Filters: Tags: Targeted Monitoring and Research (X) > Categories: Data (X)
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Limits on the time and financial resources available for monitoring efforts, coupled with the complexities of natural resources and stakeholders, are challenges in resource monitoring. To help address these and related challenges, the USGS Monitoring Team (MT) has linked conceptual monitoring specialists with habitat and wildlife biologists to inform and develop creative, scientifically defensible approaches for monitoring the status and trends of populations and habitats across the WLCI region. This collaboration has led to spatially balanced monitoring designs that will make it possible to interpret conditions across the WLCI region and a mechanism for integrating species’ distributions and population responses...
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Targeted Monitoring and Research
The New Fork River, located in the northeastern part of the WLCI study area, drains about 1,200 mi2 of land in southeastern Wyoming. Currently, it is an area of active energy exploration and development, including development of conventional natural-gas wells. This study was conducted to support the Sublette County Conservation District in ascertaining effects on water quality in the New Fork River drainage associated with energy development and pipeline crossings of the river in the PAPA. The Sublette County Conservation District (SCCD) collects macroinvertebrate (aquatic insect) samples at eight sites within the PAPA. For this study, the USGS collected periphyton (algae), bed sediment, pebble count, discharge,...
The rapid expansion of natural gas development in Southwest Wyoming has raised concerns about how that development affects key wildlife species and habitats. The overall goal of this project is to determine how the presence and intensity of oil and natural gas development are affecting habitat and water quality, and how they, in turn, can influence the presence and abundance of native fish species. The project addresses the WLCI management needs to identify the condition and distribution of key wildlife species and habitats, and species habitat requirements, and to evaluate wildlife and livestock responses to development. Our approach is a comparative study examining subwatersheds affected by different levels of...
Ongoing energy development in the northern Green River structural basin necessitates information about groundwater resources that supply water to the basin’s wells. Many human activities in that area, including pumping water from the aquifers for agricultural, domestic, and industrial use, and penetration of the heterogeneous (that is, complex intertonguing of layers) aquifers (see Bartos and others, 2015) during deeper drilling for natural gas, have the potential to impact the aquifer system that supplies water to most wells in the area. We initiated this study in FY2012 as “A Retrospective Assessment of Groundwater Occurrence in the Normally Pressured Lance Formation and a Field Reconnaissance of Existing Water...
The mixed mountain shrub community is one of the WLCI priority habitat types and is associated with numerous WLCI conservation priority areas and habitat projects. The current extent and condition of mountain shrub patches is unknown in most of the WLCI region; thus, trends in their condition and mechanisms driving those conditions are also unknown. Ongoing monitoring data from selected stands indicate an overall decline in this community type. Hypotheses as to what is causing the decline range from persistent drought to herbivory and, possibly, factors associated with increased energy development. Our long-term objectives are to measure and map the current conditions and distribution of mixed mountain shrub communities...
Salinity is the sum of dissolved salts in water and can have major effects on surface-water quality in semi-arid regions such as southwestern Wyoming. High levels of salinity can make water unsuitable for wildlife or irrigation. A wide variety of processes influence the salinity of surface waters, including mobilization of salts or concentration of salts already in the water. Disturbance of soils that contain natural salts below the surface can lead to salt mobilization as the exposed salts come into increased contact with water from rain, snowmelt, or streamflow. Because soil disturbance is inevitable with energy development, increased stream salinity is a potential concern in developed watersheds. In 2005, energy...
Consistent with the National Park Service’s philosophy, Fossil Butte National Monument is managed to protect the Monument’s resources and provide opportunities for public enjoyment. Fossil Butte National Monument was created primarily to protect paleontological resources; however, the mandate of the agency’s enabling legislation “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein…” also recognizes the importance of natural process, native wildlife species, and the habitats on which they depend. Sizeable herds of elk spend part of the fall and winter within the Monument’s boundaries and provide numerous viewing opportunities for visitors. Collaboration among the USGS, the National...
The Little Mountain Ecosystem in southwestern Wyoming has been identified as a priority area for conservation by the BLM and the WGFD. The woodlands of the Little Mountain Ecosystem have been affected by multiple disturbance types over the last 20 years. Active management of these ecologically important woodlands has sought to rejuvenate decadent aspen stands and reduce conifer expansion in successional aspen stands through prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. The area also experienced wildfires and multiple drought years over the last decade. The BLM Rock Springs Field Office asked the USGS to conduct research that provides baseline information on the Little Mountain Ecosystem woodlands. This project is designed...
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