Wildlife Habitat
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Wildlife Habitat 111. Agricultural land use patterns of native Department of Agriculture programs, which therefore ungulates in south-eastern Montana. are indirectly implicated in wildlife population Selting, J. P. and Irby, L. R. declines. Changes in the prairie and Great Plains Journal of Range Management 50 (4): 338-345. agricultural landscape since the 1950s provide a (July 1997) clear example of the relation between federal NAL Call #: 60.18-J82; ISSN: 0022-409X [JRMGAQ] agriculture policy, farmers' land-use practices, and Descriptors: odocoileus hemionus/ odocoileus the decline of grassland bird species. Early research virginianus/ antilocapra americana/ wild animals/ indicates that the Conservation Reserve Program habitat selection/ population density/ patterns/ may help to slow or reverse wildlife losses, including seasonal variation/ agricultural land/ Montana/ those of several species listed as endangered. Conservation Reserve Program lands However, Conservation Reserve Program benefits to Abstract: Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white- wild life populations may vary considerably across the tailed deer (Odocolieus virginianus), and pronghorn United States. Wildlife conservation in the agricultural antelope (Antilocapra americana) use of 6 agricultural landscape is limited by conflicting conservation land use categories in southeastern Montana were objectives, the voluntary nature of federal agriculture monitored to identify use patterns at specific sites. programs, and the habitat requirements of many Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), bottom rangeland, endangered vertebrate species. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands, upland rangeland, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) stubble, and 113. Animal and habitat relationships in the South growing wheat were observed during dawn, day, Platte basin with emphasis on threatened and dusk, and night hours over a period of 12 months. endangered species. Mule deer densities on alfalfa peaked in fall and Fitzgerald, J. P. again in spring. The CRP lands were selected in all In: Endangered Species Management: Planning Our seasons. Rangeland sites were most heavily used in Future, Proceedings of the 6th Annual 1996 South winter and summer. White-tailed deer used CRP Platte Forum. (Held 25 Oct 1995-26 Oct 1995 at lands in all seasons except fall. Alfalfa was selected Greeley, Colorado.) Graf, D. and in fall, spring, and summer. Antelope densities on Williams, D. J. (eds.) alfalfa were highest in spring and fall, while growing Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Water Resources wheat fields were used most in spring. Antelope in Research Institute, Colorado State University; the northern study area selected CRP land in all pp. 8; 1995. seasons except fall. Densities of animals and Descriptors: United States/ Colorado/ South Platte patterns of use observed during this study would be River Basin/ wildlife habitats/ river basins/ animal unlikely to produce significant impacts on forage or populations/ priorities/ wildlife management/ crops at most of our study sites. preservation/ spatial distribution/ species diversity/ This citation is from AGRICOLA. Ecological impact of water development Abstract: A minimum of 353 species of terrestrial 112. Agricultural Practices, Farm Policy, and the vertebrates reside in or make important seasonal use Conservation of Biological Diversity. of habitats in the South Platte River basin in Gerard, P. W. Colorado. The list includes 252 birds, 69 mammals, Laurel, Md: National Biological Service; 22 reptiles, and 10 amphibians. When species are PB95262515XSP, 1995. 32 p. tied to habitat requisites, the most critical habitats in Notes: Also pub. as National Biological Service, priority of management needs/preservation are: 1. Laurel, MD. rept. no. BIOLOGICAL-4. Grassland/Prairie; 2. Plains Riparian/Wetlands; 3. Descriptors: Endangered species/ Birds/ Policies/ Middle to High Elevation Forests. In a management Biological indicators/ Cultivated lands/ Wildlife context the two most critical habitat types present the conservation/ Agricultural lands/ Biodiversity/ Natural most serious problems. Most of the eastern plains is resources and earth sciences/ Natural resource in private ownership with few incentives available to management/ Agriculture and food/ Agricultural landowners for protection/habitat management. equipment facilities and operations Habitat is becoming fragmented with less than one- Abstract: Long-term wildlife population declines are third still in prairie. Water allocation and use patterns associated with changing agricultural practices. as well as human population growth patterns are Cropland expansion, agricultural intensification, and increasing pressures on remaining plains