Checking Lava Beds' Vital Signs

Lava tube cave opening at Lava Beds National Monument. NPS/Sonya Daw

Klamath Network Science

National parks are the guardians of our unique American natural and cultural history. But perhaps more than ever before, parks exist in a rapidly changing landscape. Urban growth, replacement of native species by exotics, air and water pollution, increasing visitor use, frequent wildfires, and climate change all impact the natural web of life. This leads us to ask:

How healthy are our parks?

How are they changing?

To answer these questions, the National Park Service created the Inventory and Monitoring Program, which is implemented at 32 networks of parks across the nation. In 2010 at Lava Beds and nearby parks, the Klamath Network began monitoring selected natural resources, called “vital signs,” that serve as indicators of park condition. We visit the same sampling sites over time to track the condition of each of these vital signs in order to help park managers make science-based management decisions.

What Do We Monitor at Lava Beds National Monument?

Birds

Birds delight us with song and beauty, but also with scientific data! Easily detected, they are good indicators of ecological health because they respond quickly to environmental change. They spread seed and pollen across the land, contributing to the cycle of life. With the Klamath Bird Observatory, we monitor landbird communities in the monument. One common sight is the western meadowlark, whose melodious, piercing song rings out across grassy openings in the monument. Our bird monitoring tracks the distribution and health of park birds and adds to regional landbird projects, like the Avian Knowledge Network Northwest.

During the breeding season, we survey birds to determine

the variety of species present

• the relative abundance of each species in the park

Learn more and find recent publications:

Big sagebrush community. NPS/David Hays

Plants and Early Detection of Invasive Species

Perched in the high desert at the edge of the Great Basin, Lava Beds National Monument plant communities range from sagebrush steppe in the lower elevations, to juniper and mountain mahogany woodlands higher up, to pine forests at the highest elevations. One common high desert plant is big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Sagebrush creates islands of fertility and shade in the soil below its branches that help other species establish. Deer, antelope, and jackrabbits depend on sagebrush for winter food and birds use it for cover. But disturbances, like larger and more frequent fires associated with climate change, disproportionately affect species like the big sagebrush that don’t recover quickly after fire. Indeed, much of the monument’s sagebrush cover has been lost to recent fires. To track vegetation community health, we monitor plant abundance and variety. We also track woody debris conditions because heavy debris buildup can fuel hotter, larger, and longer-burning fires.

A sea of invasive tumble mustard. NPS/David Hays

Tumble mustard (Sisymbrium altissimum) and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) are nonnative species— plants that evolved in a different place—that occur in the monument and spread rapidly after fire. Because nonnatives can outcompete native plants, monopolize water, and change the soil, we survey park roads and trails, where nonnatives most commonly occur, to inform possible management action.

Some resources we measure:

cover and diversity of native plants

cover and diversity of nonnative plants

regeneration, by tree seedling counts

mortality, by counting dead trees

fuel availability, by measuring woody debris and litter and duff depths

• live tree characteristics, like volume (basal area), canopy health, and height

Learn more and find recent publications:

Townsend's big-eared bats. NPS/David Hays

Caves

Numerous and diverse lava tube caves lie just below the surface of Lava Beds National Monument. The caves offer a stark contrast to the sunny, high desert conditions above ground. Bears visit to drink from cool cave pool water. Winter brings hibernating Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii). Cold-loving grylloblattids (cricket-like invertebrates) and millipedes roam the cave surfaces. And ferns (in the desert!) grow in the cool, moist climate at cave entrances.

Fragile fern (Cystopteris fragilis). NPS/David Hays

In some caves, air flow patterns supercool the cave rocks to well below freezing close to year-round. Any groundwater present in these areas freezes solid, creating delicate ice structures.

We monitor cave resources and their potential stressors, like human visitation, to help protect this unique ecosystem.

Some resources we measure:

cave temperature

cave ice surface area and level

cave entrance vegetation, including lichen, moss, and ferns

hibernating bats during the winter

scat and other organic matter

cave invertebrates

• amount of human visitation

Learn more and find recent publications:

More Information and Vital Sign Publications

Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network

Download a printable pdf of this article.

Prepared by Sonya Daw and the Klamath Network staff.

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