Project Descriptions
Fire Island National Seashore
This page lists ten (10) projects that NPS Science Liaisons have identified as priority science topics for the SCIP project. Applicants will be asked to identify their top 2 projects of interest to them for their sci-comm products. Fellows will be able to learn more about their selected projects and work with the Science Liaisons during the Fellowship.
- Communicating rapid environmental change in ponds and lakes of Cape Cod National Seashore
- Conserve and Restore Coastal Marsh Systems in Northeast Parks
- Educating stakeholders about the intersection of off-road vehicle operation, protected species recovery, and resource protection
- Engaging local communities to support forest resiliency through white-tailed deer management in Northeast Region NPS units
- Forest restoration preserves iconic historical landscapes by planting the next generation of climate-adapted trees
- Forest restoration protects stream health where insects are impacting park forests
- Proactive awareness of and education on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) at Acadia National Park
- Reverse Seagrass Meadow Decline: Identify Heat-Tolerant Variants, Seed Sources and Outplanting Sites
- Rising Waters: Managing Floodplains in the Northeast in an Uncertain Future
- Telling the connected stories of National Natural Landmarks (NNL)
Project Title: Communicating rapid environmental change in ponds and lakes of Cape Cod National Seashore
Park Unit/s: CACO
Abstract: Cape Cod National Seashore manages dozens of unique lakes and ponds that have experienced rapid chemical and biological changes related to climate and warming, atmospheric pollution, and cultural eutrophication. To integrate our long-term scientific analysis into resource management decisions and resource stewardship, we seek to develop data visualization communication products.
Keywords: Freshwater, climate, warming, acid rain, lakes
Description: Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO) lakes and ponds are fundamental to the park. Although NPS provides some resource protection, they are susceptible to climate change, atmospheric change, recreational uses, and local development. Scientific analyses of long-term water quality data by CACO staff have revealed significant and rapid changes in the parks freshwaters over recent decades, resulting in several peer-reviewed publications (Smith et al. 2016, 2018a, 2018b), with another manuscript in preparation.
The importance of studying these threats has been recognized, but relatively less effort has been put toward the inaccessibility of the science for relevant audiences. We seek to create crucial communication tools to make complex data and scientific results accessible to a variety of audiences and applicable to management. With a set of carefully developed data visualization products, we can provide an environment where managers, educators, and the public can through scientific data and gain insight from the stories that emerge. These visualizations will be used by CACO NRMS staff to inform NPS managers, town officials, partner organizations, local residents and students, and visitors about recent scientific results, as well as the importance of their role in pond stewardship in the face of a changing environment.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: Non-Government Organizations, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience:
Non-government Organizations – Municipalities and local organizations have expressed grave concern for the freshwater resources in the park. With analyses of CACOs 50-yr long-term data record, we are able to educate our co-managers about the resource changes related to climate and atmospheric changes, and how managing local impacts can improve the outcomes for our freshwater resources.
Park visitors – park staff have many opportunities and venues to inform and educate the public on our freshwater resources, and how local and global threats affect the Cape Cod lakes and ponds. These tools will amplify the messages and promote stewardship of these critical and unique resources.
Website/URL: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2241033
Project Title: Conserve and Restore Coastal Marsh Systems in Northeast Parks
Park Unit/s: ACAD, BOHA, CACO, FIIS, GATE, HATU, GEWA, ASIS, and COLO
Abstract: The National Park Service is conserving and restoring salt marsh ecosystems and managing for projected future conditions. Marsh restoration, marsh migration planning and other science-based actions, informed by predictive models of marsh condition and lifespan, are being implemented across nine Northeast parks to increase their resilience to climate change impacts.
Keywords: salt marsh, restoration, resilience, climate change, marsh migration
Description: Salt marshes provide essential ecological and socio-economic services – protecting coastal resources and communities from flooding, erosion, and storm surge while also sequestering carbon at over 40 times the rate of terrestrial forested ecosystems, providing habitat for imperiled wildlife and 75% of coastal fishery species, and providing myriad other environmental, cultural and intrinsic values. However, anthropogenic impacts have resulted in the loss of more than half of the original salt marsh habitat in the U.S. and much of the remaining coastal marshes are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, with a predicted loss of 83% of existing coastal marshes in mid-Atlantic states by 2100.
