Monitoring Forest Vegetation in the North Coast and Cascades Network 2009 Annual Report

This report presents initial results from monitoring of forest vegetation in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) as part of the Inventory and Monitoring Program of the National Park Service (NPS). The program focuses on "vital signs," which are defined as "a relatively small set of information-rich attributes that are used to track the overall condition or "health" of park natural resources and to provide early warning of situations that require intervention" (Fancy et al. 2009). Monitoring is being implemented throughout the National Park System; for this purpose, 270 park units have been organized by ecoregion into 32 networks (Fancy et al. 2009).