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The Matador Ranch Grassbank is the most successful grassbank in the country, annually incentivizing conservation actions on over 200,000 acres of participating ranches. Incentives for management actions are in the form of discounts, which reduce the cost of leased grazing at the Matador Ranch. One of the required discounts for participating in the grassbank is a ranch management plan that guides grazing and benefits natural communities and the wildlife dependent upon them. This report details the results of our work to assess resource conditions and craft management plans with eight ranches on over 113,000 acres. Our analysis found that overall ranches implemented grazing management practices that maintained ecological...
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This report provides a final update of work performed for the period beginning December 20, 2010 and ending December 31, 2012. The report describes two umbrella projects: (1) to improve fish passage and landscape connectivity for native species and 2) to determine the thermal effects on fish species sensitive to climate change. The work was performed through a partnership led by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University and the Bozeman Fish Technology Center (BFTC) of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The report is divided into five chapters that provide details on accomplishments to meet specific objectives outlined in our proposal during the period. Several of the projects that...
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In this thesis I explore a derivation of the MSAM using the DDO survey method to create a multispecies dependent double-observer abundance (MDAM) model. I use this tool to explore how two widely used grazing systems affect the abundance of eight songbird species with varying reliance on grassland vegetation in a sagebrush ecosystem.
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The Plains and Prairie Potholes Ecoregion (PPPE), is located in the north-central contiguous United States and is one of the most imperiled grassland regions in the world. Most of the region is privately owned and used for the production of agricultural commodities. In addition to its direct benefits to humanity, the PPPE provides multiple ecosystem services including, soil and water quality improvements, carbon sequestration, weather amelioration, and wildlife habitat. Recent increases in expansion of row crop agriculture concerns conservation practitioners about the long-term integrity of the PPPE. Conservation practitioners are looking to improve their private landowner conservation initiatives in the region....
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A strategy has been suggested for developing regionally specific Rapid Assessment Methods (RAMs) to evaluate wildlife-related issues associated with wind development at specific sites. The RAMs are anticipated to be appropriate for use in situations identified as Tier 1 (preliminary evaluation or screening of potential sites) by the Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A Rapid Assessment Methodology specifically for the U.S. portion of Bird Conservation Region 11, the Prairie Pothole Region, has been developed as a pilot test of the strategy. It has been reviewed by several individuals familiar with the wildlife issues of the region. Discussions are underway regarding integrating the...
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In the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) wetland plant, invertebrate, and waterbird productivity are primarily driven by water-level dynamics in response to climate cycles. Large proportions of wetlands in the PPR have been drained, often consolidating water from smaller to larger-interconnected wetlands. This project will examine whether large basins that receive inflow from consolidation drainage have reduced water-level dynamics in response to climate cycles than those in undrained landscapes, resulting in relatively stable wetlands that have lower densities of invertebrate forage for ducks and shorebirds. We will also include a sample of wetland historically used by piping plovers to assess the threat of consolidation...
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Livestock grazing practices are managed by private landowners and federal and state agencies across the western U.S. Increasingly, grazing strategies by these entities are incorporating conservation objectives and developing goals that include livestock production that is compatible with wildlife conservation objectives. This project evaluates the impact of conservation-oriented, rest-rotation livestock grazing and climate changes on migratory bird species associated with sagebrush habitat to better inform grazing management practices. Rest-rotation grazing management is likely to enhance important components of sagebrush, shrubland, and grassland habitat for a wide range of species, but little work has been done...
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Estimating species abundance is important for land managers, especially for monitoringconservation efforts. The two main survey methods for estimating avian abundance are point counts and transects. Previous comparisons of these two methods have either been limited to a single species or have not included detection probability. During the 2012 breeding season, we compared and assessed the efficiency (precision for amount of effort) of point count time of detection (PCTD) and dependent double-observer transect (TRMO) methods based on detection probabilities and abundance estimates of five species of songbirds that use a range of habitats in a prairie system in Montana dominated by sagebrush and grassland vegetation....
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The habitats and food resources required to support breeding and migrant birds dependent on North American prairie wetlands are threatened by impending climate change. The North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) hosts nearly 120 species of wetland-dependent birds representing 21 families. Strategic management requires knowledge of avian habitat requirements and assessment of species most vulnerable to future threats. We applied bioclimatic species distribution models (SDMs) to project range changes of 29 wetland-dependent bird species using ensemble modeling techniques, a large number of General Circulation Models (GCMs), and hydrological climate covariates. For the U.S. PPR, mean projected range change, expressed...
