The Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) was established by the US National Park Service (NPS) to monitor ecological conditions in 12 parks located in seven northeastern states as well as six additional states through which the Appalachian National Scenic Trail passes. NETN contains 13 parks with diverse cultural and natural resources in eight states (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, NY, NJ, and PA) and two ecol
ogical divisions. Parks in the Network range from Acadia NP in coastal Maine to Morristown NHP in central New Jersey, an area where 61 ecological systems have been identified. NETN parks range in size from about 9 acres (Saugus Iron Works) to the roughly 85,000 acres covered by the Appalachian Trail (NPS lands from ME-MD). Park sites include the beginning and end of the Revolutionary War (Minute Man NHP and Saratoga NHP respectively), and a strategic military location for General George Washington (Morristown NHP). Two National Historic Sites commemorate the lives of artists (Saint-Gaudens NHS and Weir Farm NHS), and the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites celebrate the lives of Franklin Delano & Eleanor Roosevelt and the Vanderbilts of the "Gilded Age". Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP and Boston Harbor Islands NRA are both relative newcomers to the NPS and unique in their establishment and mandates. Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP(1998) is the only national park to focus on conservation history and the evolving nature of land stewardship. Boston Harbor Islands, established in 1996, are a culturally and naturally diverse set of 34 drowned drumlins in the Massachusetts Bay managed by a 13 member partnership. Saugus Iron Works marks the site of the first integrated iron works in North America which gave rise to the industrial revolution and is known as the forerunner of America’s industrial giants. Acadia NP is the only National Park in the NETN and hosts a diverse array of cultural, natural, and geologic resources. The Appalachian Trail crosses some of the most diverse ecological communities in the Northeast and is managed by a unique partnership with the NPS and the Appalachian Trail Conference. The AT provides an exciting opportunity for ecological monitoring across its 2,100 miles of habitat representative of the entire east coast of the US.
