Inventory and Monitoring of Sensitive Species in the North Fork of the Powder River Wilderness Study Area, Wyoming
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INVENTORY AND MONITORING OF SENSITIVE SPECIES IN THE NORTH FORK OF THE POWDER RIVER WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, WYOMING Lusha Tronstad1, 2, Ian Abernethy1, Wendy Estes-Zumpf1 and Bonnie Heidel1 1Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Avenue, Dept. 3381 Laramie, Wyoming 82071 2Contact information: Phone: (307) 766-3115; Email: [email protected] November 2017 Prepared for: BLM Buffalo Field Office 1425 Fort Street Buffalo, WY 82834 National Landscape Conservation System Research Support Program Bureau of Land Management Washington D.C. 20240 1 Recommended Citation: Tronstad, L., I. Abernethy, W. Estes-Zumpf, and B. Heidel. 2017. Inventory and monitoring of sensitive species in the North Fork of the Powder River Wilderness Study Area, Wyoming. Prepared for the Bureau of Land Management Buffalo Field Office by the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, Laramie, Wyoming. November 2017. Cover photo and photo on this page by L. Tronstad 2 Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Purpose and Objectives ................................................................................................................... 5 North Fork of the Powder River Wilderness Study Area ............................................................... 6 Methods........................................................................................................................................... 6 Birds ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Site selection ........................................................................................................................... 6 Point count methodology ........................................................................................................ 6 Mammals..................................................................................................................................... 7 Bats ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Other mammals ....................................................................................................................... 8 Reptiles and amphibians ............................................................................................................. 8 Aquatic invertebrates .................................................................................................................. 8 Pollinators ................................................................................................................................... 9 Terrestrial snails and other invertebrates .................................................................................... 9 Plants ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Vascular flora .......................................................................................................................... 9 Vegetation ............................................................................................................................. 10 Limber pine surveys .............................................................................................................. 10 Riparian assessments ................................................................................................................ 10 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Geology ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Soils........................................................................................................................................... 11 Vegetation characterization ...................................................................................................... 11 Birds .......................................................................................................................................... 12 Mammals................................................................................................................................... 12 Bats ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Other Mammals .................................................................................................................... 12 Reptiles and amphibians ........................................................................................................... 13 Aquatic invertebrates ................................................................................................................ 13 Pollinators ................................................................................................................................. 13 Terrestrial snails and other invertebrates .................................................................................. 14 Plants ......................................................................................................................................... 14 Vascular flora ........................................................................................................................ 14 3 Rare plants ............................................................................................................................ 14 Noxious weeds ...................................................................................................................... 15 Limber pine surveys .............................................................................................................. 16 Riparian assessments ................................................................................................................ 16 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 17 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................. 18 Figures........................................................................................................................................... 20 Tables ............................................................................................................................................ 48 4 Introduction Wyoming has 42 Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. As part of the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), these WSAs are currently managed to preserve their natural characteristics. However, basic knowledge of the natural resources within many of Wyoming’s WSAs is severely limited, reducing BLM Wyoming’s ability to manage these areas. As a result, BLM Wyoming drafted a strategy for its NLCS lands in order to identify and address information needs and develop cohesive goals and guidelines for managing NLCS lands across the state (BLM 2013). The North Fork of the Powder River WSA (hereafter North Fork WSA) is a 10,089 acre area established in 1992 (https://www.blm.gov/node/9974/) at the southern end of the Big Horn Mountains. The North Fork of the Powder River and Pass Creek flow through deep, scenic canyons and the uplands support forests and meadows. Many animals are common in the WSA including elk (Cervus elaphus), black bear (Ursus americanus), eagles and hawks. The WSA has exceptional opportunities for solitude and primitive unconfined recreation; however, lack of public access restricts recreational use of this WSA. Little is known about the biota in this isolated and rugged WSA. Many animal species on the BLM’s Sensitive species list and Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) may occur in the WSA, but formal surveys have not been conducted to confirm species occurrence. WYNDD is a service and research unit of the University of Wyoming dedicated to collecting and disseminating unbiased data on the biology and status of Sensitive species in Wyoming (http://www.uwyo.edu/wyndd/). Our mission is to generate information that helps organizations like the BLM make effective management decisions. Along these lines, WYNDD has worked with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other state and federal experts to develop revised range maps and predictive distribution maps for Sensitive species in Wyoming. These projects have allowed WYNDD to identify gaps in our knowledge of Sensitive species distributions across the state. The biota of the North Fork WSA is one of those information gaps. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this project was to fill information gaps for Sensitive species suspected to occur in the North Fork WSA and assist the BLM Buffalo Field Office in designing and establishing a monitoring framework for key resources in the WSA. This was accomplished by conducting a targeted inventory of local biota using a suite of survey and monitoring methods at key locations across the WSA. Specific objectives for the project were to: 1) Work with BLM Buffalo Field Office to develop a list of target species in order to fill gaps in our knowledge of the occurrence and status of these species