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The rapid expansion of pattern tile drainage (PTD) to enhance agricultural production in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) has the potential to negatively impact ecosystem services provided by wetlands. To better understand and assess these impacts we will develop a spatial database to provide a regional characterization of areas at risk to PTD. Spatial information in conjunction with existing data and models will be used to make preliminary projections on the effects of PTD on cosystem services such as duck production, water storage and water quality. Spatial information will be used to identify study sites that will be instrumented to quantify and model the effects of PTD systems on wetland hydrology; this information...
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The collection of LiDAR data for the James River basin began in 2010. The detailed surface elevation data will be used for conservation planning, design, research, delivery, floodplain mapping and hydrologic modeling utilizing LiDAR technology. The project area includes part of the James River watershed and adjacent areas in North and South Dakota. The project encompasses 16,825 sq miles and the 2010 phase of the project acquired 8,060 sq miles of LiDAR data and subsequent terrain data. This project represents the second phase with an objective to collect the remaining 8,765 square miles of the project area.
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Identifying the climatic drivers of an ecological system is a key step in assessing its vulnerability to climate change. Theclimatic dimensions to which a species or system is most sensitive – such as means or extremes – can guide methodologicaldecisions for projections of ecological impacts and vulnerabilities. However, scientific workflows for combining climateprojections with ecological models have received little explicit attention. We review Global Climate Model (GCM)performance along different dimensions of change and compare frameworks for integrating GCM output into ecologicalmodels. In systems sensitive to climatological means, it is straightforward to base ecological impact assessments onmean projected...
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Oil development in the Bakken shale region has increased rapidly as a result of new technologies and strongdemand for fossil fuel. This region also supports a particularly high density and diversity of grassland bird species,which are declining across North America. We examined grassland bird response to unconventional oilextraction sites (i.e. developed with hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques) and associatedroads in North Dakota. Our goal was to quantify the amount of habitat that was indirectly degraded by oil development,as evidenced by patterns of avoidance by birds. Grassland birds avoided areas within 150 m of roads(95% CI: 87–214 m), 267 m of single-bore well pads (95% CI: 157–378 m),...
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Many waterbird species utilize a diversity of aquatic habitats; however, with increasing anthropogenic needs tomanage water regimes there is global concern over impacts to waterbird populations. The federally threatened pipingplover (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers) is a shorebird that breeds in three habitat types in the Prairie PotholeRegion of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Canada: riverine sandbars; reservoir shorelines; and prairie wetlands. Watersurface areas of these habitats fluctuate in response to wet–dry periods; decreasing water surface areas exposeshorelines that plovers utilize for nesting. Climate varies across the region so when other habitats are unavailable forplover nesting because of flooding,...
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Conversion of grassland restored under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) back into croplands is occurring at a rapid rate at CRP contracts expire. A fee-market approach may be necessary to incentivize preservation of these restored grassland by assessing value to ecosystems services such as carbon sequestration.
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This project will develop species distribution models (SDM) to evaluate current and future occurrence and density of wetland-dependent birds relative to several predictors, including land use patterns, wetland condition and connectivity, geomorphic setting and climate. These tools will suggest which wetland-dependent bird species appear most vulnerable to climate and land use change based on the expected extent of range change under various scenarios. Knowledge of natural history and habitat associations of species coupled with coefficients from regression models will provide insight into the potential reasons for species vulnerability. This information will be valuable in the development of management strategies.
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Montana's State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) is a comprehensive strategy to maintain the health and diversity of wildlife within the state, including reducing the need for future listings under the Endangered Species Act. Special emphasis is given to addressing wildlife species that have received less attention in the past, including those that are not hunted or fished. All 50 states have developed SWAPs, providing a framework for planning and coordination on wildlife issues that cross state boundaries. The development and implementation of SWAPs is supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Services' State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program.Montana's SWAP addresses a variety of wildlife and habitat management challenges,...
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Temperate grasslands are among earth’s most imperiled ecosystems. In North America,steep declines of endemic songbird populations indicate that grassland loss and degradation may be approaching critical levels. Grasslands are agricultural landscapes largely (~85%) under private ownership with little formal protection status. Remaining bird populations depend on grazing lands that have not been converted to cropland. We combine regional data from a hotspot for grassland bird diversity (northeast Montana,USA; 26,500-km2) with continental data spanning the northern Great Plains (1,000,000- km2) to evaluate how land use and management influence bird distribution and abundance. Regionally, habitat used by seven grassland...
