Effectiveness Monitoring
Effectiveness monitoring was implemented to evaluate the efficacy
of habitat treatments and to broadly assess the regional effects of
conservation, mitigation, and other management activities coordinated
through this initiative. Work has included collecting data associated
with past and current habitat treatments (for example, herbicide
treatments in sagebrush) to:
• assess their effectiveness in meeting WLCI habitat
conservation goals, and
• help guide the design of future
habitat treatments and Best Management Practices.
Effectiveness Monitoring included measuring vegetation and soil
responses to treatments, developing methods for using remotely sensed
estimates of productivity to evaluate habitat treatments, and
investigating relations between energy development and soil and
surface water salinity.
Soil Chemistry: Relationships between Energy
Exploration/Development and Salinity of Soils and Waters
The original focus of this work was to evaluate effects of tamarisk
on soil and water salinity. After conducting a literature
search/review, developing a refined research work plan, and submitting
a pre-proposal for this research to the Colorado River Salinity
Control Forum, the Forum shifted its focus away from research and a
full proposal was not submitted. As a result, this project shifted
away from tamarisk to address the influence of energy exploration and
development on soil and surface water salinity. It was decided that
Muddy Creek subbasin in Carbon County, Wyoming, would serve as a test
system for this new focus. In October 2009, a scoping trip was
conducted to:
• meet with USGS water scientists in the Water Resources
Discipline (WRD), researchers at the University of Wyoming, and BLM
personnel at the Rawlins Field Office in Wyoming; and
• make
a site visit to Muddy Creek to better understand the nature of the
issues there and to obtain a small suite of samples for preliminary study.
Objectives
• Develop an understanding of soil and water salinity in the
Muddy Creek subbasin, Carbon County, Wyoming, and the influence of
energy exploration and development on salinity.
Study Area
The study area encompasses the Muddy Creek subbasin, Carbon and
Sweetwater Counties, Wyoming.