We are collaborating with other agencies, universities and NGOs to assess marsh conditions (existing and projected), implement and monitor restoration efforts, model site-specific marsh migration pathways, develop tools and strategies for adaptive management, and provide guidance for selecting appropriate management options. This project will be a transformative effort to reduce climate change vulnerabilities and enhance resilience of these ecosystems and park resources. Development of a range of management options will ensure that managers have the tools they need to identify and implement optimal, science-based strategies to support practical adaptation decisions tailored to a variety of situations.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: Community organizations, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience:
Community organizations: Increase local community and school involvement in monitoring (e.g., water quality, avian habitat use, photo stations) and management (e.g., planting) at project parks.
Park Visitors: Help visitors to better understand the importance of coastal marshes, threats, and what the park is doing to address those threats and enhance resilience to climate change (e.g., restoration efforts or facilitated marsh migration).
Website/URL: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVTxS3kud19RhSwEgBtp0Db9w1rt8efuc,%20https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/45e76a3be57f483d853f7f5042529267
Project Title: Educating stakeholders about the intersection of off-road vehicle operation, protected species recovery, and resource protection
Park Unit/s: Fire Island National Seashore
Abstract: NPS Off-Road Vehicle permits enable essential access to Fire Island communities. Upcoming changes to the ORV program, a rapidly growing piping plover population, extreme storms, and sea level rise are likely to drive conflict between park management and stakeholders. Communication tools would be developed to reduce conflicts and encourage compliance with resource protection measures.
Keywords: Protected species, climate change, off road vehicles, sea level rise, extreme weather
Description: FIIS is at the forefront of the recovery of the ESA-listed piping plover. In recent years the population has exploded, leading to increased restrictions on uses of park areas to visitors, residents, and other FIIS stakeholders. FIIS is also at the end of the process of updating our off-road vehicle management regulation, which permits driving over NPS lands to support essential community access. FIIS is planning for implementation beginning January 2026. Recent extreme storms, likely to be more frequent due to climate change, have added complexity to ORV-management, causing areas to become impassible or otherwise closed to protect sensitive habitats. Well-managed ORV use results in minimal resource impacts, but drivers who do not follow rules can damage resources while increasing the operational burden (e.g. enforcement, monitoring, assessing damages) on park staff. These conflicts increase as storms, sea level rise, and resource closures restrict driving areas. Quality, proactive communication with stakeholders on the science and policy behind the management decisions that impact ORV permit holders, communities, and visitors is critical to successful management of multiple park programs. Through this project, effective communication tools would be developed to reduce conflicts between protecting park resources and visitor and stakeholder park use.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: Community organizations, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience:
Community organizations – clear communication with Fire Island communities, including their community associations, elected leaders, ORV permit holders, and residents about the resource protection requirements of the ORV and threatened and endangered species programs to encourage compliance with restrictions and reduce operational burden on staff.
Park visitor – enhanced communication with visitors about recovery of protected species within FIIS and how the recent increases in restrictions on visitor use areas contributes to recovery of these species, and how they can help!
Website/URL: https://www.nps.gov/fiis/planyourvisit/off-road-vehicle-management-proposed-regulation-update.htm
Project Title: Engaging local communities to support forest resiliency through white-tailed deer management in Northeast Region NPS units
Park Unit/s: WEPA parks (ALPO, JOFL, FLNI, FONE, FRHI)
Abstract: Resilient forest management in eastern NPS units must include responsible deer management to reduce impacts from overabundant herbivores and achieve sustainable levels of native forest regeneration. Local community organizations could be important partners for building stakeholder support and involvement in deer management actions at parks in western Pennsylvania.
Keywords: Resilient forests, deer, vegetation management, community engagement, stakeholders
Description: Forests are a fundamental landscape habitat of eastern parks. These ecosystems are facing many stressors, with overabundant white-tailed deer populations being one of the most impactful. High deer densities diminish forest resilience, which is the ability of an ecosystem to experience disturbance and rebound to similar functions, structure, and composition. In particular, overabundant deer impair or eliminate tree regeneration, which can lead to forest loss and replacement by thickets of invasive shrubs. To address this threat to forests in northeastern national park units, the NPS has developed the Resilient Forests Initiative (RFI), which aims to restore the regeneration potential of forests via a combination of deer management, invasive species control and native forest restoration. The NPS desires to engage with local community organizations and park visitors to build support for deer management and forest restoration and involve them in the RFI. This project would be aimed at communicating the science supporting deer management to visitors to Western Pennsylvania parks and local community organizations in the area, to encourage input, support and assistance with the planning and implementation of deer management in the parks. This will also strengthen engagement of local communities with their neighboring parks.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: Community organizations, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience: For both audiences, we want to increase awareness of the forest regeneration debt in western Pennsylvania NPS units, the stewardship we are implementing to reverse this regeneration deficit, and build support for managing deer in the parks.
