Research Associate: Tani Hubbard

Project overview: I develop science communication products for the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program that target land managers, partners, and the public. 

Backstory: The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program is divided into 32 ecoregional networks that monitor vital signs in over 280 parks. Vital signs are particular species, habitats, landscapes, and abiotic factors (e.g., water, air, soil) that help indicate the health of an ecosystem. Long-term monitoring helps parks understand the condition and trends of their natural resources so they can make science-informed management decisions. Developing mountains of data is important, but we also need to distribute this information to parks, other partners, and the public. Communicating science is a vital component of natural resource conservation. Science communicators gather information and distill it into digestible pieces in a variety of mediums including published documents, web pages, social media, story maps, bird checklists, etc. Our goals are to help managers make science-based decisions that protect natural resources, spark interest in science, build trust in the National Park Service, connect people to parks, and promote conservation and stewardship.

Current Status: Recent and current science communication products include a series of web articles on climate and water resources in Greater Yellowstone and Chihuahuan Desert parks; internal sharepoint web pages with resources on science and climate smart conservation; reports on birds, tallgrass prairie, invasive species, climate and water resources, and other topics; web articles to go with some of these reports; an internal amphibian monitoring protocol review summary; a newsletter for parks; and social media posts. I also serve on the National Park Service Publications Team and we review and publish reports submitted to our publication series.  

Project Partners: NPS Greater Yellowstone Network, NPS Heartland Network, NPS Chihuahuan Desert Network, NPS Northern Great Plains Network, and parks and other agency partners in these ecoregions.

Project start year: 2015

Location: I work remotely in Tucson, AZ, for all of these ecoregions (Greater Yellowstone Ecoregion, the Heartland prairies and forests, the Chihuahuan Desert, and the Northern Great Plains). 

Examples of Tani’s work:

Series: Climate and Water Resource Monitoring at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Series: Climate and Water Resource Monitoring at Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Series: Water Resources Monitoring in the Snake River at Moose, Wyoming

Series: Water Resources Monitoring in the Bighorn River near Fort Smith, Montana