Front Range Eco-Regional Partnership Invasive Plant Species Strategic Plan
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Front Range Eco-regional Partnership Invasive Plant Species Strategic Plan June 29, 2007 Susan Spackman Panjabi and Karin Decker Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Recommended citation: Spackman Panjabi, S. and K. Decker. 2007. Front Range Eco-regional Partnership Invasive Plant Species Strategic Plan. Unpublished report prepared for the United States Department of Defense by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. Acknowledgements Numerous individuals provided crucial information and guidance to this project. The people in the Front Range Eco-regional Partnership, especially Stan Rogers and Jim McDermott, saw the need and developed the initial idea for the strategy. Kara Altvater and Floyd Hatch with Buckley AFB, Jim Buchanan with Cheyenne Mountain AFS, Caron Rifici, Richard Bunn, and Mead Klavetter with Fort Carson Military Reservation and Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Max Canestorp at Pueblo Chemical Depot, Cathryn Pesenti with F. E. Warren AFB, Mark Mann with Peterson AFB, Melissa Trenchik with Schriever AFB, and Brian Mihlbachler at the U. S. Air Force Academy provided mapped locations of noxious weeds and up to date information on installation-specific weed management issues. Eric Lane, Colorado State Weed Coordinator, and Slade Franklin, Wyoming State Weed Coordinator, provided guidance on a state-wide level. County weed coordinators, Russell Johnson with Arapahoe County, Mark Johnston with El Paso County, J.R. Philips with Fremont County, Robert Lucero with Las Animas, Elizabeth Campbell with Pueblo County, Colorado, and Stan McNamee with Laramie County in Wyoming, offered county-level insights. Jace Fahnestock, North Wind’s primary investigator for several of the installation invasive species control plans, provided information pertinent to the individual installations, including mapped locations of weeds. Kat Maybury with NatureServe provided information on the Invasive Species Assessment Protocol (NatureServe I ranks). Bonnie Heidel and Melanie Arnett with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database provided information about the distribution of rare species at F. E. Warren AFB. Mary Anderson with the US Department of Defense, Steve Kettler, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, Melissa Landon, Colorado Natural Heritage Program Conservation Data Services Team Leader, and David Anderson, Colorado Natural Heritage Program Botany Team Leader, assisted with refining project methods and approaches to help assure a most useful end product. Amy Lavender, GIS Coordinator with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, produced maps and assured accuracy with all geographic data. Emily Sherman, Colorado Natural Heritage Program botany volunteer, compiled information for the Appendixes. 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 8 Background Information..................................................................................................................... 10 Sikes Act ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Federal Noxious Weed Act............................................................................................................. 10 Executive Order 13112 ................................................................................................................... 11 U.S. Army Regulatory Requirements ............................................................................................. 11 Colorado Noxious Weed Act.......................................................................................................... 12 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Act............................................................................................ 13 County Noxious Weed Management Programs.............................................................................. 13 Methods/Prioritization Systems.......................................................................................................... 13 Results................................................................................................................................................. 15 Buckley Air Force Base.................................................................................................................. 21 Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station ........................................................................................... 23 Fort Carson Military Reservation ................................................................................................... 25 Francis E. Warren Air Force Base .................................................................................................. 30 Peterson Air Force Base.................................................................................................................. 33 Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site ......................................................................................................... 36 Pueblo Chemical Depot .................................................................................................................. 42 Schriever Air Force Base................................................................................................................ 46 U.S. Air Force Academy and Farish Outdoor Recreation Area ..................................................... 48 Recommendations............................................................................................................................... 54 References........................................................................................................................................... 56 Appendix 1: Colorado Noxious Weed List........................................................................................ 61 Appendix 2: Wyoming Noxious Weed List....................................................................................... 63 Appendix 3: List of relevant county weed contacts, priority weed lists, and services provided....... 64 Appendix 4: Natural Heritage Conservation Ranking System .......................................................... 67 Appendix 5: List of other non-natives that have been documented at each military installation...... 71 Appendix 5: List of other non-natives that have been documented at each military installation...... 71 Appendix 6: Sources of information about weed species.................................................................. 74 Appendix 7: Sources of weed control information............................................................................ 76 Appendix 8: Sources of weed monitoring information...................................................................... 77 Appendix 9: Rare species and ecological system descriptions.......................................................... 78 PLANTS ......................................................................................................................................... 78 BIRDS............................................................................................................................................. 85 AMPHIBIANS & REPTILES ........................................................................................................ 91 INSECTS ........................................................................................................................................ 94 MAMMALS ................................................................................................................................... 98 ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS.......................................................................................................... 103 3 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1. Map of all installations........................................................................................................................ 9 Table 1. All noxious weeds found on the nine Front Range military installations.............................. 6 Table 2. Three categories of noxious weeds designated by the Commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture (Colorado Noxious Weed Act 2003)............................................... 12 Table 3. Thirty-three noxious weeds that have been documented on the nine Front Range military installations. ................................................................................................................................ 15 Table 4. Significant species and plant communities found at the nine Front Range military installations. ................................................................................................................................ 17 Table 5. Noxious weeds known from Buckley Air Force Base......................................................... 21 Table 6. Noxious weeds known from the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station............................ 24 Table 7. Rare species and significant plant communities known from the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station ............................................................................................................................... 25 Table 8. Noxious weeds known from the Fort Carson Military Reservation ...................................