Barriers and opportunities for cooperative wetland management: a case study in the greater Rocky Mountain National Park ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan K. Tait ◽  
Mark W. Brunson
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Rocky Mountain National Park ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities

Barriers and Opportunities for Cooperative Wetland Management: A Case Study in the Greater Rocky Mountain National Park Ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan K. Tait ◽  
Mark W. Brunson
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Rocky Mountain National Park ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities ◽  
Surrounding Areas

Abstract The boundaries of most protected areas are not large enough to encompass natural processes such as hydrologic and ecological connections between wetlands and within watersheds. Therefore, management is likely to be improved by working across boundaries with multiple jurisdictions. This research explores barriers and opportunities for cross-boundary cooperation for wetland stewardship in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado, USA, and surrounding areas, using semi-structured interviews with staff members of government agencies, nonprofits, research organizations, and municipalities. Results show that wetlands outside of RMNP are experiencing similar cross-boundary disturbances to those within the park. Although participants recognize that working cooperatively with neighboring jurisdictions can decrease the effects of boundaries on wetland integrity, they also reported that the most significant cross-boundary challenge is working with others to exchange resources, develop a common goal, and implement projects cooperatively. We provide recommendations on how to address cooperative management challenges while taking advantage of opportunities to facilitate cross-boundary wetland stewardship at the ecosystem-scale.

The genetic legacy of more than a century of stocking trout: a case study in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 1565-1574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sierra M. Love Stowell ◽  
Christopher M. Kennedy ◽  
Stower C. Beals ◽  
Jessica L. Metcalf ◽  
Andrew P. Martin
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Rocky Mountain National Park ◽  
Oncorhynchus Clarkii ◽  
Continental Divide ◽  
Molecular Genetic Data ◽  
Northern Colorado

Human introductions can obscure the diversity and distribution of native biota; hybridization with and replacement by introduced congeners is a primary conservation threat, particularly in salmonids. Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) are an important component of biodiversity in the American West, and all recognized subspecies are targets for state and federal conservation efforts. Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) in northern Colorado is a microcosm of trout introductions that happened worldwide. We used a combination of extensive stocking records and molecular genetic data to ask whether native trout populations persist despite stocking and whether patterns in the distribution of cutthroat trout clades could be explained by source and intensity of stocking. Nearly 15 million cutthroat trout were stocked into RMNP from a mosaic of sources in the 20th century. A single lineage of cutthroat trout was historically native to each side of the Continental Divide in RMNP, but we detected at least five divergent clades of cutthroat trout in 34 localities on both sides of the Divide. The distribution of lineages was predicted by stocking pressure and source but not by which lineage was historically native. The future of mixed and non-native cutthroat trout populations in RMNP poses a substantial conservation challenge.

scholarly journals Assessment of High Resolution Air Temperature Fields at Rocky Mountain National Park by Combining Scarce Point Measurements with Elevation and Remote Sensing Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Antonio-Juan Collados-Lara ◽  
Steven R. Fassnacht ◽  
Eulogio Pardo-Igúzquiza ◽  
David Pulido-Velazquez
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
National Park ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Rocky Mountain National Park ◽  
Temperature Fields ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Validation Experiment

There is necessity of considering air temperature to simulate the hydrology and management within water resources systems. In many cases, a big issue is considering the scarcity of data due to poor accessibility and limited funds. This paper proposes a methodology to obtain high resolution air temperature fields by combining scarce point measurements with elevation data and land surface temperature (LST) data from remote sensing. The available station data (SNOTEL stations) are sparse at Rocky Mountain National Park, necessitating the inclusion of correlated and well-sampled variables to assess the spatial variability of air temperature. Different geostatistical approaches and weighted solutions thereof were employed to obtain air temperature fields. These estimates were compared with two relatively direct solutions, the LST (MODIS) and a lapse rate-based interpolation technique. The methodology was evaluated using data from different seasons. The performance of the techniques was assessed through a cross validation experiment. In both cases, the weighted kriging with external drift solution (considering LST and elevation) showed the best results, with a mean squared error of 3.7 and 3.6 °C2 for the application and validation, respectively.

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