Decision making, mitigation, and remediation of sedimentation within large wetland systems: a case study using Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge

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Determining the sedimentation rate in the marshes of Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Impoundments located within river systems in the Northern Great Plains are vulnerable to sediment inputs because intensive agriculture in watersheds has increased soil erosion and sediments in rivers. At the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the vertical accretion of sediment was evaluated in the Mud Lake impoundment of Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Brown County, South Dakota. The Mud Lake impoundment was created in 1936 by constructing a low-head dam across the James River. Sediment cores were collected from the Mud Lake impoundment during August 2000 for determination of vertical accretion rates. Accretion rates were estimated using cesium-137 and lead-210 isotopic dating techniques to estimate...

Developing a framework for evaluating tallgrass prairie reconstruction methods and management

The goal of this project is to improve the practice of prairie reconstruction by developing criteria by which success can be measured and related to reconstruction methodology. To achieve this goal, two teams of two botanists will document plant species present on previously reconstructed prairies at two national wildlife refuges, Neal Smith in Iowa and Glacial Ridge in Minnesota. This information will be used to evaluate the methods used on those reconstructions to determine which methods result in relatively greater presence of desirable planted prairie species and less invasion by exotic species. Field work is slated to begin in 2015.

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Projecting future effects of land management, natural disturbance, and CO2 on woody encroachment and water availability in northern Great Plains grasslands

Maintaining the native prairie lands of the Northern Great Plains (NGP), which provide an important habitat for declining grassland species, requires anticipating the effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and climate change on the region’s vegetation. Specifically, climate change threatens NGP grasslands by increasing the potential encroachment of native woody species into areas where they were previously only present in minor numbers. This project uses a dynamic vegetation model to simulate vegetation type (grassland, shrubland, woodland, and forest) for the NGP for a range of projected future climates and relevant management scenarios. Comparing results of these simulations will...

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Chase Lake Wetland Management District habitat management plan development - legacy data synthesis pilot project

The Woodworth Study Area was established by the Fish and Wildlife Service in the early 1960's as a waterfowl production area, with its primary purpose as a research area to develop information for better management of upland and wetland habitats. Scientists and staff at Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center conducted extensive research on wetlands, upland plants, and wildlife the Woodworth Study Area during 1966–1989. While many publications have been produced from that research, the full extent of legacy data and historical information for the WSA had never been assessed. This project compiled and synthesized several core data sets on land history, vegetation surveys, and climate. Documentation of data,...

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Decision support for restoration and management of Service-owned native prairies: Implications for grassland bird communities

Temperate grasslands are considered one of the most altered terrestrial ecosystems in the world. Remaining prairies have been increasingly degraded by fragmentation, encroachment of woody and exotic plants, and suppression or misapplication of defoliation disturbances (e.g., fire, grazing, haying). More than 100,000 ha of native tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies are managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the northern Great Plains. Although prairies in this region evolved with grazing, fire, and climatic variability, management of FWS grasslands often has been passive and involved extended periods of rest (i.e., no disturbance). Extended rest has been implicated as a contributing factor in large-scale...

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What role does prescribed fire play in managing annual bromes in northern Great Plains grasslands?

Two exotic annual brome grasses ( Bromus tectorum and B. japonicus) have been a part of the northern Great Plains (NGP) landscape for more than a century, but their invasion in this region has accelerated since 1950. Despite their abundance and negative impact on native grasslands, management efforts to control annual bromes in NGP National Park Service units have been minimal. Spring and fall prescribed fires are used in NGP parks to manage fuel loads, control other non-native species, and maintain a vital ecosystem process, but serious concerns about their use in areas with annual brome grasses have arisen as new data have revealed the degree of invasion by these species in some NGP parks. NGP managers and...

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Plant community and ecosystem responses to nitrogen deposition in two northern Great Plains national parks

Studies from around the world have shown shifts in plant community composition, reduced plant diversity and increased abundance of invasive species in response to nitrogen addition. These results may indicate that increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition caused by fossil fuel combustion and agricultural activities will adversely affect northern Great Plains ecosystems. However, nitrogen addition studies that have been completed in the northern Great Plains used nitrogen addition levels far above that expected from atmospheric deposition. This project partnered with Colorado State University to experimentally investigate the effects of realistic nitrogen deposition on a wide variety of plant and soil parameters...

