Research, Surveys & Monitoring

Research, Surveys & Monitoring

Managing biodiversity across natural areas

Habitat Assessment

With more than 80% of our Great Parks' total acreage set aside as natural areas, managing for the widest biodiversity is a challenge. To understand the various habitats and help us prioritize our resources, Great Parks embarked on an ambitious series of biological surveys to evaluate aquatic and terrestrial habitat. The surveys are based on using indicator species to tell us the relative health of each habitat. An indicator species is a plant or animal whose presence or absence in an area indicates certain environmental conditions.

Assessment sites are randomly selected in each of Great Parks' habitats, where we identify the species present and their abundance. We assign a measurable value to each site and rank them to identify those areas most needing protection or improvement. This process helps Great Parks provide habitat for various plants and animals.

Great Parks staff and volunteers have conducted vegetative cover mapping of most of the Great Parks to help determine the number of acres or percentages of each habitat type found in our parks. This information is helpful when determining the habitat type needed by various wildlife populations. Color-coded maps showing the different habitat types can be generated for each park.

Biological Stream Monitoring

Biological Stream Monitoring supplements water quality data by determining what aquatic invertebrates are found in a stream.

Since some invertebrates (small creatures without a backbone) are sensitive to pollutants and others are tolerant, different types are assigned point values corresponding to their pollution tolerance. A sensitive invertebrate, such as a mayfly nymph, is worth three points. A moderately tolerant type, such as a crayfish, is worth two points. A tolerant type, such as a sowbug, is worth one point. The total score of a given stream will indicate the water quality. Streams that support populations of various invertebrates from all three groups score highest and are therefore the best quality.

Aquatic Resource Monitoring

Every year, volunteers evaluate macroinvertebrate communities in streams across Great Parks. Macroinvertebrates are invertebrates that are large enough to see without a microscope. The presence of some macroinvertebrate groups, such as caddisflies and mayflies, can indicate good stream health, while the dominance of other macroinvertebrate groups, such as aquatic worms, can signify potential stream pollution.

Volunteers use the Pollution Tolerance Index (PTI) to generate a score for each stream, which can be used to track changes in stream health. Great Parks staff also evaluate primary headwater streams, which are tiny streams with watersheds of less than one square mile. Each stream's physical characteristics are assessed to produce a Headwater Habitat Evaluation Index (HHEI) score, which contributes to Great Parks' management decisions. Additional efforts are made to evaluate lake environments and stormwater issues.

Volunteer Now
a sand volleyball court in a park

Conduct Research at Great Parks

Great Parks has a long history of collaborating with researchers to conduct natural resource-related studies.

Application Guidelines:

  • All fields of the application are mandatory, if applicable, and must provide sufficient detail, or a review may be delayed.
  • Applicants will be notified of the status of their application within two weeksof submission and will be assigned a project contact at Great Parks.
  • Some activities may warrant additional levels of documentation and review (e.g., work in particularly sensitive areas, collection of vertebrates or endangered species, or use of heavy equipment).
  • If activities are approved, the researcher will be emailed a signed approval letter from the Great Parks Natural Resources team. This signed letter must be carried by the researcher as proof to Park Rangers that the necessary approval is granted.

If you have any other questions, please email [email protected] 

Apply to do Research
children on wet playground