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Ecoregional Conservation in the Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie

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Ecoregional Conservation in the Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie Ecoregional Conservation in the Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie Ecoregional Planning Team © October 2000 Ecoregional Conservation in the Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie ã 2000 by The Nature Conservancy Authors: Bob Hamilton Wayne Ostlie The Nature Conservancy Weather Creek Conservation Consultants Tallgrass Prairie Preserve 2939 1/2 11th Street PO Box 458 Boulder, CO 80304 Pawhuska, OK 74056 Jon Haferman Greg Wingfield The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy Midwestern Resource Office Kansas Field Office 1313 5th Street SE, Suite 314 700 Jackson SW, Suite 804 Minneapolis, MN 55414 Topeka, KS 66603-3758 Doug Ladd The Nature Conservancy Missouri Field Office 2800 South Brentwood Blvd St. Louis, MO 63144-2712 This report may be cited as: The Nature Conservancy, Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie Ecoregional Planning Team. 2000. Ecoregional Conservation in the Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie. The Nature Conservancy, Midwestern Resource Office, Minneapolis, MN. 48 pp. + 73 appendices. Front cover photographs: Harvey Payne The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. Table of Contents Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................3 1. The Place and Its People ...................................................................................................................5 1.1 Overview of the Ecoregion..............................................................................................................5 1.1.1 Home, Home on the Range......................................................................................................7 1.1.2 Corn as High as an Elephant's Eye ..........................................................................................7 1.2 Human Context ............................................................................................................................10 1.2.1 Population..............................................................................................................................10 1.2.2 Land Use/Ownership..............................................................................................................10 1.2.3 Employment...........................................................................................................................10 2. Building a Foundation for Conservation Design ............................................................................12 2.1 Planning Teams ...........................................................................................................................12 2.2 The Planning Process...................................................................................................................13 2.3 Planning Data and Guidelines.......................................................................................................13 2.3.1 Conservation Targets.............................................................................................................14 2.3.2 Data Base of Ecoregional Target Occurrences .......................................................................14 2.3.3 Viability Guidelines.................................................................................................................14 2.3.4 Conservation Goals................................................................................................................15 2.3.4.1 Species .........................................................................................................................15 2.3.4.2 Natural Communities .....................................................................................................15 3. Designing an Ecoregional Plan at Multiple Spatial Scales.............................................................17 3.1 A Brief History of Spatial Scale Concepts in Ecoregional Planning ................................................17 3.2 The Concept of Functional Systems .............................................................................................18 3.3 Applying Concepts of Functionality to Ecoregional Portfolio Design..............................................18 4. Osage Plains/Flint Hills Conservation Design................................................................................21 4.1 Site Selection ...............................................................................................................................21 4.2 The Ecoregional Portfolio .............................................................................................................22 4.3 Evaluating the Design...................................................................................................................22 4.3.1 Site Functionality in the OPFH Portfolio..................................................................................22 4.3.1.2 Functional Landscapes ..................................................................................................24 4.3.1.3 Functional Sites.............................................................................................................25 4.3.2 Success at Meeting Conservation Goals ................................................................................25 4.3.3 Threats Assessment...............................................................................................................27 4.3.4 Managed Areas Status...........................................................................................................28 4.3.5 Secondary Target Assessment..............................................................................................29 5. Taking Conservation Action............................................................................................................35 5.1 Overall Implementation Strategies ................................................................................................35 5.2 Multi-Site Threat Abatement Strategies.........................................................................................35 5.3 Conservation of Functional Landscapes as a Key Conservation Strategy for the OPFH Ecoregion36 5.4 Restoration as a Key Conservation Strategy in the OPFH Ecoregion ............................................37 5.4.1 Identifying Restoration Sites...................................................................................................37 5.4.2.1 Landscape Restoration Areas........................................................................................38 5.4.2.2 Restoration Around Untilled Landscapes........................................................................38 5.4.3 Establishing Ecoregional Priorities for Restoration..................................................................40 6. Planning for the Next Iteration ........................................................................................................42 6.1 On-going Maintenance of the Ecoregional Conservation Plan .......................................................42 6.1.1 Site Selection Advisory Team.................................................................................................42 6.1.2 Assessment and Design Team - Meeting Timeframe and Purpose .........................................42 6.2 Data Management........................................................................................................................42 6.3 Second Iteration of the Plan..........................................................................................................43 6.4 Data Gaps....................................................................................................................................43 6.4.1 Geographical Data Gaps........................................................................................................43 6.4.2 Conservation Target Data Gaps .............................................................................................43 6.4.3 Ecoregional Planning Process Gaps.......................................................................................44 7. Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................................44 Osage Plains/Flint Hills Ecoregional Conservation Plan, page 1 List of Tables Table 1: Target Conservation Goals for Terrestrial Vegetation Communities In the Osage Plains/Flint Hills Ecoregion................................................................................................................................16 Table 2: Contribution of Terrestrial and Aquatic Conservation Sites by Level of Functionality .................24 Table 3: Success at Meeting Conservation Goals: Species Targets.......................................................25 Table 4: Success at Meeting Conservation Goals: Community Targets ..................................................26 Table 5: Estimates of Terrestrial Community Imperilment ......................................................................27 Table 6: Highest Frequency Threats ......................................................................................................28 Table 7: Conservation Areas and Area Under Management by Management Agency.............................28 Table 8: Action Site
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