Appalachian Trail Natural Heritage Monitoring
Appalachian Trail Natural Heritage Monitoring
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Appalachian Trail Natural Heritage Monitoring |
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Become an Environmental Monitor & help protect rare, threatened or endangered plant species!
Join us on Sunday, June 10th at the NY-NJ Trail Conference Office for a New Monitor Training Workshop.
For more information, or to register, contact Heidi Adami at (201) 512-9348 or volunteers@nynjtc.org
We are coordinating the New York and New Jersey regional portion of this National Park Service project along the Appalachian Trail corridor. Volunteers in this program are trained to monitor the status of rare plants and significant natural communities at known sites in the AT corridor. This is a long-term project (begun in 2002) designed to provide volunteer-collected data on known rare species occurrences in order to track their status over time.
Similar to trail maintainers, the AT natural heritage monitors visit the sites assigned to them at least twice per year. During each site visit, a monitoring form will be completed recording such information as the number of individuals seen, the number of plants in bloom, the vigor of the species in the community, and any noted threats to the species or community.
Based on this information, certain management actions may be recommneded, such as: relocation of the trail tread-way, control of exotic species, seasonal mowing and or weeding,use of signs or other interpretive measures, control of off-road vehicles, or education via the Ridge Runner Program.
Requirements: An interest in natural history and willingness to conduct self-directed surveys. In order to obtain long-term data, we are looking for people who can make a multi-year commitment to the project.
Time commitment: One full day training and then one or more visits to the survey site annually during the appropriate season. For some assigned plant species, there is a large window for monitoring lasting several months (e.g., woody shrubs and trees) while for others the survey season may be more restricted (spring ephemeral plants).
Monitors are provided with a survey packet containing maps, survey instructions, plant ID materials, and survey forms.
For additional information, contact Heidi Adami or (201) 512-9348.
| Roundleaf Juneberry, Amelanchier sanguinea | Photo credit: Larry Wheelock |
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