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Using funds from an NRDAR settlement, FWS obligated $557,810 ($2011) to TNC of Massachusetts for the purchase of permanent conservation easements on approximately 200 acres of riparian lands along the Housatonic River in Salisbury, Connecticut. Conservation of riparian habitat will help to (1) protect water quality; (2) protect nesting habitat for migratory songbirds and other wildlife, including several rare and endangered plants, turtles, salamanders and dragonflies; and (3) maintain the scenic, agrarian character of the region. These efforts provide a beneficial tradeoff from the harm to the river and associated wildlife caused by historical polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination. Economic Impacts of...
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Characterized by vast acres of sagebrush and pinyon-juniper clad foothills, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Color Country District, located in southern Utah, is home to a variety of species, including greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), antelope (Antilocapra americana), elk (Cervus elaphus), and wild horses (Equus ferus). These species depend on the sagebrush steppe ecosystem historically present in this region. Starting in the late 1800s with the Euroamerican settlement of the west, the sagebrush steppe ecosystem has been rapidly changing into woodlands of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) and pinyon (Blank and others,...
In October 1996, a coal slurry impoundment associated with a coal processing plant owned by Lone Mountain Processing, Inc., in Lee County, Virginia, failed and released six million gallons of coal slurry into the Powell River watershed. “Blackwater,” a mixture of water, coal fines, clay, and associated contaminants, extended more than 20 miles downstream from the spill site. The Powell River watershed is part of the Upper Tennessee River Basin, which comprises one of the nation’s most biologically diverse aquatic ecosystems (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2003). The coal slurry spill affected fish, endangered freshwater mussels, other stream organisms, and supporting aquatic habitat, including designated critical...
Leadville, located in the mountains of Colorado approximately 100 miles west of Denver, was historically a rich mining district. Silver, gold, copper, zinc, manganese, and lead were all mined in the area beginning in the mid-1800s, but mining has since subsided as the main economic driver for the district. Because of environmental contamination from mining activities, the area known as the California Gulch Superfund site was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Priorities List in September 1983. The site covers approximately 18 square miles in and around Leadville, Colorado, and contains thousands of piles of mine waste and drainage sites that discharge into the California Gulch...
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The Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (Crab Orchard NWR) located in southern Illinois is a refuge for humans and wildlife alike, and has a unique history of industry, employment, and restoration. In 1936, the Resettlement Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture purchased land along Crab Orchard Creek to establish the Crab Orchard Lake reservoir as part of a Great Depression era reemployment program. During World War II, the War Department established the Illinois Ordnance Plant on the site to manufacture ammunition and bombs. In 1947, following the war, the land was transferred into the National Wildlife Refuge System. The enabling legislation for the Crab Orchard NWR required the U.S. Fish and...
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The Anacostia Watershed lies within the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, and is one of the most urban watersheds within the basin. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the watershed spans over 175 square miles between Maryland and the District of Columbia and is considered by many to be one of the most degraded waterways in the United States. Watts Branch is a tributary stream of the Anacostia River, and flows into the Potomac River which eventually empties into the Chesapeake Bay. In 2010, several partnerships were formed to restore a section of the Watts Branch stream and riparian area. The restoration efforts were focused on a highly polluted 1.8 mile stretch of the stream, running from the border of Prince...
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Background information. This fuels reduction project, which was conducted by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Rio Puerco Field Office, consisted of woodland habitat restoration in the Zuni Mountains approximately 45 miles south of Grants, New Mexico. Topography of the landscape includes mesas and canyons, with north-facing slopes dominated by stands of ponderosa pine with an open, grassy understory. Like other places in the American West, pinyon and juniper have encroached into open meadows and stands of ponderosa pine, which is most likely because of the lack of a natural fire regime. This change to the wooded landscape has dramatically increased hazardous fuels buildup and the associated risk of wildfire,...
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The Lower Truckee River originates in the Sierra Nevada and flows through public, private, and tribally owned lands, including 31 miles of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (PLPT) reservation, terminating in Pyramid Lake within the reservation. Once remarkably productive, a century of man-made changes have heavily degraded the river system, leaving it inundated with invasive weeds. Significant damage occurred as part of a 1960s flood control project, including river downcutting, depression of the groundwater table, and lowering of Pyramid Lake by as much as 81 vertical feet. By the 1970s, the river had lost roughly 90% of its forest canopy, 40% of its resident bird species, and had no resident Kooeyooe (also spelled...
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The 24-acre Jaite Paper Mill site is located on a natural floodplain at the confluence of the Cuyahoga River and Brandywine Creek at Brecksville, Ohio. The Mill Site is immediately adjacent to the popular Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Originally constructed in 1905, the Mill was operated continuously until 1984, by which time the size of the plant had grown to 180,000 square feet. In 1985, the Mill became part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Fire in October 1992 severely damaged a large part of the plant. After this fire, the plant began deteriorating rapidly and became increasingly dangerous to park staff and visitors. The demolition and removal of the Mill was intended to eliminate a human health and...
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Background information. The Twin Falls District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has experienced an incredible increase in large-scale fires that have completely altered the fire regime across the landscape. These areas were historically a Wyoming sagebrush steppe ecosystem, but are now dominated by large areas of grasses devoid of a shrub component. This vegetation change has resulted in significant loss of sage-grouse habitat and has altered the fire return interval so the area now burns every few years rather than the historic 50- to 75- year interval (Barret and others, 2010). In response to these landscape changes, the BLM has partnered with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (DFG) in an effort to...
