Overview

The mission of the National Park Service is "to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations" (National Park Service 1999) To uphold this goal, the Director of the NPS approved the Natural Resource Challenge to encourage national parks to focus on the preservation of the nation's natural heritage through science, natural resource inventories, and expanded resource monitoring (National Park Service 1999). Through the challenge, 270 parks in the national park system were organized into 32 inventory and monitoring networks. The Upper Columbia Basin Network (UCBN) consists of nine widely separated NPS units located in western Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington, and central Oregon. Parks of the Upper Columbia Basin Network include: Big Hole National Battlefield (BIHO), City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO), Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO), Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (HAFO), John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (JODA), Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area (LARO), Minidoka Internment National Monument (MIIN), Nez Perce National Historical Park (NEPE), and Whitman Mission National Historic Site (WHMI). As part of the Natural Resource Challenge, the NPS Water Resources Division received an increase in funding to assess natural resource conditions in national park units. Management oversight and technical support for this effort is provided by the division's Watershed Condition Assessment (WCA) Program. The WCA Program partnered with the Pacific West Region to fund and oversee an assessment at each park in the Upper Columbia Basin Network (UCBN). This report documents the results of the Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) completed for Whitman Mission National Historic Site (WHMI).