A NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF THE FT. LEAVENWORTH MILITARY RESERVATION, LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, KANSAS. II Open-file Report No. 117 December 31, 2003 Kansas Natural Heritage Inventory Kansas Biological Survey 2101 Constant Avenue Lawrence, KS 66047-3759 A NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF THE FT. LEAVENWORTH MILITARY RESERVATION, LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, KANSAS. II Cover Photo: Understory of Pecan-Hackberry Floodplains Forest on Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation. Photo by Craig. C. Freeman, 2003. Citation: Freeman, C. C, W. H. Busby, J. Delisle, W. D. Kettle, K. Kindscher, H. Loring, C. A. Morse, and V. B. Salisbury. 2003. A natural areas inventory of the Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation, Leavenworth County, Kansas. II. Open-file Report No. 117. Kansas Biological Survey. Lawrence, KS. 199 pp. Assume corporate authorship for chapters and appendices except where stated otherwise. Chapters and appendices with individual authors may be cited as in the following example: Loring, H. 2003. Natural communities. Pp. 13–46. In: Freeman, C. C., W. H. Busby, J. Delisle, W. D. Kettle, K. Kindscher, H. Loring, C. A. Morse, and V. B. Salisbury. Natural areas inventory of Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation, Leavenworth County, Kansas. II. Open-file Report No. 117. Kansas Biological Survey. Lawrence, KS. 199 pp. TABLE OF CONTENTS List Of Figures ............................................................................................................................................................. iii List Of Tables ................................................................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. Background ................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. DETAILED STUDY OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................ 2 1.3. STUDY AREA ................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.4. LAND USE HISTORY AND VEGETATION ................................................................................................. 6 1.5. PROTECTED AND RARE SPECIES .............................................................................................................. 7 1.6. PREVIOUS STUDIES ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2. Natural Communities ................................................................................................................................ 13 2.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 13 2.2. METHODS ..................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................... 14 Forest Communities ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Herbaceous Communities .................................................................................................................................. 33 Sparse Vegetation Communities ........................................................................................................................ 37 Successional Areas ............................................................................................................................................. 38 2.4. SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 3. Animals ..................................................................................................................................................... 44 3.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 44 3.2. METHODS ..................................................................................................................................................... 46 3.3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................... 48 Species Accounts–Federal-listed Species ........................................................................................................... 50 Species Accounts–State-listed Species ............................................................................................................... 55 Species Accounts–Kansas Species in Need of Conservation (SINC).................................................................. 58 Species Accounts–Former Federal Candidate Species ...................................................................................... 63 Species Accounts–Other Rare Species ............................................................................................................... 64 Faunistic Surveys ............................................................................................................................................... 65 3.4. SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 4. Plants ......................................................................................................................................................... 77 4.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 77 4.2. METHODS ..................................................................................................................................................... 78 4.3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................... 78 Floristic Surveys ................................................................................................................................................ 80 Federal-listed Species ........................................................................................................................................ 85 State-rare Species .............................................................................................................................................. 85 4.4. SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 5. Management Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 110 5.1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 110 5.2. LANDSCAPE ISSUES AND FACTORS INFLUENCING THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE FT. LEAVENWORTH MILITARY RESERVATION ............................................................................................... 110 NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAVENWORTH II i 5.3. RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 112 Chapter 6. Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 120 Literature Cited .......................................................................................................................................................... 124 Appendix A. Directions to vegetation plots. ............................................................................................................. 131 Appendix B. Checklist of vertebrates known to occur or possibly occurring on the Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation. ............................................................................................................................................................... 135 Appendix C. Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Leavenworth County and the Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation (FLMR). ................................................................................................................................................. 146 Appendix D. A report on a field survey of summer bats on FLMR. ......................................................................... 178 Appendix E. Report on a 2003 field survey of snakes on FLMR. ............................................................................ 183 Appendix F. Exotic and Invasive Plant Species of Concern. ...................................................................................