Ecological Monitoring

Welcome to the homepage for the Pima County Ecological Monitoring Program (EMP).  This webpage is a portal to provide update and links for the program’s activities, tools, and products.   

What is monitoring?

In essence, monitoring is the repeated measurement of the same attribute over time to determine its status and trend.  In other words, monitoring allows us to periodically answer questions like:  How many do we have? Where are they located? Are they increasing, decreasing, or not changing?  In recent decades ecological monitoring has grown in importance as policy makers and the general public demand more accurate information on the status and trends of a wide range of natural resources, from air quality to wildlife populations, from entire ecosystems to individual species. 

Pima County Ecological Monitoring Program Goal

The primary goal for the next phase in the development of the Pima County’s Ecological Monitoring Program is to identify a set of indicators that can determine if the biological goal of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan is being achieved and to provide information to managers to help them take more informed management actions.  That is a challenging assignment, particularly given the need to monitor threatened and endangered (T&E) species, which tend to be difficult to find and therefore expensive to monitor.  Therefore, the program will be designed to monitor some T&E species, but also many of the habitat components that they and other species need for survival.  These broader structural and functional ecosystem “indicators” include vegetation, water resources (quantity and quality), and land cover. 
The program is just now in the design phase, and when implemented will mark a new chapter in land stewardship in the Sonoran Desert. 

Desert Trends Newsletter

April 2008

January 2008

Reports

Habitat Mitigation in the Pima County Multiple Species Conservation Plan

Changes in Pima County’s Land Cover, 1992-2001

MULTIPLE SPECIES CONSERVATION PLAN MONITORING PROGRAM

Aquifer Monitoring For Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems, Pima County, Arizona

Canoa Photo Monitoring Report

Review Of Monitoring In Southern Arizona: Lessons for the Development of the Pima County Ecological Monitoring Program

Ecological Effectiveness Monitoring Plan for Pima County: Phase 1

 

Biological Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes