AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS CONFERENCE WORKING ACROSS BOUNDARIES PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON THE CONSERVATION OF AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS AUGUST 20 – 22, 2019 • BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA FIFTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON THE CONSERVATION OF NORTH AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS: Conference Proceedings 1 AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS CONFERENCE: WORKING ACROSS BOUNDARIES PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON THE CONSERVATION OF AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS August 20 - 22, 2019 Bismarck, North Dakota Edited by Lekha Knuffman, National Wildlife Federation Published December 2020 by National Wildlife Federation Suggested citation: Knuffman, L., ed. 2020. America’s Grasslands Conference: Working across Boundaries. Proceedings of the 5th Biennial Conference on the Conservation of America’s Grasslands. August 20-22, 2019, Bismarck, ND. Washington, DC: National Wildlife Federation. Cover photo: Sand Ranch/Julie Sibbing National Wildlife Federation 1200 G Street, NW, Suite 900 Washington, D.C. 20005 www.nwf.org 2 FFIFTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON THE CONSERVATION OF NORTH AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS: Conference Proceedings CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE PROCEEDINGS .............................................................................1 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE.........................................................................................................2 NORTH DAKOTA PLANNING COMMITTEE............................................................................2 CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS........................................................................................................2 CO-HOSTS........................................................................................................................................2 SPONSORS ......................................................................................................................................3 PLENARY PRESENTATION ..........................................................................................................5 PRESENTATIONS ............................................................................................................................7 1.TRACKING THE THREATS, DRIVERS, AND STATUS OF CONVERSION OF GRASSLANDS AND GRASSLAND INVENTORIES ...............................................................7 An online tool for monitoring cumulative grassland loss across the North American Great Plains: the Plowprint...........................................................................................................................................7 Environmental and habitat impacts of U.S. grassland conversion...................................................................10 Tyler J. Lark, University of Wisconsin-Madison Development of New Grassland Inventory Methods and Protocols and South Dakota Results ...........................13 Pete Bauman, South Dakota State University ...........................................................14 Pete Bauman, South Dakota State University AUseutomated of LIDAR mapping to Refine of theintact South grasslands Dakota Nativeand applications Grasslands in Inventory the Midwest and U.S. .........................................15 Tyler Lark, University of Wisconsin-Madison Assessing Grassland Distribution and Change across the North American Great Plains to Inform Conservation...16 Sean Fields, Prairie Pothole Joint Venture 2. GRAZING AND MANAGEMENT...........................................................................................20 Using Adaptive Management to Improve Tallgrass Prairie............................................................................20 Marissa Ahlering, The Nature Conservancy ........................................................................................................................23 Simulated Kirsten watershed-scale Holland Robertson, impacts Pecan of Dale grazing Farmstead management practices on streamflow characteristics Fromand downstream Dairy to Prairie flooding...............................................................................................................................28 Julie Mattox, Landowner/Ecologist 3. GRASSLAND DEPENDENT WILDLIFE...............................................................................30 NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife 2.0 Bobwhite in Grasslands Initiative .........................................................30 Grasshopper Sparrow Density and Nest Survival on Continuously-Grazed Native Warm-Season Grass Pastures in the Fescue Belt ..............................................................................................................31 Kyle A. Brazil, University of Tennessee Population Responses of Northern Bobwhite and Grassland Birds to the Conservation Reserve Program within the NBCI Coordinated Implementation Program ..................................................................31 Thomas Dailey, National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative Success of a grassland-based approach as the foundation to northern bobwhite management in the Midwest ....32 Frank Loncarich, Missouri Department of Conservation Fences Reduce Habitat for a Partially Migratory Ungulate in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe............................32 Andrew Jakes, National Wildlife Federation Bison managed as wildlife: GIS map...........................................................................................................35 Chamois Andersen, Defenders of Wildlife Developing Innovative Solutions for Human-Bison Co-Existence across North America ...................................36 Ana Davidson, Colorado State University FIFTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON THE CONSERVATION OF NORTH AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS: Conference Proceedings ii 4. GRASSLANDS AND POLLINATORS...................................................................................38 Assessing Landscape Suitability for Pollinators in the United States Great Plains ............................................38 Neal Niemuth, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat and Population Evaluation Team Rangeland Management Practices to Support Pollinators in the Great Plains ..................................................40 Ray Moranz, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation/NRCS ......................................................40 Brooke Karasch, School of Natural Resource Sciences, North Dakota State University SurvFire Caneying Positively bee communities Influence and Butterfly their associatedAbundance resources in Mixed-Grass across Prairie North Dakota............................................42 Chyna Pei, School of Natural Resource Sciences, North Dakota State University Conservation of native plant-pollinator interactions in North Dakota grassland working landscapes.................42 Cayla Bendel, Pheasants Forever Understanding the Linkage Between Land-use Change, Pollinator Health, and Pollination................................43 Services in the Northern Great Plains Clint Otto, US Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Applications of the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program........................................................................44 Laura Lukens, Monarch Joint Venture 5. GRASSLAND BIRDS................................................................................................................47 Birds, Herds, and Stewards: Sustainable Working Lands for the Future..........................................................47 Elizabeth Emeline, American Bird Conservancy Restoring Quail Habitat on Working Lands Through a Targeted Community Based Approach...........................50 Ryan Diener, Pheasants Forever, Inc. & Quail Forever A Full Annual-Cycle Conservation Strategy for Sprague’s Pipit, Chestnut-collared and McCown’s Longspurs, and Baird’s Sparrow.................................................................................................51 Scott Somershoe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grassland birds and livestock: Finding common ground in the Northern Great Plains .....................................52 Neal Niemuth, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat and Population Evaluation Team 6. GRAZING MANAGEMENT AND DECISION-MAKING...................................................54 Barriers towards Rotational or Management Intensive Grazing Practice: Views of Non-adopters from U.S. Great Plains..........................................................................................................54 Tong Wang, South Dakota State University Understanding Grazing Management Intensity Choices on the U.S. Great Plains..............................................56 Yuyuan Che, Michigan State University Converting cropland to grass: the role of management intensive grazing........................................................60 Tong Wang, South Dakota State University 7. LANDOWNER PERSPECTIVES............................................................................................62 Metrics & Problem Solving .......................................................................................................................62 Pete Kronberg, North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition .................................................................................................64 Kevin Watt, TomKat Ranch NatiProfilesve Grasslands, of Regenerative Livestock Ranching Producers Success as Ecologists...................................................................................64 Karl Ebel, Grasslands Manager and Producer, Sulphur Bluff, Texas Ranching for the Future............................................................................................................................67