DOCSLIB.ORG

Prairie Conservation in North America

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Prairie Conservation in North America University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center Other Publications in Wildlife Management for June 1994 Prairie conservation in North America Fred Sampson Fritz Knopf Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdmother Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Sampson, Fred and Knopf, Fritz, "Prairie conservation in North America" (1994). Other Publications in Wildlife Management. 41. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdmother/41 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Other Publications in Wildlife Management by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Roundtable Prairie conservation in North America The prairie appears almost mo- ponent of prairies inhabit the conti- species, including the plains wolf notonous in the general unifor- nent in greater abundance than any and plains grizzly bear, no longer mity of its plant cover. Its main comparable group of plants. Sur- exist. features are the absence of trees, veys suggest that since European The health of planet Earth, in the scarcity of shrubs, the domi- settlement declines in area of native nance of grasses, and a character- the face of global warming, may istic xeric flora. prairie range as high as 99.9%. More depend on prairie grasslands because -Weaver 1968, p. 48 subtle impacts in the loss of prairie, thev are su~eriorcarbon sinks in for example, loss of the highly de- com~arisonto forests with similar he health and future of the veloped ecotypic differentiation, environmental characteristics (Seas- earth's ecological systems often go undetected (Risser 1988). tedt and Knapp 1993). Large (Dailey and Ehrlich 1992), In addition to direct loss, exploita- amounts of stored carbon in grass- T tion by overgrazing and recreation their link to the well being of com- land soils reflect fundamental dif- munities and nations (Raven 19901, adds to the stress on remnant prairie ferences between grasses and trees. and the ever-increasing rate of loss (WWFC 1988).And, once the prairie of species, communities, and eco- is destroyed, restoration requires Where the buffalo roamed logical systems (Myers 1993) are several centuries (Schramm 1990). among issues drawing biological The area of native prairie that once Humanity's present position of extended from Canada to the Mexi- diversity into the mainstream of domination and economic well be- conservation worldwide. Yet. in can border and from the foothills of ing are affected by grasses, because the Rocky Mountains to western North America, there is no single, they provide directly or indirectly established priority in the conserva- Indiana and Wisconsin is referred to the majority of human nourishment. as the Great Plains. The main bodies tion of biological diversity. In re- Today agricultural erosion in North cent years, a great deal of attention of prairie within the Great Plains America exceeds the prairie soil's are: the tallgrass prairie extending has been paid to the problem of capacity to tolerate loss, threaten- tropical and temperate deforesta- from Canada and Minnesota south ing an essential resource to sustain to Texas, the mixed grass prairie tion in part because of profound future generations (Sampson 1981). consequences to the conservation of from Canada and eastern North The impounding and alteration of Dakota south to Texas, and the biological diversity (Harris 1984, running waters, the depletion of Whitmore and Saver 1992.). De- shortgrass plains reaching from aquifers, and the increase in western Texas and New Mexico spite a broad consensus supporting waterborne chemical pollutants also the conservation of bioldgical di- north to eastern Montana. threaten prairies and their soils (TCF Approximately 162 million ha of versity (CEQ 1991), native prairie is 1988). largely neglected in this effort. This prairie blanketed the Great Plains article suggests why native prairie The potential for species ex- before European agriculture. As in North America should be among tinction on grassland is of serious early as 1830, homesteading in In- the priorities in conservation of bio- concern. Fifty-five grassland species diana and Illinois began to alter logical diversity. We further describe in the United States are threatened forever the extent of the grasslands the extent and cause of the decline or endangered, and 728 are candi- (Table 1).Since 1830, the declines of North American prairie and offer dates. One-third of species consid- (estimated to be 82-99%) in area of recommendations for prairie con- ered endangered by the Committee tallgrass prairie exceed those re- servation. on the Endangered Wildlife in ~ortedfor any other major ecosys- Why is prairie conservation im- Canada are found on grasslands tem in North America including rem- portant? Consider, for example: (WWFC 1988). Grassland bird spe- nant old-growth forest in the Pacific cies have shown more consistent and northwest, temperate rainforest in The largest vegetative province steeper, geographically widespread British Columbia and southeast in North America is the native prai- declines (25-65% declines from Alaska, and bottomland hardwoods rie, and grasses as an integral com- 1980 to 1989)than any other group- in the south-central United States. ing of North American species Estimated declines in native (Knopf 1992). Several species, in- mixed-grass prairie