Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Riparian Vegetation Structure and Composition of Wadeable Streams Monitoring for the Northern Colorado Plateau Network: 2008-2021 – Data Package

Metadata Updated: October 23, 2025

Because of the scarcity of water on the Colorado Plateau and their disproportionately high use by flora and fauna, riparian areas have been identified as an ecosystem of concern for Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) parks. Riparian ecosystems are potentially sensitive indicators of landscape-level change because they are linked to both aquatic and upland systems, perform important ecological functions, and are biologically diverse. Riparian systems face a number of anthropogenic threats, including stream-flow damming or diversion, channel-stabilization structures, invasive exotic species, livestock grazing, timber harvesting, agricultural clearing, groundwater pumping, and trail creation. These disturbances can alter watershed conditions and directly or indirectly influence downstream riparian ecosystems.

In the Northern Colorado Plateau Network, riparian monitoring of wadeable streams occurs in the streams of four parks: Courthouse Wash in Arches National Park, Armstrong Canyon in Natural Bridges National Monument, the Fremont River in Capitol Reef National Park, and the East Fork Virgin River in Zion National Park. This data package pertains to the vital sign riparian vegetation structure and composition. The goal for monitoring this vital sign is to determine long-term trends in vegetation dynamics in the context of changes in other ecological drivers, stressors, and processes. Above-ground structures of riparian plants modify the physical environment by shading and depositing litter, strongly affecting spatial and temporal patterns of soil-resource availability to other organisms. The data herein includes vegetation and surface cover, tree seedling counts, diameter and counts of overstory trees, canopy closure, and frequency of exotic species.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 23, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI NPS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 23, 2025
Publisher National Park Service
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/nps-datastore-2305934
Data First Published 2024-10-02T00:00:00Z
Data Last Modified 2024-10-02T00:00:00Z
Category Data Package
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:24
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/nps-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 79a565ac-3d4e-4a5d-9a54-a50342a00110
Harvest Source Id d917c1a9-26b7-43ea-b8c5-c77ec750a850
Harvest Source Title DOI NPS DCAT-US
Homepage URL https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2305934
Old Spatial -113.2283,37.1413,-109.4777,38.8469
Program Code 010:119, 010:118
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash bd3cdc4a64055d5ff558da0793777cc75aec51232e0ae7ebf243383ab843480b
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -113.2283, 37.1413, -113.2283, 38.8469, -109.4777, 38.8469, -109.4777, 37.1413, -113.2283, 37.1413}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.