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Land Protection Plan, Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife

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Land Protection Plan, Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Environmental Assessment Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Management Area Grassland Easement Program Prepared by: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wetland Acquisition Office 3425 Miriam Avenue Bismarck, ND 58502 June 2000 Table of Contents Purpose of and Need For Action Introduction and Background ....................................................................... 3 Proposed Action .............................................................................................. 3 Project Area .................................................................................................... 4 Purpose of and Need for Proposed Action .................................................. 5 Decisions to be Made ...................................................................................... 6 Issues Identified and Selected for Analysis ................................................ 6 Biological Issues.............................................................................................. 6 Native Tallgrass Prairie Habitat ........................................................... 6 Social and Economic Considerations ........................................................... 6 Issues Not Selected for Analysis .................................................................. 7 Related Actions and Activities ...................................................................... 7 National Wildlife Refuge System and Authorities ..................................... 9 Guiding Principles of the National Wildlife Refuge System..................... 9 Goals of the National Wildlife Refuge System ........................................... 10 The Habitat Protection and Land Acquisition Process ............................. 11 Alternatives for the Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Management Area Alternative A. No Action ............................................................................... 13 Alternative B. Establish the Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Management Area as Originally Proposed. (Preferred Alternative) ........................ 13 Alternative C. Establish the Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Management Area incorporating options to broaden eligibility for the program and increase public access. ..................................................... 14 Affected Environment Biological Environment ................................................................................. 17 Climate ...................................................................................................... 17 Ecoregions ....................................................................................................... 17 Tallgrass Prairie .............................................................................................. 18 Lake Agassiz Plain .................................................................................. 18 North-Central Glaciated Plains ............................................................. 23 Prairie Coteau ................................................................................................. 23 Mixed-Grass Prairie ....................................................................................... 24 Wildlife ............................................................................................................. 25 Invertebrates ........................................................................................... 25 Fish ............................................................................................................ 25 Amphibians and Reptiles ........................................................................ 26 Mammals .................................................................................................. 26 Birds .......................................................................................................... 27 Social and Economic Considerations ........................................................... 28 Agricultural Resources ........................................................................... 28 Mineral Resources ................................................................................... 28 Landownership ........................................................................................ 29 Property Tax ............................................................................................ 29 Public Use and Wildlife Dependent Activities .................................... 29 Cultural Resources ......................................................................................... 30 Contaminants and Hazardous Wastes ......................................................... 30 Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Management Area Grassland Easement Program - June 2000 1 Environmental Consequences Effects on the Biological Environment ....................................................... 31 Native Tallgrass Prairie Habitat .................................................................. 31 Social and Economic Considerations ........................................................... 33 Eligibility of Planted Grasslands .......................................................... 33 Minimum Eligible Tract Size ................................................................. 35 Perpetual Nature of Easements ............................................................ 37 Hunting Rights/Public Access to Easements ...................................... 39 Unavoidable Adverse Impacts ...................................................................... 41 Irreversible and Irretrievable Commitment of Resources ....................... 41 Short-term Uses Versus Long-term Productivity ..................................... 41 Cumulative Impacts ....................................................................................... 41 Coordination and Environmental Review Agency Coordination ...................................................................................... 43 National Environmental Policy Act ............................................................. 43 Other Federal Laws, Regulations, and Executive Orders ........................ 43 Distribution and Availability ......................................................................... 44 List of Preparers and Reviewers .................................................................. 44 References ....................................................................................................... 45 Appendices Appendix A. Endangered and Threatened Species ................................... 51 Appendix B. Distribution List for the Environmental Assessment North Dakota ........................................................................................... 52 South Dakota............................................................................................ 53 Appendix C. Common and Scientific Names Used in the Text ................ 55 Figures Figure 1. Original Extent of the Great Plains and the Tallgrass Prairie ... 3 Figure 2. Dakota Tallgrass Prairie WMA Proposed Project Area .......... 4 Figure 3. Focus Areas for the Dakota Tallgrass WMA under Alternatives B and C ............................................................................... 15 Figure 4. Ecoregions of the Dakota Tallgrass Prairie WMA ................... 19 Figure 5. Landcover and Physiographic Regions of the Dakota Tallgrass Prairie WMA ........................................................................... 21 Tables Table 1. Summary of Actions Under Each Alternative ............................. 12 Table 2. Projected Impacts with Implementating Alternatives A, B, and C ......................................................................... 40 Table 3. Cumulative Impacts Over the Next Seven Years, the estimated length of time of the Dakota Tallgrass Prairie WMA Program, Under Alternatives A, B, and C ......................................................................... 42 2 Dakota Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Management Area Grassland Easement Program - June 2000 Purpose of and Need For Action Introduction and Background The Great Plains of North America once covered over a million square miles through the center of the continent. The eastern third of this prairie ecosystem, from Manitoba, to Illinois and south to Texas, is known as the tallgrass prairie region (Figure 1). The tallgrass prairie, like the Great Plains as a whole, was shaped under disturbances such as regular fire, repeated grazing and frequent droughts. Beneath these cycles of change and disturbance, decaying prairie plants assimilated nutrients and returned them to the ground, creating rich, dark soils considered some of the most fertile in the world. This tallgrass prairie region once stretched across almost 200 million acres, but today, less than 4 percent of the original tallgrass prairie remains (Steinauer and Collins 1996). The rich soils, combined with gently rolling topography, made the region prime for agricultural development. Much of the tallgrass prairie was converted to cropland in a single decade, 1870-1880, as railroads and Land Acts provided economic incentives, although conversion of native prairie continues today (Billington 1960, The Nature Conservancy 1998). As tallgrass prairie has been plowed and fragmented, the once expansive, complex ecosystem has been simplified and the forces of fire and grazing bison no longer recreate the tallgrass prairie of the past (The Nature Conservancy 1998). The tallgrass prairie region has become one of North
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