderness INA Work Plan
Examples
- FS R1, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness
- FS R2, Cache la Poudre, Comanche Peak, Neota and Rawah Wilderness Areas
- FS R6, Eagle Cap Wilderness
- FS R10, Tebenekof Bay Wilderness
- FS R10, Tongass Project initiation letter
Training
Training Resources
- Visitor Use Management: Monitoring Visitor Impacts and Use E-course
An on-line training course that contains modules on Monitoring Plan Development and Trail Impact Monitoring.
References
- Watson, A. E., Cole, D. N., Turner, D. L., Reynolds, P. S. (2000). Wilderness Recreation Use Estimation: A Handbook of Methods and Systems. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-56