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Managing upland vegetation as a mitigation strategy for climate change effects on prairie pothole wetlands

Recent wetland simulation modeling efforts suggest that global climate change may result in increased drying of prairie pothole wetlands as increased evaporation rates associated with warmer temperatures outpace potential increases in precipitation. Potential effects include reduced water depths and volumes, and shorter hydroperiods with seasonal wetlands being most vulnerable. However, precipitation and temperature alone are insufficient to explain annual variations in water conditions of prairie pothole wetlands and tremendous spatial and temporal variability across the regions hampers efforts to discern climate change effects. Given the great importance of prairie pothole wetlands to FWS trust resources (primarily...

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Designing optimal conservation strategies for multiple Federal trust bird species at the tallgrass prairie ecoregional and Wetland Management District scales

Abundance-based population objectives have been developed by the major bird conservation initiatives as part of a landscape approach to conservation planning and to help communicate the magnitude of the conservation challenge presented by declining populations of Federal trust bird species to policy-makers, conservation partners, and the public. Abundance-based population objectives are a foundational component of Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC). Such targets are represented by a total number of individuals in a population or a proportional increase for that population. Conservation plans based on these targets utilize a step-down process to partition abundance-based population objectives set at a continental,...

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Native prairie adaptive management: A multi-region, adaptive approach to invasive plant management on Fish and Wildlife Service-owned native prairies

Much of the native prairie managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of the northern Great Plains is extensively invaded by the introduced cool-season grasses smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass. Management to suppress these invasive plants has had poor to inconsistent success. The central challenge to managers is selecting appropriate management actions in the face of biological and environmental uncertainties. In partnership with the Service, the U.S. Geological Survey developed an adaptive decision support framework to assist managers in selecting management actions under uncertainty and maximizing learning from management outcomes. The framework was built around...

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Native species richness and diversity ranges of variability in Central United States grassland plant communities

Plant species richness and diversity influence ecosystem functioning; therefore, they are important indicators of ecosystem health. To be useful to managers and decision-makers, though, the natural range of variation for the indicators must be known, and an understanding of how various natural and anthropogenic forces affect the indicators must be had. This project compiled published literature and analyzed data from available long-term studies to provide this information for Great Plains grasslands, one of the most threatened ecosystems in North America.

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Changing chemical characteristics of prairie pothole region lakes and wetlands: Influences on wildlife and relevance to management

Through a resampling of 178 prairie lakes and wetlands originally sampled in the late 1960s and early 1970s, we are exploring changes in water chemical composition that have occurred in response to shifting climate patterns and the affects of these changes on fish and wildlife communities.

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Fire ecology in northern sedge meadows: Factors influencing yellow rails and other birds at Seney National Wildlife Refuge

The yellow rail is a focal species of concern associated with shallowly flooded emergent wetlands, most commonly sedge meadows. Yellow rail populations are believed to be limited by loss or degradation of wetland habitat due to drainage, altered hydrology, and fire suppression, factors which have resulted in encroachment of shrubs and change in vegetative cover in many sedge meadows. Fire suppression and altered hydrology often have resulted in the encroachment of tall shrubs and trees into open sedge meadow peatlands, altering vegetation structure and community composition and in turn the bird community. Seney National Wildlife Refuge, located in the upper peninsula of Michigan, has extensive sedge meadows...

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The effects of grazing on vegetation structure and breeding populations of sprague’s pipits and other grassland birds in the Little Missouri National Grasslands

The Sprague’s pipit is a native grassland bird that is endemic to the northern Great Plains. Given its restricted breeding range, cryptic plumage, and furtive behaviors, the species is considered one of the least-studied birds in North America. The species has undergone severe population declines on the breeding grounds. In the 12-month finding on a 2010 petition to list the Sprague’s pipit as endangered or threatened, the US Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that the listing of the Sprague’s pipit is warranted but precluded by higher priority actions. The Sprague’s pipit requires large patches of native grass cover throughout its life cycle. Large-scale losses and degradation of critical grassland habitat highlight...