landscapes, national farm policies are all implicated in these especially at the foothills/plains interface in the basin. declines. Social, economic, technological, and political factors determine where, what, and how a farmer produces crops and therefore his or her effect on wildlife habitat. Farmers are also influenced by 35 USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Project Agricultural patterns including increasing use of the and extent to which grassy fields were connected by Conservation Reserve Program will also likely effect permanent (grass) edges to surrounding landscape distributional patterns of wildlife, perhaps to the elements. There was a diminution (P<0.05) in these detriment of some species. habitat attributes in the 1990s compared to the © Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) 1960s. The conservation community has emphasized the potential benefits of the Conservation Reserve 114. An annotated bibliography for wildlife Program (CRP) for wildlife, while most of the responses to the Conservation Reserve Program. grassland in the Corn Belt has been established by Allen, A. W. annual set-aside programs. Although the most recent In: A comprehensive review of Farm Bill contributions set-aside era ended in the late 1990s, programs of wildlife conservation, 1985-2000/ Heard, L. P; this nature may reemerge. Our study underscores the Hohman, W. L.; Halloum, D. J.; and Wildlife Habitat need and opportunity for improving habitat conditions Management Institute (U.S.); Series: Technical as part of future farm programs that would divert land Report USDA/NRCS/WHMI. from production under short-term contract. Madison, MS: USDA, NRCS, Wildlife Habitat This citation is provided courtesy of NISC, publisher Management Institute, 2000; pp. 151-206 of Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide. NAL Call #: aS604.6 .C66 2000 Descriptors: Conservation Reserve Program/ wildlife 116. Are economic instruments the saviour for habitats/ wildlife management biodiversity on private land? Gibbons, P; Briggs, S V; and Shields, J M 115. Annual set-aside programs: A long-term Pacific Conservation Biology 7 (4): 223-228. (2002); perspective of habitat quality in Illinois and the ISSN: 1038-2097 Midwest. Descriptors: Conservation Reserve Program/ Warner, Richard E.; Etter, Stanley L.; David, Larry M.; biodiversity conservation/ economic instruments/ and Mankin, Philip C. ecosystem vulnerability/ environmental condition/ Wildlife Society Bulletin 28 (2): 347-354. (2000) metapopulation viability/ offset schemes/ private NAL Call #: SK357.A1W5; ISSN: 0091-7648. lands/ representative ecosystem examples/ Notes: 3 tables; 1 figure. stewardship schemes/ tax concessions/ Descriptors: policies and programs/ farms/ food temporal support crops/ production/ grassland/ cultivated farmland/ © Thomson habitat management for wildlife/ conservation programs/ land use/ cover/ vegetation/ agriculture/ 117. Area Requirements of Grassland Birds: A habitat change/ grains/ prairie/ extensive agriculture/ Regional Perspective. North America/ United States/ Illinois/ Iowa Johnson, D. H. and Igl, L. D. Abstract: Farm programs that divert cropland from Auk 118(1): 24-34. (2001) production have been important for establishing NAL Call #: 413.8 AU4 grassy habitat in the Midwest since the 1930s. This Descriptors: Conservation Reserve Program/ study documents 1) the expansion of row crop Great Plains production and general decline of grasses on farm Abstract: Examined the influence of fragmentation landscapes of the Midwest in recent decades, and 2) and isolation of CRP grassland fields on grassland the trend toward short-term set-aside programs that breeding bird populations in the northern Great establish grassy habitat of marginal value, depicted in Plains. Illinois. During the 1980s and early 1990s, row crop production in the Midwest moderated and millions of 118. The Arkansas response to federal farm hectares of grassland were established on cropland program opportunities. diverted from production. Nonetheless, from 1964 to Long, J. D.; Akers, D.; and Wilson, S. N. 1992, row crop plantings increased by 39%, with an Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 46 (4): 84% increase in soybeans being the most striking 272-275. (July 1991-Aug. 1991) land-use change. Row crops supplanted numerous NAL Call #: 56.8-J822; ISSN: 0022-4561 [JSWCA3] cover types that have grassy structure, including oats Descriptors: farmland/ wildlife conservation/ habitats/ (-83%), wheat (-10%), other minor crops (-51%), environmental protection/ federal programs/ permanent pasture (-54%), diverted cropland (-51%), Conservation Reserve Program and other farmland (-41%). On a study area in east- This citation is from AGRICOLA. central Illinois, we evaluated and compared selected habitat characteristics of grassy cover for 1962-63 and 1991-94 on 100 randomly selected