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Grassland ecosystems established under the conservation reserve program (CRP) in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) currently provide soil conservation and wildlife habitat services. We aimed to determine if these lands also sequester soil organic carbon (SOC), as compared with neighboring croplands across multiple farms in the North Dakota PPR. We sampled soil from small plots at 17 private farms in the central North Dakota PPR, where long-term (C15 years) grasslands managed under the CRP were paired with neighboring annual croplands. Cores were collected to 100 cm and split into 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–70, and 70–100 cm soil depth layers. We hypothesized the effect of land use on soil organic carbon (SOC),...


map background search result map search result map LiDAR Data Collection for the James River Watershed and Adjacent Areas in South Dakota and North Dakota Assessment of Pattern Tile Drainage on Wetland Hydrology and Ecosystem Services in the Prairie Pothole Region Capture of Down-Scale Climate Change Models. Part B: The Application of High Resolution Climate Models for Avian Conservation Predicting Bird and Bat Fatality Risk at Wind Farms and Proposed Wind Farm Sites Using Acoustic Ultrasonic Recorders Assessing land use practices on ecological charateristics of sagebrush ecosystems Interactions of Consolidation Drainage and Climate on Water-Level Dynamics, Wetland Productivity, and Waterbirds Rapid Assessment Method for Wildlife Issues at Potential Wind Power Sites Comparison of removal-based methods for estimating abundance of five species of prairie songbirds Assessing changes in Avian Communities Implications of climate change for wetland-dependent birds in the Prairie Potholes Region Designing ecological climate change impact assessments to reflect key climatic drivers Soil Organic Carbon Beneath Croplands and Re-established Grasslands in the North Dakota Prairie Pothole Region North Dakota Expired Conservation Reserve Program Soil Organic Carbon Assessment Final Report Fish Passage in Plains and Prairie Waterways report Montana SWAP Climate Change Chapter Report: Assessing and Implementing Ranch Management Planning at Scale through the Matador Ranch Grassbank Cows and Plows:  Science-based Conservation for Grassland Songbirds in Agricultural Landscapes Report:  Human Dimensions of Habitat Loss in the Plains and Prairie Potholes Ecoregion Land use and wetland drainage affect water levels and dynamics of remaining wetlands Avoidance of unconventional oil wells and roads exacerbates habitat loss for grassland birds in the North American great plains Avoidance of unconventional oil wells and roads exacerbates habitat loss for grassland birds in the North American great plains LiDAR Data Collection for the James River Watershed and Adjacent Areas in South Dakota and North Dakota Report: Assessing and Implementing Ranch Management Planning at Scale through the Matador Ranch Grassbank Cows and Plows:  Science-based Conservation for Grassland Songbirds in Agricultural Landscapes Montana SWAP Climate Change Chapter Rapid Assessment Method for Wildlife Issues at Potential Wind Power Sites Capture of Down-Scale Climate Change Models. Part B: The Application of High Resolution Climate Models for Avian Conservation Predicting Bird and Bat Fatality Risk at Wind Farms and Proposed Wind Farm Sites Using Acoustic Ultrasonic Recorders Assessing land use practices on ecological charateristics of sagebrush ecosystems Comparison of removal-based methods for estimating abundance of five species of prairie songbirds Assessing changes in Avian Communities Implications of climate change for wetland-dependent birds in the Prairie Potholes Region Designing ecological climate change impact assessments to reflect key climatic drivers Soil Organic Carbon Beneath Croplands and Re-established Grasslands in the North Dakota Prairie Pothole Region Fish Passage in Plains and Prairie Waterways report Report:  Human Dimensions of Habitat Loss in the Plains and Prairie Potholes Ecoregion Land use and wetland drainage affect water levels and dynamics of remaining wetlands Interactions of Consolidation Drainage and Climate on Water-Level Dynamics, Wetland Productivity, and Waterbirds North Dakota Expired Conservation Reserve Program Soil Organic Carbon Assessment Final Report Assessment of Pattern Tile Drainage on Wetland Hydrology and Ecosystem Services in the Prairie Pothole Region