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New Wildlife Conservation Technology - Completed Projects
Updated
05/30/2008
Projects by Landuse/Habitat Types:
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(PDF, ) |
The Effects of Selected Conservation Practices (Buffers) on Wildlife
and Plant Communities on the Farm and Landscape Scale - This research
has documented that conservation buffer practices such as filter strips,
riparian corridors, grass waterways, and field borders can enhance
environmental quality through erosion control, herbicide retention, and
wildlife habitat enhancement. Wildlife Scientists in the Mississippi
State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center demonstrated that
these conservation practices simultaneously remove marginal lands from
production while off-setting lost opportunity costs of producers. A
study in Missouri by Mississippi State University concluded erosion was
negligible
with proper techniques, including timing and rotation. Study years
1998-2002.
Conclusion: Rotational strip discing enhances habitat for bobwhite
quail and can be
done with minimal erosive effect. |
| Technical Note - |
| Scientific Findings This document requires Adobe
Acrobat.
CONSERVATION
BUFFERS: Wildlife Benefits in Agricultural Systems - Forest and
Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University (PDF, 532KB)
This document requires Adobe
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Light Disking to Enhance Early Successional Wildlife Habitat in
Grasslands and Old fields: Wildlife Benefits and Erosion Potential
(PDF, 608KB) |
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Diverse plantings in wider filter strips attractive to songbirds (PDF, 229KB) |
The Mississippi River Basin encompasses some of the most
productive agricultural land in the world. It has become increasingly
evident that agricultural activities in Midwestern landscapes have
cumulative effects that extend far beyond the immediate region and may
be impacting the marine resources of the Gulf of Mexico. Riparian areas
within this system provide a critical interface between farmland and
waterways. Their restoration and management is key to protecting the
integrity of both land and water resources in the Mississippi River
Basin.
Conservation buffers (e.g., grassed waterways, filter strips, riparian
forest buffers, shelterbelts, and windbreaks) have been actively
promoted in the Midwest to address regional water quality concerns.
Indeed, buffers were an important component of Minnesota’s first
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (MNCREP) which sought to
improve water quality in the Minnesota River Basin. Under MNCREP
(1998-2003), USDA conservation programs were combined with the state’s
Reinvest in Minnesota program to retire almost 100,000 acres of
environmentally sensitive land in the Minnesota River watershed.
Region-wide, millions of acres of buffers have been established such
that they have become a major component of Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois
landscapes dominated by rowcrop agriculture.
Previous studies have documented high bird use of narrow bands of
perennial cover (hereafter, strip-cover) in intensive agricultural
regions. Thus, although buffers are implemented primarily for the
purpose of improving water quality, the addition of perennial grass
cover to landscapes dominated by rowcrop agriculture also has potential
benefits for grassland-dependent wildlife.
In support of NRCS and its conservation partners in the Midwest,
researchers undertook this study to assess wildlife use of filter strips
in the MNCREP project area relative to site characteristics and
surrounding land uses. MNCREP provided incentives for landowners to
expand the width of buffers beyond 120 feet and plant diverse mixtures
of native plants, so partners were particularly interested in wildlife
responses to added width and diverse seeding mixtures. Researchers here
chose to study grassland birds because they are valuable indicators of
ecosystem health and population declines associated with land use
changes in the upper Midwest are well documented. |
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Technical Note - 190-61 Breeding Bird Use of Minnesota Filter Strips
in Relation to Width, Planting Mixture and Surrounding Land Use |
| Scientific Findings |
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Buffers May Need to be Much Wider to Help Birds
(PDF, 208 KB) |
| This project resulted from a series of workshops held in
eastern Maryland on research needs to determine herbaceous buffer
characteristics to maximize wildlife benefits. Comparisons of wildlife
use between buffer widths of 15-m and 30-m were examined. |
| Technical Note - Original plans for development of a technical note
were foregone due to lack of significant findings. Rather, this project
served as a pilot for more exhaustive work currently underway by
University of Maryland (P. Blank) to study a larger sample of buffers of
varying widths, including buffers >30m wide. |
Scientific Findings -
- EVALUATION OF BUFFER STRIPS IN AGRICULTURAL FIELDS TO PROVIDE
OPTIMUM HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE DIVERSITY
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Grassed
waterways are habitat for birds, snakes (PDF, 229KB) |
| With the loss of over 99% of grasslands in the tallgrass prairie region of North America, grassland dependent wildlife are restricted to scattered prairie remnants and working lands managed for other purposes (e.g., pastures, hayfields). Linear grassland habitats, such as roadsides, field borders, fencerows, and conservation buffers (filter strips, grassed waterways, etc.) constitute a significant proportion of the grassland habitat available to wildlife in the Midwest. Promotion of conservation buffers through the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has resulted in a little over 1.5 million miles of conservation buffers or approximately 5.5 million acres of perennial cover mostly in the form of grass concentrated in the Midwest.
