The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. In 2001, the National Park Service (NPS) established the Inventory and Monitoring (I&M), or "Vital Signs Monitoring," Program in Service units with significant natural resources. The NPS has organized more than 270 parks into 32 networks that are linked by geography and shared natural resource characteristics. The thirteen parks in the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) are located in five northern Great Plains states across six ecoregions and vary widely in size, amount of visitor use, and management context.