Comparing metrics of forest health between national parks and surrounding forestlands using data collected by the Northeast Temperate Network and the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program

Background/Question/Methods

The Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) has been monitoring forest health annually in Acadia National Park, and biennially in 9 additional parks in New England, New York, and New Jersey since 2006. The NETN forest monitoring program uses a protocol based on the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, which has been monitoring forest resources in the eastern US since the 1930s. In the 1990s, the FIA program went through a major revision, and this included the addition of a Forest Health Monitoring component to a subset of plots. The newly revised FIA protocol was implemented in 2000.

By using similar methods as FIA, we can examine regional trends with the larger FIA dataset, and compare NETN park forests with the surrounding matrix of forestlands. We developed an MS Access database that contains the publicly available fuzzed, swapped FIA plot data, and calculates metrics of forest cover, land ownership, and forest health. For comparisons with NETN parks, we calculated metrics from FIA plots in the same Ecological Subsection as each NETN park. Where FIA methods were compatible, we calculated and rated the ecological integrity metrics that were developed for the NETN forest monitoring program.

Results/Conclusions

Parks vary in the extent of forest in surrounding lands, with the highest proportion of forest around parks in New England. Forestlands surrounding NETN parks are largely under private ownership and in timber production, whereas forests in NETN parks are primarily protected from timber production. The difference in management regimes has resulted in forests in NETN parks that are distinct from the surrounding matrix of forestlands. The proportion of plots in late successional forest is higher in every park, and the proportion of plots in mature forest is higher in most NETN parks than surrounding forestlands. Indicators of older forest structure, such as coarse woody debris and large snags, are more abundant in many NETN parks than the surrounding matrix of more intensively managed forests. Tree growth and mortality rates also vary between NETN parks and surrounding forestlands. Despite their small size, forests in NETN parks may represent islands of regionally significant habitat in a sea of human development and more intensively managed forests.