Programming supports a comprehensive network of cooperative study units to facilitatecooperative research, technical assistance, education, and training to inform science-based management ofthe…

The National Park Service (NPS), under the Cooperative Research and Training Programs – Resources of the National Park System (CFDA 15.945), awarded a cooperative agreement of $250,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) effective September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2030. WCS will utilize baseline inventory and monitoring data collected through the Lagoon Communities Monitoring program to examine the functioning of lagoon ecosystems, with primary focus on Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and secondary focus on Cape Krusenstern National Monument. The project leverages the Beaufort Lagoon Long Term Ecological Research Site and other developing lagoon assessment research to enable the NPS to evaluate NPS-managed lagoons within a broader Arctic lagoon context.

The deliverables from this five-year cooperative agreement will include scientific analysis and integrated information products that advance understanding of Arctic lagoon ecological functioning, environmental change impacts—particularly rising oceanic temperatures—on lagoon flora and fauna, and implications for subsistence opportunities. The project generates multi-disciplinary science products to inform science-based management of the National Park System and serves multiple beneficiaries including state and local governments, federally recognized Indian tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and the general public.

Programming supports a comprehensive network of cooperative study units to facilitatecooperative research, technical assistance, education, and training to inform science-based management ofthe national park system. The study units facilitate multi-disciplinary science and integrated informationproducts across multiple geographic regions of the national park system. This project will utilize the arctic inventory and monitoring baseline data collected through the lagoon communities monitoring to understand the functioning of lagoon systems, prioritizing bering land bridge national preserve and secondarily cape krusenstern national monument. The establishment of the beaufort lagoon long term ecological research site, and other developing lagoon assessment research external to national park service managed lands, is providing the national park service with an extremely valuable opportunity to examine the functioning of national park service managed lagoons in the context of a broader arctic lagoon scope. This will also result in an understanding of the implications of ongoing environmental changes, in particular increasing oceanic temperatures, on the flora and fauna of the lagoons, and the nature of the lagoons in regard to ecological functioning and subsistence opportunities. Beneficiaries include state and local governments, federally recognizedindian tribal governments, public private nonprofit organizations, nonprofit institutions of highereducation, and the general public.