area, although by Fred Samson and cluding the Eskimo curlew and less than the tallgrass declines, range Fritz Knopf Audubon bighorn sheep, and sub- from 30% in Texas to 99% in Man- 418 BioScience Vol. 44 No. 6 Table 1. Summary of the estimated current area, historic area, and percent decline Of the 435 bird species breeding of the tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass prairies. The estimates of current and in the United States, 330 have been historic prairie area are based on information from The Nature Conservancy's documented to breed on the Great Heritage Program; USDI Fish and Wildlife Service; USDA Forest Service; Cana- Plains. Declines from 1969 to 1991 dian Wildlife Service; Provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; and in grassland birds vary: 24-91 % in state conservation agencies. N/A indicates data not available. No area estimates of historic and current mixed-grass prairie are available for Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Wyoming, Ne- Montana, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and of shortgrass prairie for Colorado, Kansas, braska, and Missouri; and 17-48% Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. in Colorado, the Dakotas, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. The de- Historic Current Decline Current clines in grassland bird species are (ha) (ha) (%) protected (%) largely a problem in North America, Tallgrass more of these birds breed and over- Manitoba 600,000 300 99.9 N/A winter north of Central America Illinois 8,900,000 930 99.9 <.01 (Knopf 1994). Indiana 2,800,000 404 99.9 <.01 These declines reflect two condi- Iowa 12,500,000 12,140 99.9 <.01 tions. The first condition is loss of Kansas 6,900,000 1,200,000 82.6 N/A Minnesota 7,300,000 30,350 99.6 <1.0 grassland habitats for breeding and Missouri 5,700,000 30,350 99.5 <1.0 wintering-for example, the Nebraska 6,100,000 123,000 98.0 <1.0 Spragues pipit, declining in num- North Dakota 1,200,000 1200 99.9 N/A bers annually at a rate of 3.3%. Oklahoma 5,200,000 N/A N/A N/ A Second, fire control and woody South Dakota 3,000,000 449,000 85.0 N/A Texas 7,200,000 720,000 90.0 N/A plantings on the Great Plains have Wisconsin 971,000 4000 99.9 N/A favored increases in numbers of for- est-edge birds historically only Mixed grass present in midwestern oak and east- Alberta Manitoba ern deciduous forests (Knopf 1986). Saskatchewan The loss of six subspecies due to Nebraska hybridization as a consequence of North Dakota these forested stepping stones and Oklahoma artificial corridors rivals the loss of South Dakota Texas three species attributed to forest fragmentation in the eastern decidu- Shortgrass ous forest. These recent, non-his- Saskatchewan 5,900,000 840,000 85.8 N/A toric forest patches and woody cor- Oklahoma 1,300,000 N/A N/A NIA ridors bordering rivers on the Great South Dakota 179,000 NI A N/ A N/ A Texas 7,800,000 1,600,000 80.0 N/A Plains favor movements of reptiles Wyoming 3,000,000 2,400,000 20.0 N/ A and mammals from east to west, thus adding to the degradation of the historic biological diversity of itoba. As evident in both the tallgrass The decline in vrairie-dog- num- the Great Plains (Knopf and Scott and mixed-grass prairie, the short- bers, the second most significant 1990). grass prairie has decreased in area herbivore on the Great Plains, is (ranging from an estimated 20% estimated to be 98% since European Economics over ecology decline in Wyoming to 85% in settlement (Marsh 1984). This de- Saskatchewan). Only the shortgrass cline has been attributed to poten- Environmental problems are often prairie, largely located on the Na- tial competition between prairie dogs evidence of how markets fail to tional Grasslands managed by the and cattle for grass forage, a claim maximize the well being of a society USDA Forest Service, remains today neither supported by data (O'Meilia (Dailey and Ehrlich 1992).Since the in public ownership. et al. 1982) nor by the suggestion 1870s, economics and farm policy A striking feature of prairie is the that ungulates and prairie dogs are have led to the agricultural develop- array of native herbivores, part of a symbiotic foragers (Krueger 1986). ment of the Great Plains (Barnes large amount of native biological A variety of species, including the 1993).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Central Mixedgrass Prairie Ecological System (Central Shortgrass Prairie Ecoregion Version)
    CENTRAL MIXEDGRASS PRAIRIE ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM (CENTRAL SHORTGRASS PRAIRIE ECOREGION VERSION) ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT Draft of June 29, 2007 Prepared by: Karin Decker Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University 254 General Services Building Fort Collins, CO 80523 Table of Contents A. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 3 A.1 Classification Summary ........................................................................................... 3 A.2 Ecological System Description ................................................................................ 5 A.2.1 Environment....................................................................................................... 5 A.2.2 Vegetation & Ecosystem.................................................................................... 6 A.2.3 Dynamics ........................................................................................................... 