Bird community monitoring at New River Gorge National River, Gauley River National Recreation Area, and Bluestone National Scenic River, 1997 - 2018

Birds are prominent features of National Park Service lands and are effective indicators for monitoring ecosystem health. Assessing the temporal change of avian species abundance depends on long-term monitoring of bird communities and trends, however long-term monitoring programs are generally uncommon. In this report, we summarize 22 years (1997-2018) of point count data across five sites on West Virginia National Park Service lands (three in New River Gorge National River, one in Gauley River National Recreation Area, and one in Bluestone National Scenic River) and compare these results to our analysis of Breeding Bird Survey data for the same time period across all of West Virginia. The objectives of this analysis are two-fold: 1) describe the biotic integrity of the National Park Service lands in West Virginia and 2) Quantify trends in guilds and species abundance. During the 20-year period of this survey, 85 breeding resident species were detected. The West Virginia National Park Service lands are home to stable populations of Wood Thrush and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, both species of continental concern by Partners in Flight. Seven species have declined precipitously on NPS lands during this time period. Three of these species are also experiencing declines across the rest of West Virginia (Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Carolina Chickadee, Kentucky Warbler), but the other 4 species are stable across West Virginia (Acadian Flycatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler, Northern Parula, Swainson’s Warbler). Four species that are declining across West Virginia (Great Crested Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Red-eyed Vireo, and Worm-eating Warbler) are stable on southern West Virginia NPS lands. Additionally, the upper-canopy foraging guild of species has decreased significantly on NPS lands in southern West Virginia. An analysis of community biotic integrity revealed that the southern West Virginia NPS lands have been stable at a rating of high biotic integrity every year for the duration of this survey. Future research should delve into the underlying factors that may be driving the trends in abundance at different scales.

Pathways and Structures: Evaluating Systems Changes in an NSF INCLUDES Alliance

In this article, we reflect on our experience applying a framework for evaluating systems change to an evaluation of a statewide West Virginia alliance funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve the early persistence of rural, first-generation, and other underrepresented minority science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students in their programs of study. We begin with a description of the project and then discuss the two pillars around which we have built our evaluation of this project. Next, we present the challenge we confronted (despite the utility of our two pillars) in identifying and analyzing systems change, as well as the literature we consulted as we considered how to address this difficulty. Finally, we describe the framework we applied and examine how it helped us and where we still faced quandaries. Ultimately, this reflection serves two key purposes: 1) to consider a few of the challenges of measuring changes in systems and 2) to discuss our experience applying one framework to address these issues.

Feeling, Seeing, and Thinking

What has been learned through science is that the human body is not a separate part of the environment. Indeed, both organic and non-organic energies are exchanged in every instant of life. As the spectrum of electromagnetic energies used in virtual media devices has expanded, there are increasingly vast amounts of non-organic energies bombarding living matter, and there are consequences of this bombardment being paid by those whose bodies are more sensitive to these energies. Electromagnetic frequency (EMF) sensitivity has brought hundreds of people to rural Green Bank, West Virginia. This chapter follows the journey of one such individual, who has engaged her body, mind, and heart to reclaim her life through engaging in physical and mental grounding, rewiring her brain, and achieving mind-heart entrainment. Further, the authors suggest that with the easement of pain, her time-sharpened and expanded senses appear to have contributed to positive engagement with subtle energies.