
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 9, 1990                   TAG: 9004090157
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LURAY                                LENGTH: Medium

TECH SETTING UP PARK'S ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORS

Virginia Tech is helping Shenandoah National Park establish a monitoring program to identify environmental damage to its woods and streams, which increasingly are threatened by development, gypsy moth infestation and pollution.

"National parks are islands of habitats as areas around them become developed," said Rick Potts, a natural resource specialist at Shenandoah National Park.

Shenandoah has little or no buffer zone against development and thus faces a greater danger than most national parks, Potts said. The 200-acre park runs along the Blue Ridge Mountains from Front Royal to Afton and is only 75 miles from Washington, D.C.

Shenandoah started three years ago to set up a comprehensive monitoring system to gauge man's impact on the fragile environment. Potts said that the $600,000 system, backed with computers and a detailed plan done under contract by Tech, will be fully operational by the end of the summer.

While other national parks monitor their environments, Potts said Shenandoah and Channel Islands National Park in California are the only ones that have a comprehensive systems.

At Shenandoah, the most serious concerns are changes caused by acid rain, global warming and the gypsy moth.

The gypsy moth, which defoliated 43,000 acres of the park last year in its relentless migration southward, is considered a man-made problem because it was brought to this country by traders early in the century.

The system will collect information from 500 key plots of land and sections of streams.

"We tried to look at those aspects of the ecosystem in the park that would give us an idea of the patient's condition," Potts said.

The 75-square-foot plots will be examined through the years to chart changes. The tree growth, canopy, ground cover, depth of organic litter and even soil chemistry will be checked on a regular basis. Sections of 13 streams were chosen to monitor flow characteristics, temperature, insect life and water chemistry.

Data from the park's established equipment for measuring acid rain damage and air quality will be incorporated into the core system, as will studies of wildlife in the park such as black bear, turkeys and deer.

"We are being faced with so many threats now," Potts said. "In order to preserve what we have, we need to identify any human causes of change."

by CNB