8 A.2.4 Landscape......................................................................................................... 10 A.2.5 Size................................................................................................................... 11 A.3 Ecological Integrity................................................................................................ 12 A.3.1 Threats.............................................................................................................. 12 A.3.2 Justification of Metrics....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Prairie Dog Empire: a Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters University of Nebraska Press 2005 Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie Paul A. Johnsgard University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Johnsgard, Paul A., "Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie" (2005). University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters. 6. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Nebraska Press at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Prairie Dog Empire 11 [First Page] 12 13 [-1], (1) 14 15 Lines: 0 to 22 16 17 ——— 18 * 388.16002pt PgVar ——— 19 Normal Page 20 * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 22 23 [-1], (1) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagei//Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 Other Titles by Paul A. Johnsgard 2 Published by the University of Nebraska Press 3 4 Lewis and Clark on the Great Plains: A Natural History 5 The Nature of Nebraska: Ecology and Biodiversity 6 This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills 7 Crane Music: A Natural History
    [Show full text]
  • Biological Survey of a Prairie Landscape in Montana's Glaciated
    Biological Survey of a Prairie Landscape in Montanas Glaciated Plains Final Report Prepared for: Bureau of Land Management Prepared by: Stephen V. Cooper, Catherine Jean and Paul Hendricks December, 2001 Biological Survey of a Prairie Landscape in Montanas Glaciated Plains Final Report 2001 Montana Natural Heritage Program Montana State Library P.O. Box 201800 Helena, Montana 59620-1800 (406) 444-3009 BLM Agreement number 1422E930A960015 Task Order # 25 This document should be cited as: Cooper, S. V., C. Jean and P. Hendricks. 2001. Biological Survey of a Prairie Landscape in Montanas Glaciated Plains. Report to the Bureau of Land Management. Montana Natural Heritage Pro- gram, Helena. 24 pp. plus appendices. Executive Summary Throughout much of the Great Plains, grasslands limited number of Black-tailed Prairie Dog have been converted to agricultural production colonies that provide breeding sites for Burrow- and as a result, tall-grass prairie has been ing Owls. Swift Fox now reoccupies some reduced to mere fragments. While more intact, portions of the landscape following releases the loss of mid - and short- grass prairie has lead during the last decade in Canada. Great Plains to a significant reduction of prairie habitat Toad and Northern Leopard Frog, in decline important for grassland obligate species. During elsewhere, still occupy some wetlands and the last few decades, grassland nesting birds permanent streams. Additional surveys will have shown consistently steeper population likely reveal the presence of other vertebrate declines over a wider geographic area than any species, especially amphibians, reptiles, and other group of North American bird species small mammals, of conservation concern in (Knopf 1994), and this alarming trend has been Montana.
    [Show full text]
  • Sharing Your Land with Prairie Wildlife
    Sharing Your Land with Prairie Wildlife Scott W. Gillihan, David J. Hanni, Scott W. Hutchings, Tony Leukering, Ted Toombs, and Tammy VerCauteren Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Sharing Your Land with Prairie Wildlife Scott W. Gillihan, David J. Hanni, Scott W. Hutchings, Tony Leukering, Ted Toombs, and Tammy VerCauteren 14500 Lark Bunting Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Lane Brighton, CO 80603 (303) 659-4348 www.rmbo.org AboutIntroduction the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO): Our mission is to conserve Rocky Mountain, Great Plains, and Intermountain West birds and their habitats through research, monitoring, education, and outreach. We conduct on-the-ground conservation in cooperation with other private organizations and government agencies responsible for managing areas and programs important for birds. We also work with private landowners and managers to encourage practices that foster good land stewardship. Much of our work is designed to increase understanding of birds and their habitats by educating children, teachers, natural resource managers, and the general public. Because birds do not recognize political boundaries, and may even spend most of their lives outside of the United States, RMBO works to bring a unified approach to conservation among states and countries, and many of our projects focus on issues associated with winter grounds, especially those in Mexico. At the core of our conservation work is bird population monitoring. Only through long-term monitoring can we identify which species are in need of help, and evaluate our success at protecting or recovering them. About this manual: This third edition of this manual (formerly entitled Sharing Your Land With Shortgrass Prairie Birds) is about how to help birds and other wildlife make a living from the land while you do the same.
