Forests are the predominant natural vegetation in the eleven parks which make up the National Capital Region Network. In 2006 the NCRN began a long term forest vegetation monitoring program. The monitoring program consists of taking measurement of forest vegetation on a series of randomly located plots. The plots are modified versions of those used by the Forest Inventory Analysis program of the US Forest Service. This report summarizes the findings of the monitoring program at regional and park level for 2006.

This report presents a summary of the forest monitoring data collected in 2008 by the National Capital Region Network Inventory and Monitoring Program. The data collected is used for reporting on three vital signs: forest condition, exotic invasive plant species, and forest pests and diseases.

The authors details the forest vegetation monitoring protocol which is designed to inventory and monitor forest vegetation in nine parks of the national Park Service (NPS) Mid-atlantic Network (MIDN) and three parks of the Northeast Coastal and barrier Network (NCBN) as part of the Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M).