GOALS:

1. Improve management decision-making on park resource preservation concerns that are primarily local or regional in nature.
   
2. Increase our basic understanding of ecological dynamics in the taiga and tundra ecosystems of the Subarctic Biogeographic Association in interior Alaska.
   
3. Enhance national and global monitoring networks by representing a naturally-functioning and intact subarctic site.
   

HISTORY:

• In 1992, the National Park Service (NPS) began to develop prototype long-term ecological monitoring (LTEM) programs in selected parks representing major biogeographic regions within the United States.
  
• Denali National Park and Preserve , Alaska, was selected as one of the first four parks in the prototype program. Denali was chosen as the testing ground for the Subarctic Biogeographic Association, in which most of the National Parks in Alaska are found.
  
• The National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey, working as partners, are developing the Denali LTEM program. Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and ornithologists with two nonprofit organizations, the Alaska Bird Observatory and the Institute for Bird Populations, are also involved.

WHAT WE ARE MONITORING:

weather	air quality	glaciers
water quality	stream macroinvertebrates	soils
vegetation	bird populations	mammal populations

NETWORKS:

One goal of the Denali Long-term Ecological Monitoring program is to participate in broader-scale monitoring networks. By participating in these networks, we improve our understanding of where Denali fits into the "big picture." We also contribute to the "big picture." Denali sites and data are currently included in the following monitoring networks:

Air Quality

• National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NAPD)
• Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE)
• National Park Service Gaseous Pollutant Monitoring Network (ozone)

WATERSHED APPROACH:

The original design of the Denali LTEM program centered on a watershed approach. Currently, much of the monitoring effort is deployed in the Rock Creek Watershed, located near park headquarters. The linking of intensive studies for a mix of abiotic and biotic attributes within a watershed is expected to yield information about ecosystem relationships, a primary goal of the Denali LTEM program.

For more information on the watershed approach, see the article by Thorsteinson and Taylor (1997)

STRATEGIC PLAN:
The Strategic Plan provides an overview of the Denali LTEM program,
and plans for its continued development.

The current focus of the development program concerns improvement
of linkages between the monitoring program and park management
decision-making, broadening the geographic scope of the LTEM program,
and improving data management and reporting.

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For further information about the Denali Long-term Ecological Monitoring Program, contact:

Gordon Olson Natural Resource Manager Denali National Park & Preserve P.O. Box 9 Denali Park, AK 99577 907-786-2294 907-683-9639 fax gordon_olson@nps.gov

or

Karen Oakley USGS, Alaska Science Center - Biological Science Office 1011 E. Tudor Rd. Anchorage, AK 99503 907-786-3579 907-786-3636 fax karen_oakley@usgs.gov