Website/URL: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/eastern-parks-reduce-herds-to-benefit-forests-deer-and-people.htm
Project Title: Forest restoration preserves iconic historical landscapes by planting the next generation of climate-adapted trees
Park Unit/s: GETT, HOFU, VAFO (possibly other New England parks like MIMA)
Abstract: Resilient forest management is protecting iconic historical landscapes in eastern national parks such as Gettysburg National Military Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park, and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. Park forests provide the landscape setting for the interpreting the important moments in American history that these parks protect. Treating invasive plants and planting climate-adapted native trees will ensure that these forests persist for the next generation of visitors.
Keywords: resilient forests, forest restoration, invasive plants, American history
Description: See the links below for project background. Lots of fodder to pull from:
o Resilient Forest Initiative web article series
https://www.nps.gov/articles/series.htm?id=B9C6B751-A7E3-F246-5628389A0B80A4F7
o BIL-funded RFI work in Appalachia web article
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/nps-resilient-forest-initiative-restores-forest-ecosystems-in-appalachian-national-parks.htm
o Park Science article on RFI
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/eastern-parks-reduce-herds-to-benefit-forests-deer-and-people.htm
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: NPS regional program park and staff, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience:
Within NPS — share the objectives and approaches of these projects to: 1) communicate to leadership that this important work should continue to be funded, and 2) communicate to other NPS practitioners the actions we are taking to protect park forests.
Outside NPS — we would like to share stories from the Resilient Forest Initiative to communicate to partners, other agencies, and the public that we are stewarding park resources to be more resilient in a changing world.
Website/URL: N/A
Project Title: Forest restoration protects stream health where insects are impacting park forests
Park Unit/s: DEWA, MORR
Abstract: Resilient forest management in eastern national parks also benefits stream health. Hemlock forest restoration in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area will improve visitor experience surrounding iconic waterfalls, as well as protect over 13 miles of coldwater stream habitat critical for native brook trout. In Morristown National Historical Park, we will restore forests that are threatened by beech leaf disease by removing invasive shrubs and planting a diversity of climate-adapted and pest-resistant trees along Primrose Brook, a high-quality stream in New Jersey.
Keywords: resilient forests, stream health, forest restoration, invasive insects,
Description: See the links below for project background. Lots of fodder to pull from:
o Resilient Forest Initiative web article series
https://www.nps.gov/articles/series.htm?id=B9C6B751-A7E3-F246-5628389A0B80A4F7
o BIL-funded RFI work in Appalachia web article
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/nps-resilient-forest-initiative-restores-forest-ecosystems-in-appalachian-national-parks.htm
o Park Science article on RFI
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/eastern-parks-reduce-herds-to-benefit-forests-deer-and-people.htm
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: NPS leadership, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience:
Within NPS, share the objectives and approaches for these projects to communicate to leadership that this important work should continue to be funded, and to communicate to NPS practitioners the actions we are taking.
Outside NPS, we would like to share stories from the Resilient Forest Initiative to communicate to partners, other agencies, and the public that we are stewarding park resources to be more resilient in a changing world.
Website/URL: N/A
Topic: Vulnerability Assessments and Planning
Project Title: Proactive awareness of and education on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) at Acadia National Park
Park Unit/s: Acadia National Park
Abstract: ACAD staff and collaborators have identified HABs as a high priority vulnerability to lake water quality (RSS, 2023). Park biologists implemented early cyanobacteria detection methods and researchers have developed a risk assessment scorecard for future HAB formation in all Acadia lakes to provide public awareness and educational outreach.