    [Show full text]
  • Great Plains Ecosystems: Past, Present, and Future
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln USGS Staff -- Published Research US Geological Survey 2004 Great Plains Ecosystems: Past, Present, and Future Fred B. Samson United States Forest Service Fritz L. Knopf United States Geological Survey Biological Resources Division Wayne Ostlie The Nature Conservancy, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsstaffpub Part of the Earth Sciences Commons Samson, Fred B.; Knopf, Fritz L.; and Ostlie, Wayne, "Great Plains Ecosystems: Past, Present, and Future" (2004). USGS Staff -- Published Research. 45. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsstaffpub/45 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the US Geological Survey at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in USGS Staff -- Published Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Great Plains Ecosystems: Past, Present, and Future Fred B. Samson, Fritz L. Knopf, & Wayne R. Ostlie 6 SPECIALCOVERAGE ...eat Plains ecosystems: _ _ t, present, and future HH[[~dIed B. Samson, Fritz L. Knopf, and e R. Ostlie sts that the main bodies of North American prairie (i.e., the tall- grass, mixed, and shortgrass) are among the most endangered resources on the con- tinent. The purpose of this paper is to provide a past and present biological base- line by which to understand North American prairies and to provide a platform for future conservation. Events both immediate to the end of the Pleistocene and his- toric suggest that the present grassland conditions are different from those within which most of the grassland organisms evolved.
    [Show full text]
  • Where Are Shortgrass Prairies in Wyoming? Basically, Shortgrass Prairie Is Found in the Eastern One-Third of Wyoming, in the Rain Shadow of the Rocky Mountains
    Shortgrass Prairie Ecosystem Flashcards Shortgrass Prairie What is a shortgrass prairie? Short grass prairie habitat is flat to rolling terrain dominated by short grasses that form a nearly continuous carpet across the landscape. Grama grass and buffalo grass make up 70% to 90% of the plants growing on the short grass prairie. A few mid-grasses and forbs also grow there. Short grass prairie s is the westernmost and driest of the true North American grasslands. Average annual precipitation is 10 to 12 inches. Why are shortgrass prairies important? Shortgrass prairies provide essential habitat for many species of wildlife that live nowhere else. Grazing buffalo, deer, and pronghorn as well as burrowing mammals are the iconic animals of this landscape. However, the grasses are the real star of this ecosystem. They can withstand the harsh climate better than any other plants and help to protect the essential topsoil. Without the grasses, we’d have no plant or animal life, just dust. Where are shortgrass prairies in Wyoming? Basically, shortgrass prairie is found in the eastern one-third of Wyoming, in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains. It becomes and replaced by sagebrush grasslands and foothills shrub land as the terrain rises westward toward the Rocky Mountains. rockies.audubon.org plt.wyomingplt.org Shortgrass Prairie Ecosystem Flashcards American Badger Black-tailed Jackrabbit Swift Fox Northern Pocket Gopher Ferruginous Hawk Short-eared Owl Page 1 A rockies.audubon.org plt.wyomingplt.org Shortgrass Prairie Ecosystem Flashcards Western
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature Conservancy's Prairie Wings Project
    The Nature Conservancy’s Prairie Wings Project: A Conservation Strategy for the Grassland Birds of the Western Great Plains1 Bob McCready,2 David Mehlman,3 Danny Kwan,4 and Becky Abel5 ________________________________________ In the second half of the nineteenth century, driven by grass prairies, have shown steeper, more consistent, the cultural mandate of manifest destiny and economic and more geographically widespread declines than any expansion, the North American west was rapidly set- other behavioral or ecological guild of North American tled and permanently altered by hundreds of thousands species (Knopf 1994). of residents from the eastern United States, Canada, Central Mexico and Europe. The first region to fill up In response, The Nature Conservancy’s Migratory Bird with new arrivals was the Great Plains, a “sea of grass” Program created the Prairie Wings project in 2000 with that stretched uninterruptedly, from the prairies of the goal of identifying and protecting critical grassland southern Canada across the middle of the