Conservation buffers are implemented to reduce soil erosion, and intercept sediments, pesticides, and nutrients before they enter aquatic habitats. Whereas soil erosion and water quality are the primary purposes of buffers, conservation planners may also have an opportunity to enhance the wildlife value of buffers through design, placement, and management considerations. To identify opportunities for accommodating wildlife in buffers, researchers from Iowa State University evaluated bird and snake use of grassed waterways in southeastern Iowa in relation to buffer width, vegetation characteristics, and composition and configuration of the surrounding landscape.
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Technical Note 190-60 Grassland Bird and Snake Use of Iowa
Grassed Waterways is Influenced by Site and Landscape
Characteristics |
| Scientific Findings |
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Bird
use found similar in warm and cool season grass filter strips (PDF, 205KB)
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| With the loss of over 99% of grasslands in the tallgrass prairie region of North America, grassland dependent wildlife are restricted to scattered prairie remnants and working lands managed for other purposes (e.g., pastures, hayfields). Linear grassland habitats, such as roadsides, field borders, fencerows, and conservation buffers (filter strips, grassed waterways, etc.) constitute a significant proportion of the grassland habitat available to wildlife in the Midwest. Promotion of conservation buffers through the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has resulted in a little over 1.5 million miles of conservation buffers or approximately 5.5 million acres of perennial cover mostly in the form of grass concentrated in the Midwest.
Conservation buffers are implemented to reduce soil erosion, and intercept sediments, pesticides, and nutrients before they enter aquatic habitats. Whereas soil erosion and water quality are the primary purposes of buffers, conservation planners may also have an opportunity to enhance the wildlife value of buffers through design, placement, and management considerations. To identify opportunities for accommodating wildlife in buffers, researchers from Iowa State University evaluated bird and snake use of grassed waterways in southeastern Iowa in relation to buffer width, vegetation characteristics, and composition and configuration of the surrounding landscape.
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Technical Note - 190-64 Grassland Bird Use of Iowa Filter Strips
in Relation to Width, Planting Mixture and Presence of Woody Plants
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| Scientific Findings |
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Delay late hay cuttings to allow birds to re-nest and fledge young (PDF, KB) |
This project examines grassland bird (savannah sparrow and
bobolink) nesting behavior and success in haylands in Vermont under
various forage production management patterns (early-cut, mid-cut, and
late cut) and in grazed pastures. Study years 2001-2007.
Conclusion: Waiting 65 days after a May cutting before the next cut
allows young to
fledge from the nest ahead of the next haying. |
| Technical Note 190- |
Scientific Findings
-A University of Vermont Study comparing nesting success of grassland
birds for various management techniques on working haylands found that
early cut haying caused almost all Savannah Sparrow and Bobolink nests
to fail. But the birds re-nest, and late-hayed fields were found to be
high quality reserves for late-nesting birds.