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The Agassiz Beach Ridges landscape is located in the Red River watershed of northwestern Minnesota and falls and is within the larger Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). The PPR has been identified as being responsible for producing 50–80 percent of the continent’s waterfowl while accounting for only 10% of the available breeding habitat. It is estimated that less than 1% of Minnesota’s historic native prairie remains intact, with much of the remnant prairie scattered about in small clusters. Restoration of key sites within this landscape has been identified as the most important strategy to create a contiguous expanse of prairie/wetland mosaic and improve the ecological functioning of these systems. In the fall of...
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For thousands of years, much of the San Luis Valley basin of south-central Colorado was made up of a series of lakes, marshes, and shallow playa basins that were integral to the lives of indigenous peoples. By the mid-1900s, the basins had dried up from the diversion of water sources for irrigation and became known as the “Dry Lakes.” In 1965, BLM began a series of wildlife habitat projects to restore some of the historic wetland characteristics and processes, and 9,600 acres of the former “Dry Lakes” area became known as Blanca Wetlands. BLM designated the Blanca Wetlands Area (BWA) as an “Area of Critical Environmental Concern” (ACEC) in 1991, due to its high importance for wildlife and recreational values. Today...
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The desert grasslands found within the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (LCNCA) include some of the rarest habitats in the American Southwest and are home to six endangered species. These grasslands have degraded over the last 100 years into mesquite woodlands due to grazing practices, fire suppression policies, and the introduction of non-native plant species. The loss of grassland has encouraged erosion, reduced watershed function, and decreased available habitat for pronghorn antelope and other species. In 2009 and 2010, BLM implemented a grassland restoration project on over 3,000 acres, out of an identified 20,000 acres of degraded grassland found within the LCNCA. The project has removed mesquite trees...
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BLM has the ability to enter into “Stewardship Contracts” to make forests and rangelands more resilient to natural disturbances. The contracts allow companies and communities to retain forest and rangeland products in exchange for services like thinning trees and brush or removing dead wood. Long-term contracts foster a public-private partnership to restore forest and rangeland health at a savings to taxpayers by allowing contractors to invest in equipment and infrastructure for making wood products or producing biomass energy. The Gerber Stew Stewardship Contract was awarded in September 2004 to a firm based in Bend, Oregon to implement restoration treatments and projects in BLM’s Klamath Falls Resource Area....
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Background information. Characterized by a vast landscape dotted with sagebrush and juniper-clad foothills, the area surrounding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Burley Field Office in Idaho is home to a variety of species, such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), antelope (Antilocapra americana), bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), and pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis). Many of these species depend on the sagebrush steppe ecosystem that was historically present in this region. Starting in the late 1800s with the Euroamerican settlement of the west, this sagebrush steppe ecosystem has been rapidly changing into woodlands dominated by Utah juniper (Juniperus...
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This case study illustrates that even modest restoration projects can provide benefits to the environment and local economy. FWS provided $130,000 ($2011) over 2007–2011 to The Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island (TNC, RI) to implement a nesting habitat management program for the federally threatened piping plover, a shorebird that nests along sandy beaches on the Atlantic coast. The source of the funds was the NRDAR settlement for the North Cape Oil Spill. In 1996, the oil spill adversely impacted piping plover nesting habitat, resulting in fewer chicks produced during the following nesting season. To compensate for these impacts, natural resource trustees (FWS, RI, and NOAA) sought to increase the number of chicks...
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Migrating shorebirds and waterfowl are so dependent on the food supply and stopover estuary habitat in the lower Coquille River that Congress established Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge (OR) in 1983. Through congressionally approved expansion, acquisition, and donation, the Refuge now encompasses 889 acres and is composed of two units: Bandon Marsh and Ni-les'tun (named by the Coquille Tribe and pronounced NYE-les-ton, which means People by the small fish dam). Historically, Ni-les’tun was a diverse tidal wetland like Bandon Marsh but was diked and drained for agricultural purposes beginning in the mid to late 1800s. Restoring 418 acres of the tidal marsh has required FWS and its many partners to collaborate...
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The 2012 fire season was very active in the western United States. Fires began early in the spring in the southwest, and moved into both the intermountain and Great Basin regions by early summer. Southeast Oregon was no exception; the typical fire season in this region begins in late July, but in 2012, it began in early April with several fires burning more than 1,000 acres. Leading up to the 2012 fire season, southeast Oregon had an unusually low snowpack followed by less than normal spring rains, which resulted in very low moisture content in soil and live biomass. Dry sagebrush mixed in with stands of juniper and relatively continuous beds of dry grass dominated the landscape. These dry conditions intensified...
    map background search result map search result map Lone Mountain NRDAR Settlement in the Powell River Watershed Zuni Mountains Forest Restoration Project Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge NRDAR Restoration California Gulch NRDAR Restoration Color Country Sagebrush Steppe Restoration Burley Landscape Sage Grouse Habitat Restoration Twin Falls District Sagebrush Restoration Post-Wildfire Restoration in Southeast Oregon Truckee River Restoration Project Gerber Stew Stewardship Project Blanca Wetlands Restoration Las Cienegas Grassland Restoration Jaite Paper Mill Demolition Glacial Ridge Prairie and Wetland Restoration Ni-les'tun Tidal Marsh Restoration Conservation Easements Along the Housatonic River Piping Plover Nesting Habitat Management Program Watts Branch Urban Stream Restoration Southern NV Public Land Management Act Restoration Watts Branch Urban Stream Restoration Post-Wildfire Restoration in Southeast Oregon Piping Plover Nesting Habitat Management Program Conservation Easements Along the Housatonic River Jaite Paper Mill Demolition Blanca Wetlands Restoration Las Cienegas Grassland Restoration Zuni Mountains Forest Restoration Project Gerber Stew Stewardship Project Ni-les'tun Tidal Marsh Restoration Truckee River Restoration Project Burley Landscape Sage Grouse Habitat Restoration Twin Falls District Sagebrush Restoration Glacial Ridge Prairie and Wetland Restoration