United bird habitat across ten ecoregions (fig. 1) across the States, to the arid grasslands of Northern Mexico – an prairies of Canada, the United States and Mexico. area of both stunning continuity and biological There is an almost complete congruence between these complexity that is the largest biome on the continent. ten ecoregions and the five western Great Plains bird Although it is widely accepted that native peoples conservation regions (Prairie Potholes, Badlands and purposefully altered the prairie landscape primarily Prairies, Shortgrass Prairie, Central Mixed-grass Prairie, through the use of fire, in the last 150 years conversion and Chihuahuan Desert) as adopted by the North to agriculture, fragmentation from urban development, American Bird Conservation Initiative (U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecoregions of North Dakota and South Dakota Hydrography, and Land Use Pattern
    1 7 . M i d d l e R o c k i e s The Middle Rockies ecoregion is characterized by individual mountain ranges of mixed geology interspersed with high elevation, grassy parkland. The Black Hills are an outlier of the Middle Rockies and share with them a montane climate, Ecoregions of North Dakota and South Dakota hydrography, and land use pattern. Ranching and woodland grazing, logging, recreation, and mining are common. 17a Two contrasting landscapes, the Hogback Ridge and the Red Valley (or Racetrack), compose the Black Hills 17c In the Black Hills Core Highlands, higher elevations, cooler temperatures, and increased rainfall foster boreal Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, This level III and IV ecoregion map was compiled at a scale of 1:250,000; it Literature Cited: Foothills ecoregion. Each forms a concentric ring around the mountainous core of the Black Hills (ecoregions species such as white spruce, quaking aspen, and paper birch. The mixed geology of this region includes the and quantity of environmental resources; they are designed to serve as a spatial depicts revisions and subdivisions of earlier level III ecoregions that were 17b and 17c). Ponderosa pine cover the crest of the hogback and the interior foothills. Buffalo, antelope, deer, and elk highest portions of the limestone plateau, areas of schists, slates and quartzites, and large masses of granite that form the framework for the research, assessment, management, and monitoring of ecosystems originally compiled at a smaller scale (USEPA, 1996; Omernik, 1987). This Bailey, R.G., Avers, P.E., King, T., and McNab, W.H., eds., 1994, Ecoregions and subregions of the United still graze the Red Valley grasslands in Custer State Park.
    [Show full text]
  • Fact Sheet #3: Decline of the Shortgrass Prairie
    Fact Sheet #3 Decline of the Shortgrass Prairie Once considered North America’s “Serengeti” for its abundance and variety of wildlife, the Great Plains has been almost entirely converted to farming, ranching, or real estate development. Globally, temperate grasslands are now considered to be the most altered and imperiled ecosystem (Ceballos et al. 2010; Henwood 2010; Savage 2011). Shortsighted land management policies led to aggressive human settlement, conversion to cropland, and over-grazing of the shortgrass prairie. The result was the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s (e.g., Flores 1996; Savage 2011). Conservation biologists describe prairie conservation as, “perhaps the highest priority,” in conserving North American agricultural and natural resources (Sampson and Knopf 1996: xi). Despite some reform, the government still expends significant time, money, and energy maintaining land uses that are largely incompatible with the regional ecology. As a result, dozens of Great Plains species are imperiled and some wider-ranging species occur at low levels or have been extirpated in the region. Many grasslands species are currently listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) or are well on their way to such status. Important examples include the black- footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), listed as endangered (50 C.F.R. § 17.11); the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), a candidate for ESA listing since June 1998 (63 Fed. Reg. 31400-06); and the Sprague’s pipit (Anthus spragueii), a candidate for ESA listing since September 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 56028-50). Wolves (Canis lupus), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis), and large elk herds (Cervus elaphus) have long been extirpated from the shortgrass region.
