GEOLOGIC MAPS SUPPORT LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN NATIONAL PARKS IN THE EASTERN U.S

Digital geologic maps of national parks in the eastern U.S. are a GIS component of the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring and Resource Management Programs. Digital geologic maps are being used in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (WVA/MD/VA), Great Falls Park (VA), and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park (MD/WVA/VA), and are currently being produced for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (TN/NC), parks of the National Capital Region (Antietam, Monocacy, and Manassas National Battlefields, Catoctin Mountain Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Rock Creek Park, Prince William Forest Park and others), as well as for Shenandoah National Park, VA. Rather than digitizing existing bedrock geologic maps of these parks, we identify land management issues and collect new bedrock and surficial materials data that address these issues. The interaction and information transfer between the geologist, park staff, and GIS specialist, have resulted in geologic data being routinely incorporated in NPS GIS for land-resource-management decision making. Specific land resource applications include 1) delineation of critical habitats for rare and endangered plants, 2) assessment of hazards such as floods, rockfalls and landslides, 3) locating sources of aggregate and building stone for historical reconstruction, 4) environmental impact statements for construction, 5) inventory of cliffs, fossil localities, and caves, 6) landscape and land use characterization, and 7) defining ecological zones and conservation plans. In addition the digital geologic data are used for lay-person, interpretive programs to illustrate the landscape and earth history of the parks.