Keywords: cyanobacteria, harmful algal blooms, lakes, water quality, climate change
Description: Although there have been no reported HABs in ACAD lakes, blooms are on the increase in the local region of Maine and park staff are prioritizing research and outreach activities to better understand the water quality/chemistry conditions that lead to HABs and develop an early warning system to anticipate these events and and prepare appropriate management responses. We continue to participate in the NPS-USGS National HABs monitoring efforts and have recently received the final report from Dr. Rachel Fowlers “HABs On The Horizon projected (funded through the Second Century Science initiative) that contains a robust framework of management recommendations and outreach strategies. Local and statewide organizations like the Lake Stewards of Maine also have both monitoring and educational programs.
We would like to build on these preliminary efforts and develop a comprehensive communication strategy that would target both park visitors and local residents to enhance stewardship of these vulnerable resources and provide health and safety information in a timely and effective manner if/when a toxic bloom occurs.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience: To enhance stewardship of these vulnerable lake resources and provide health and safety information in a timely and effective manner if/when a toxic bloom occurs.
Website/URL: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/habs.htm
Project Title: Reverse Seagrass Meadow Decline: Identify Heat-Tolerant Variants, Seed Sources and Outplanting Sites
Park Unit/s: Cape Cod, Fire Island, Assateague Island, Cape Hatteras, and Cape Lookout National Seashores, as well as Boston Harbor Islands NRA and Acadia NP
Abstract: The National Park Service is developing scientific information through field studies to support resilience decisions to halt declining seagrass trajectories across 7 coastal parks from ME to NC. This effort will identify optimal areas for seagrass recovery and genetically appropriate populations to serve as seed sources for future restoration.
Keywords: Native plant species restoration and rehabilitation, seagrass, habitat conservation, climate resilience
Description: Seagrass meadows are a valuable and biodiverse habitat that serves as nurseries for commercially important fish, reduces coastal erosion, improves water clarity, and captures carbon. Eelgrass (Zostera marina), the main seagrass species in the northeast and Mid-Atlantic, is declining at an alarming rate. Parks along the East Coast have lost thousands of acres since the 1990s and rising temperatures may drive it to extinction in many places. The NPS is embarking on an effort to build climate resilience into eelgrass meadows and buffer them against future loss through the application of innovative approaches adapted from coral, oyster, and terrestrial restorations. This effort will leverage recommendations from a recent multi-institutional workgroup to move eelgrass seeds from resilient populations to restoration sites (i.e., “assisted gene flow”), and evaluate their success using pilot restoration techniques. Specifically, NPS will mobilize seven academic institutions to 1. identify potential seed sources through genomic surveys of eelgrass meadows across the region, 2. test the suitability of seed sources through field studies in parks, and 3. identify target locations for future restoration and rehabilitation through habitat suitability modeling. These methods yield the best chance to halt or even reverse seagrass decline, and the benefits of the project will extend beyond target meadows as these resilient populations spread into adjacent waters in the coming decades.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: NPS leadership, Other government agencies
Objectives for Selected Audience:
NPS leadership “ Increase NPS leadership awareness and knowledge of seagrasses in general, their status and trends in parks and management opportunities to effectively preserve and restore seagrass habitat.
Other government agencies. Inform other government agencies of project goals/objectives to garner support and collaboration.
Website/URL: N/A
Topic: Vulnerability Assessments and Planning
Project Title: Rising Waters: Managing Floodplains in the Northeast in an Uncertain Future
Park Unit/s: tbd
Abstract: This project will identify flooding risk data and tools for assessing current and future riverine flooding hazards within parks. Three park case studies with varying river sizes and flooding risk data availability will demonstrate how these datasets and tools can inform management decisions, such as facility siting and resource protection.
Keywords: Flood risk, riverine, climate adaptation, science-informed planning
Description: Floods adversely affect infrastructure, threaten cultural and natural resources, and compromise visitor safety, yet many parks remain ill-equipped to assess and mitigate flood risks. Climate change is also impacting flood frequency and magnitude; parks need to incorporate climate change into planning but need guidance and technical assistance to do so. The purpose of this project is to improve science-informed management of NPS assets threatened by hydrologic hazards through the development and deployment of a Hydrologic Hazard Portal applicable to parks throughout the Northeast Region. The project improves availability and actionability of comprehensive, landscape-scale tools and data to support planning and decision-making for parks, and to enhance the management of cultural and natural resources and facilities. The scope of this project will consider all relevant park units in the NER for an initial needs assessment and a small subset of parks for case-study analysis. DO 7-22 and its classification criteria for proposed actions in floodplains will provide the management framework for this project and will be coupled with existing datasets, models, and decision support tools relating to historic and current hydrologic conditions, and future climate change scenarios. The focus will be on hydrologic hazards of extreme quantity (e.g., floods and droughts).
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: NPS regional program park and staff, Community organizations
Objectives for Selected Audience:
NPS park staff – Demonstrate approaches to enhance flood risk assessment with limited resources under current and potential future climate conditions. Parks beyond the case study parks are able to implement the tools for a variety of management applications.
Community organizations, including local government agencies – Provide cost effective methods to evaluate flood risk with limited resources under current and potential future climate conditions. Share best practices with outside groups who will independently expand the scope of the initiatives beyond park borders.
Website/URL: N/A
Project Title: Telling the connected stories of National Natural Landmarks (NNL)
Park Unit/s: Numerous National Natural Landmarks; potentially also NPS units and other designated areas.
Abstract: Develop science communication product(s) that relay the impactful, connected stories of National Natural Landmarks to provide the NPS and NNL owners/managers with more robust educational materials that deliver the broader context and significance of designated sites. Project is scalable from the Glacial Lake Passaic story to other, larger regional stories.
Keywords: national natural landmark, natural heritage, educational tool, shared stories
Description: National Natural Landmarks Program (NNLP) staff are always looking for ways to better tell the broader, connected stories of designated NNLs. Many individual sites relate to a common natural history theme, feature or event, for which there is a bigger, more impactful science story to tell. A large-scale example is the 8 NNLs along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, for which work on an educational booklet is underway. Here in the Northeast, a smaller scale example is the 4 NNLs (and 2 park units) that are connected through the common story of ancient Glacial Lake Passaic and the prehistoric Passaic River. Connecting individual NNLs through these larger ecological and geological stories provides the NPS/NNLP and NNL site managers and owners with robust educational tools that give visitors/the public an understanding of the broader context and significance of the individual sites.
An added key factor is that the modern-day appearance of some NNL sites does not outwardly demonstrate the natural history theme, feature or event it represents. Educational and interpretive materials are needed to explain and illustrate the significance and science of such NNLs. For instance, Moggy Hollow may just look like any deep, wooded depression in the landscape without an understanding that it served at one time as an outlet for ancient Glacial Lake Passaic. As did the more readily apparent Great Falls of Paterson-Garret Mountain NNL/Paterson Great Falls NHP.
Tying NNL sites together through common stories, like that of Glacial Lake Passaic gives them greater meaning both individually and especially collectively. The resulting product will be used by the NNL Program, individual NNL sites, and potentially involved NPS units and other designated areas. It fulfills a goal of the NNL Program to increase public understanding and appreciation for the countrys natural heritage. It would further 2017 NNLP Strategic Plan goals 3-5, which relate to NRSS pillars Enhancing Stewardship and Science Access and Engagement and Leveraging for Conservation at Scale.
The project could be scaled up if more funding/SCiP time is available, as there are other NNL groupings with potential stories to be told like the Connecticut River Valley (~8 NNLs), Appalachian Mountains/Trail (7 NNLs within APPA, 32 within the AT corridor), or Northeasts glacial history (~33 NNLs). Additionally, shared management issues and challenges or research across NNLs (sea level rise, forest pests/resilience, invasives) or incorporating indigenous knowledge and origin stories. Determining the best format for such a product would be part of the project; whether digital (story map for example), printed text with illustrations booklet or infographic, or both. A few examples of previous common science story products attached.
Highest Priority Audience for Sci-comm Products: Non-Government Organizations, Park visitors
Objectives for Selected Audience:
Owners and managers of NNL sites (mix of govt agencies, non-govt and community orgs, academic partners, and tribal communities) — Provide a tool for owners and managers to use in relaying the significance and broader context of their sites and to generate increased support for conservation.
Foster/enhance connection and partnership among NNL sites that share a common natural history, management, cultural or other story.
Visitors to NNLs — Increased public understanding of and appreciation for the individual and connected stories told by NNLs, and our nations natural heritage.
Website/URL: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nnlandmarks/index.htm
Deer Herd Management at Valley Forge