Pecos National Historical Park

Edward R.S. Canby

Jean McWhirt Pinkley

John Chivington

Kit Carson

View the recipients of the 2023 National Park Service Excellence in Interpretation Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the practice of interpretation and education by NPS employees.

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.

Both the Clean Air Act and the National Park Service Organic Act protect air resources in national parks. Park resources affected by air quality include scenery and vistas, vegetation, water, and wildlife. Over the past three decades, the National Park Service has developed several internal and cooperative programs for monitoring various measures of air quality.

Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.

Climate change may have direct and/or indirect effects on many elements of Southern Plains network ecosystems, from streams and grasslands to fires and birds.

Climate is one of many ecological indicators monitored by the National Park Service (NPS) Division of Inventory & Monitoring (I&M). Climate data help scientists to understand ecosystem processes and help to explain many of the patterns and trends observed in other natural-resource monitoring. In NPS units of the American Southwest, three I&M networks monitor climate using the scientific protocol described here.

Climate and hydrology shape ecosystems and the services they provide. The Southern Plains Network monitors climate and groundwater at Pecos National Historical Park to provide context for the condition of park resources. Long-term climate datasets are valuable for understanding how climate, water, and park resources are changing over time.

The Southern Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network monitors climate and water at Pecos National Historical Park as part of a larger monitoring program. This report summarizes Water Year 2022 climate and water data at the park. Mean annual maximum and minimum air temperatures were above the long-term average. Knowing how climate and water are changing over time allows us to understand changes in other natural resources on the park.