Desired Condition of Grasslands and Meadows in Valley Forge National Historical Park
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Desired Condition of Grasslands and Meadows in Valley Forge National Historical Park Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NER/VAFO/NRTR—2012/636 ON THE COVER Grassland in Valley Forge National Historical Park. Photograph by Bill Moses. Desired Condition of Grasslands and Meadows in Valley Forge National Historical Park Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NER/VAFO/NRTR—2012/636 Roger Latham P.O. Box 57 Rose Valley, PA 19086 October 2012 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado, publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics. These reports are of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Technical Report Series is used to disseminate results of scientific studies in the physical, biological, and social sciences for both the advancement of science and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The series provides contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of page limitations. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received formal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data, and whose background and expertise put them on par technically and scientifically with the authors of the information. This report provides the results of a project accomplished with assistance from the NPS. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This report is available from the Natural Resource Publications Management website http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/. Please cite this publication as: Latham, R. E. 2012. Desired condition of grasslands and meadows in Valley Forge National Historical Park. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NER/VAFO/NRTR—2012/636. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 464/117381, October 2012 ii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 1 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Scope ....................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Objectives ............................................................................................................... 6 2 Site Description ...................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Grasslands and Meadows Defined .......................................................................... 7 2.2 Regional Context .................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Bedrock and Soils ................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Vegetation and Wildlife ........................................................................................ 13 3 Methods .................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Historical Descriptions .......................................................................................... 22 3.2 Herbarium Records ............................................................................................... 22 3.3 Soil Analysis ......................................................................................................... 23 3.4 Present-day Species Diversity and Distribution .................................................... 24 3.5 Species of Special Conservation Concern............................................................. 26 3.6 Reference Sites ...................................................................................................... 26 3.7 Quaternary Disturbance Regimes ......................................................................... 27 3.8 Desired Condition Metrics and Target Values ...................................................... 28 4 Results ...................................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Historical Context ................................................................................................. 29 4.1.1 The park era ............................................................................................................ 29 4.1.2 Late eighteenth-century farming practices .............................................................. 29 4.1.3 Native grasslands and meadows throughout the Quaternary period ....................... 30 4.2 Historical Grassland and Meadow Conditions in the Greater Piedmont .............. 31 4.2.1 Early historical descriptions .................................................................................... 31 4.2.2 Historical grassland and meadow plant species composition based on herbarium records ......................................................................................................... 33 4.3 Historical and Present-day Species Composition of Grasslands and Meadows at Valley Forge ........................................................................................ 35 4.4 Present-day Grassland and Meadow Conditions at Valley Forge ......................... 36 4.4.1 Analysis of 2007 soil chemistry data ...................................................................... 36 4.4.2 Analysis of 2007 grassland/meadow plant survey data ........................................... 38 4.4.3 Rare, imperiled or declining plant and animal species ............................................ 48 4.5 Extant Reference Sites in the Greater Piedmont ................................................... 60 4.6 Quaternary Disturbance Regimes ......................................................................... 72 4.6.1 Pre-human settlement (most of the last 2.6 million years) ...................................... 73 4.6.2 Indian occupation (ca. 13,000–500 years before the present) .................................. 75 4.6.3 European contact, early settlement and Indian depopulation (ca. 1500–1800) ....... 77 iii 4.6.4 Recent major ecological changes—proliferation of invasive plants, white- tailed deer and nonnative earthworms .......................................................................... 78 5 Desired Conditions, Metrics and Target Values ...................................... 83 5.1 Qualitative Summary of Desired Conditions ........................................................ 83 5.1.1 Desired conditions of grassland/meadow plant communities and landscape .......... 83 5.1.2 Desired conditions of grassland-interior bird habitat .............................................. 83 5.1.3 Desired conditions of butterfly habitat .................................................................... 84 5.1.4 Desired conditions of grassland/meadow plant and animal species of special conservation concern .................................................................................................... 84 5.1.5 Desired conditions of ecosystem resilience ............................................................. 85 5.2 Species Diversity and Composition ...................................................................... 85 5.2.1 Plants ....................................................................................................................... 85 5.2.2 Birds ........................................................................................................................ 89 5.2.3 Butterflies ................................................................................................................ 90 5.2.4 Other animals .......................................................................................................... 91 5.3 Structural, Patch and Habitat Diversity ................................................................. 91 5.3.1 Community and landscape structure........................................................................ 91 5.3.2 Grassland bird habitat: patch diversity and grassland/meadow contiguity .............. 92 5.4 Ecosystem Processes ............................................................................................. 93 5.4.1 Disturbance regime .................................................................................................. 93 5.4.2 Soil dynamics .........................................................................................................