    [Show full text]
  • Birds of the Nebraska Shortgrass Prairie
    Shortgrass Prairie Region Bird Viewing Tips Red Crossbill 1. Stay quiet and calm. Loxia curvirostra 2. Be discreet — wear muted Size: L: 5.5 - 7.9 in., WS: 11 in. clothing and limit fragrances. Description: Stocky finch with distinct crossed bill, darker 3. Use your ears! Listen for bird songs wings and males red, females and calls. yellow-green. 4. Use binoculars to get a closer Diet: Seeds, mainly conifer Habitat: Coniferous forest look, always keep a respectful Viewing: Year-round, sporadic distance from wildlife. The shortgrass prairie region includes 5. Be patient. 6. Go to where the habitat is — visit House Finch the southwestern corner and Panhandle of state parks and other public lands. Haemorhous mexicanus Nebraska. This area is made up of short to Size: L: 5.0 - 5.5 in., WS: 8.0 - 9.8 in. 7. Do your homework — learn what Birds of the Description: Strong cone beak, mixed grass prairie and the Pine Ridge. The species of birds live in the area. buffy brown with darker streaks, shortgrass prairie is the driest and warmest males have red through head and chest. of the Great Plains grasslands. Nebraska Diet: Seeds This region receives an average of 12 - Habitat: Rural to urban Beaks as Tools Viewing: Year-round, statewide 17 inches of rainfall annually and consists of buffalo grass and blue grama. The Pine Shortgrass Pygmy Nuthatch Ridge is found in northwestern Nebraska Sitta pygmaea Size: L: 3.5 - 4.3 in., WS: 7.75 in. and is dominated by ponderosa pine. More Description: Small body with than 300 species of migratory and resident Prairie larger thin bill, light under, slate above with brown cap.
    [Show full text]
  • Short Grass Prairie Mobile Cut-Out
    Suggested for grades K-5 Hanging Out on the Short Grass Prairie Objective: Students will be able to: 1) better understand the dynamics of a prairie dog town in the short grass prairie ecosystem, 2) identify and recognize some rare species found on the short grass prairie. Method: As an introduction to the unit, students read about animals found on the short grass prairie, including: -prairie dogs -bison -black-footed ferrets -swift foxes -spotted skunks -mountain plovers -ferruginous hawks -Texas horned lizards -rattlesnakes -rodents Student construct mobiles that will serve as a backdrop for further learning about the short grass prairie. Background: If left uneaten, the short grass prairie would never get very tall (unlike the mid/tall grass prairies). Over the last 100 years, approximately 50% of the historic short grass prairie has been converted for uses other than rangeland. Some of the rangeland that remains no longer supports native grasses or prairie dog towns. Prairie dogs are found mostly on the short grass prairies. Prairie dog colonies are unique patches of habitat that attract a wide variety of wildlife. At one time, vast prairie dog towns covered large areas of the Texas Panhandle. Now, less than one percent of these communities remain, widely spaced and scattered. Materials: Photo copied pictures of animals on the short grass prairie, construction paper, glue, string, scissors, and markers. Procedure: 1. Give the students time to read about and color the pictures of the animals that live on the short grass prairie. 2. Cut out the pictures and text descriptions. 3. Mount and label the animals and prairie dog town model on construction paper.
    [Show full text]
  • New Mexico Wildlife Action Plan
    NRCS New Mexico State Wildlife Plan 2014-2017 In conjunction with national NRCS priorities, each state is directed to further define priority species and habitats using locally led processes. In New Mexico, this locally led process was exemplified by the collaborate effort used to develop the “32TComprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy for New Mexico (NMDGF, 2006)32T”. The Strategy was a culmination of two years of efforts on the part of resource professionals, conservation organizations, commodity interests, private individuals, tribal interests, municipal governments, and others to construct a better wildlife conservation overview for New Mexico. Those efforts have presented strategies that address local and state-level conservation needs and which promote wildlife conservation at landscape scales. New Mexico NRCS has incorporated this Strategy into the development of New Mexico’s state-level priorities. As the Strategy is updated, the NRCS state wildlife plan will be revised to reflect those updates. This plan will be used for NRCS conservation programs where wildlife is either the primary emphasis of the program, such as the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) or where “State/Local Wildlife Priorities” are addressed or referenced through other programs. I. STATE WILDLIFE PRIORITIES a. Protect, restore or enhance Key Rare or Declining Habitats. In order to focus conservation actions on those most essential to conserving New Mexico's biodiversity, NRCS adopted the ‘key rare or declining habitats’ from the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. These key habitats are known to support plant and wildlife species which are considered at-risk. In most cases, the loss or degradation of these habitats is a major contributing factor to the decline of those species.
    [Show full text]