In recent decades,
earlier and more frequent harvests of agricultural grasslands have been
implicated as a major cause of population declines in grassland
songbirds. From 2002 to 2005, in the Champlain Valley of Vermont and New
York, USA, we studied the reproductive success of Savannah Sparrows (Passerculus
sandwichensis) and Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) on four grassland
treatments: (1) early-hayed fields cut before 11 June and again in
early- to mid-July; (2) middle-hayed fields cut once between 21 June and
10 July; (3) late-hayed fields cut after 1 August; and (4) rotationally
grazed pastures. Both the number of fledglings per female per year and
nest success (logistic-exposure method) varied among treatments and
between species. Although birds initiated nests earlier on early-hayed
fields compared to others, haying caused 99% of active Savannah Sparrow
and 100% of active Bobolink nests to fail. Both the initial cutting date
and time between cuttings influenced renesting behavior. After haying,
Savannah Sparrows generally remained on early-hayed fields and
immediately renested (clutch completion 15.6 ± 1.28 days post-haying;
all values are reported as mean ± SE), while Bobolinks abandoned the
fields for at least two weeks (mean clutch completion 33 ± 0.82 days
post-haying). While female Savannah Sparrows fledged more offspring per
year (1.28 ± 0.16) than female Bobolinks (0.05 ± 0.05), reproductive
success on early-hayed fields was low. The number of fledglings per
female per year was greater on middle-hayed fields (Savannah Sparrows,
3.47 ± 0.42; Bobolinks, 2.22 ± 0.26), and late-hayed fields (Savannah
Sparrows, 3.29 ± 0.30; Bobolinks, 2.79 ± 0.18). Reproductive success was
moderate on rotationally grazed pastures, where female Savannah Sparrows
and female Bobolinks produced 2.32 ± 0.25 and 1.79 ± 0.33 fledgling per
year, respectively.
We simultaneously conducted cutting surveys throughout the Champlain
Valley and found that 3–8% of hayfield habitat was cut by 1–4 June,
25–40% by 12–16 June, and 32–60% by 28 June–2 July. Thus, the majority
of grassland habitat was cut during the breeding season; however,
late-hayed fields served as high-quality reserves for late-nesting
female Bobolinks that were displaced from previously hayed fields. For
fields first cut in May, a 65-day interval between cuts could provide
enough time for both species to successfully fledge young. |
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Ranchettes spell trouble for conservation of native species
(PDF, 157KB) |
| Purpose: This study
examined the impacts of land use on Biodiversity. Specifically, three
indicators of biodiversity: grassland birds, mesopredators, and
vegetation were studied to measure the impacts of appropriately
management rangelands, Protected lands (Colorado Division of Wildlife
property), and exurban development (40 acre ranchette’s) on those
elements. |
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Technical Note 190-75 Effects of Exurban Development on Wildlife and
Plant Communities |
| Scientific Findings
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Find Favored Food, Cover and Other Habitat Needs for
Wildlife in Leaflets (PDF, 238 KB) |
| Purpose: This project involved assembling information
from the technical literature into user-friendly guides to help
conservation planners and landowners develop habitat for individual fish
or wildlife species or species groups. Leaflets were also developed to
address fish and wildlife aspects of various broad habitat categories or
land management issues. For species leaflets, basic life history,
habitat requirements, and management recommendations are provided to
assist planners meet the habitat needs of the featured species. |
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AWCC/Wildlife Team/Wildlife Habitat Council leaflet series.
--cooperatively produced 46 leaflets on the needs and habitat management for various species of fish and wildlife. |
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| Technical Note -
Leaflets
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Butterflies like wide buffer strips with tall native grasses and broadleaf
plants
(PDF, 201KB) |
Purpose: Early agricultural development resulted in the elimination
of most of the prairie and other native habitats that once dominated
Midwestern landscapes. More recently, intensification of rowcrop
agriculture has further reduced other non-native grasslands (e.g.,
pastures, hayfields). Consequently, many species of
grassland-associated wildlife have experienced long-term and widespread
population declines.
To protect soil,
improve air and water quality, conserve biodiversity, beautify the
landscape, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture set a goal of establishing 2 million miles of conservation
buffers by 2002 (USDA Buffer Initiative). Eligible for enrollment under
the continuous signup Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), filter strips
are areas of grass or other permanent herbaceous vegetation used to
intercept undesirable contaminants from surface runoff before they enter
aquatic systems. They are being actively promoted in Iowa and
surrounding states under USDA's Buffer Initiative.
Butterflies are important indicators of
ecosystem function. In support of conservation partners in the Midwest,
researchers undertook this study to (1) document butterfly species
composition and abundance in filter strips, and (2) evaluate the
influence of buffer features and landscape context on butterfly use of
these areas.
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| Technical Note 190-43
Factors Affecting Butterfly Use of Filter Strips in Southwest Minnesota |
| Scientific Findings
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