The Cape Cod National Seashore serves as a National Park Service prototype-monitoring park for the Atlantic and Gulf Coast biogeographic region. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, is charged with designing and testing monitoring protocols for implementation at the Cape Cod National Seashore. It is expected that many of the protocols will have direct application at other coastal park units, as well as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service coastal refuges, within the biogeographic region.