A Survey for Endangered and Threatened Species on the .Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant, Johnson County, Kansas Craig C. Freeman and William H. Busby No. 54 November 15, 1993 A SURVEY FOR ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES ON THE SUNFLOWER ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT, JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS November 15, 1993 FINAL REPORT Craig C. Freeman and William H. Busby Kansas_ Natural Heritage Inventory Kansas Biological Survey University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 66047-2906 Kansas Biological Survey Report No. 54 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. List of Figures....................................................................................... iii II. List of Tables....................................................................................... iii Ill. Abstract.............................................................................................. iv IV. Introduction......................................................................................... 1 V. Methods.............................................................................................. 3 VI. Results................................................................................................ 7 A. Natural Communities Terrestrial.................................................................................. 7 Palustrine................................................................................... 8 Riverine..................................................................................... 9 Successional and other disturbed sites........................................... 9 8. Plants Mead's milkweed, Running buffalo clover, and Western prairie fringed orchid....................................................... 1 0 Earleaf foxglove, Hairy false mallow, and Ozark dropseed................ 11 Other rare species....................................................................... 1 2 Floristic survey ............................................................... ~........... 1 2 C. Animals American burying beetle.............................................................. 18 Bald eagle.................................................................................. 18 Eskimo curlew............................................................................ 19 Least tern.................................................................................. 1 9 Peregrine falcon.......................................................................... 19 Piping plover.............................................................................. 1 9 Whooping crane.......................................................................... 20 Hornyhead chub......................................................................... 20 Common map turtle.................................................................... 21 Plains spotted skunk................................................................... 21 Red belly snake........................................................................... 21 Snowy plover............................................................................. 22 Smooth earth snake.................................................................... 22 White-faced ibis.......................................................................... 22 Cerulean warbler......................................................................... 23 Clanton's cave amphipod............................................................. 23 Crawfish frog............................................................................. 24 Eastern hog nose snake................................................................ 24 Henslow's sparrow..................................................................... 25 Loggerhead shrike....................................................................... 25 Prairie mole cricket...................................................................... 27 Regal fritillary................................................................ ........ ..... 27 Faunistic survey.......................................................................... 27 VII. Conclusions......................................................................................... 27 VIII. Acknowledgements.............................................................................. 29 IX. Literature Cited..................................................................................... 29 X. Appendix A. Checklist of vascular plants of Johnson County and the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant.................................................... 32 XI. Appendix B. List of vertebrates known and possibly occurring at Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant......................................................... 49 XII. Appendix C. American burying beetle surveys for 1992 XIII. Appendix D. American burying beetle surveys for 1993 XIV. Appendix E. Managed area basic record and element occurrence records for Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of Johnson County, Kansas ................................................................ .4 Figure 2. Map of areas surveyed for protected and rare plants on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ............................................................ 14 Figure 3. Map of areas surveyed for protected and rare animals on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ............................................................ 16 Figure 4. Map of element occurrences on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant .................................................................................... 1 7 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Species protected by federal and/or state laws and potentially occurring on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ..................................... 5 Table 2. Summary of areas surveyed for protected and rare plants on the Sunflower Army Ammuniton Plant ............................................................. 13 Table 3. Summary of areas surveyed for protected and rare animals on the Sunflower Army Ammuniton Plant ............................................................. 1 5 Table 4. Summary of loggerhead shrike sightings on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ........................................................................... 26 iii ABSTRACT Field surveys were conducted in 1993 to determine the status and locations of threatened and endangered species on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (SFAAP) in Johnson County, Kansas. Preliminary field assessments were conducted during March to determine the suitability of various habitats for threatened and endangered species. Habitat potentially suitable for three plant species (Asclepias meadii - Mead's milkweed, Platanthera praeclara - Western prairie fringed orchid, and Trifolium stoloniferum - Running buffalo clover) and four animal species (Nicrophorus americanus - American burying beetle, Lanius /udovicianus - Loggerhead shrike, Storeria occipitomacu/ata - Redbelly snake, and Virginia valeriae - Smooth earth snake) was identified. Life history information was used to develop a survey schedule that maximized the likelihood of finding these species if they existed on the installation. Survey techniques appropriate for target species were employed during searches. Except for the loggerhead shrike, no populations of target species were found. Shrikes were observed throughout the installation, which provides abundant nesting and foraging habitat for the species. These results do not preclude the possibility of small, isolated populations of threatened and endangered species occurring on SFAAP, but the limited amount of habitat for most of these species makes the likelihood of their presence remote. During the study, data were gathered about other rare plants and animals, natural communities, and the biota of the installation. Occurrences of two state-rare plants, Hydrophy/lum appendicu/atum and Wolffia brasiliensis, were discovered. An exemplary occurrence of eastern floodplain forest known since the 1960s was surveyed and characterized. A checklist of vertebrates known to occur or possibly occurring on SFAAP was assembled from information in the Kansas Natural Heritage Inventory databases. Also·, a checklist of vascular plants for Johnson County and SFAAP was compiled from field surveys and data in the R.L. McGregor Herbarium/Kansas Biological Survey Plant Database. Over 400 species of vascular plants were confirmed on SFAAP from floristic surveys. Despite very few occurrences of protected· and rare species, the wide variety of habitats on the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant supports a biotic assemblage typical for similar sites. in northeastern Kansas. Further work on private land adjacent to the installation is needed to ascertain the full significance of many of the natural features of the plant. iv INTRODUCTION The Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (SFAAP) is located in extreme eastern Kansas in northwest Johnson County (Figure 1 ). The site is approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Olathe, Kansas. The military installation is government-owned and contractor­ operated and under the command of the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (Department of the Army 1978). The Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant covers more than 9,000 acres and is roughly rectangular in shape. It is situated on a broad, north-south trending ridge south of the Kansas River between Kill Creek and Captain Creek. Uplands are mostly gently rolling, with gentle to moderately steep slopes along larger creeks. Floodplains are level to undulating.