Conference Posters Abstracts
Category 6 — Changes in Prairie Health
Do grassland songbirds avoid natural-gas wells?
Presenter: Dr. Stephen Davis
Authors: Holly J. Kalyn Bogard;
Stephen K. Davis
The quantity and quality of remaining grasslands in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, are threatened by expansion of natural gas development. The number of natural gas wells has nearly tripled in the past 10 years. Current management strategies do not consider the effect of natural gas development on grassland birds, as the impacts are not known. We quantified the abundance of grassland birds across a gradient of gas well densities to determine the extent to which natural gas development affects songbird abundance on native grasslands. We conducted 1250 point counts in 105 plots (256 ha) at varying distances from natural gas wells. Well density ranged from 0-16 natural gas wells per 256 ha. We considered the effects of natural gas well density, well distance, and an additive and interactive effect of well density and distance. We recorded 12 grassland songbird species, including four species of high conservation concern; Sprague’s Pipit, McCown’s Longspur, Chestnut-collared Longspur, and Baird’s Sparrow. Effects of natural gas development varied among species. Both Chestnut-collared Longspur and Baird’s Sparrow abundance was positively correlated with distance from natural gas wells in areas with high well density. Sprague’s Pipit and McCown’s Longspur abundance was not correlated with well density or distance to natural gas wells. This information will allow federal and provincial agencies to make informed decisions regarding wildlife and land-use policies associated with natural gas development on native mixed-grass prairie.
Invasive Species Council of Manitoba - 'Invasives Awareness'
Presenter: Cheryl Heming
Author: Cheryl Heming
Invasive Species have in the past and will in the future continue to invade our Prairie Landscape. The Invasive Species Council of Manitoba is dedicated to maintaining a healthy bio-diverse landscape through the prevention, early detection, education and awareness of invasive alien species management.
Reducing crested wheatgrass seed production through prescribed burning and timed intensive grazing in Grasslands National Park of Canada
Presenter: Rob Sissons
Authors: Michael Fitzsimmons; Rafael Otfinowski; Adrian Sturch
Exotic plant invasions pose a growing threat to the endemic diversity and function of ecosystems. In Grasslands National Park of Canada, crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.), a Eurasian species introduced to southwest Saskatchewan to provide spring forage for cattle, continues to invade native prairies from historically seeded areas. Invading plants alter the diversity, structure, and standing biomass of prairies and impact their use by endemic species including plains bison and black-tailed prairie dogs. Here, we present ongoing research to restore areas of native prairie invaded by crested wheatgrass. Using a combination of prescribed burning and timed, intensive grazing Parks Canada has been experimenting with methods to reduce seeds produced by the invading plants. In 2009, a 70 ha site near Two Trees Trail was burned in April and grazed by cattle in June (1.0 AUMs/ha). Ten permanently marked belt transects 1m by 100m were used to assess crested wheatgrass seed head production in late summer of 2008 and 2009: five in a control area and five in the 2009 treatment area. In the absence of grazing and burning, crested wheatgrass seed head production in 2009 exceeded 2008 levels by 190% to 1606%. Mean seed head densities per transect ranged from 5.3 to 18.9 seed heads/m2 in 2009 and from 0.6 to 5.9 seed heads/m2 in 2008. In the treatment area, 2009 seed head production means on transects were 11% to 22% of that observed in 2008. Mean crested wheatgrass seed head densities per transect in the treatment area ranged from 0.2 to 2.1 seed heads/m2 for 2009 (after treatment) and from 2.1 to 10.1 seed heads/m2 for 2008 (prior to treatment). Grazing will continue inside the 2009 burn area during 2010 and 2011 in order to further diminish the seed production by crested wheatgrass. This initial burning and timed, intensive grazing treatment will be followed up by spraying of crested wheatgrass and then seeding of native species. Results of our research will contribute to plans to restore other areas invaded by crested wheatgrass in Grasslands National Park as well as provide valuable methods for the restoration of other areas of native prairie throughout Western Canada.
Preserving the cultural and ecological integrity of the mixed grass prairies in Grasslands National Park
Presenter: Rob Sissons
Authors: Sharon Thomson; Rafael Otfinowski
The conservation of ecological integrity is a priority for Canada's National Parks. Traditionally defined as the conservation of species diversity and the processes that support them, conservation goals also extend to cultural resources. People are part of ecosystems, and in prairies throughout North America human land use over thousands of years has left a rich cultural resource record which provides an invaluable indication of prairie productivity. Here, we present ongoing research exploring the relationship between restoring grazing to prairie landscapes and potential impacts to the cultural resources of Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. Restoring grazing to Grasslands National Park constitutes an effort to increase the ecological integrity of mixed-grass prairies within the Park. Higher standing plant biomass, increased cover of non-native plants, and a decline in the populations of several vertebrate and invertebrate species, indicate that grazing disturbance is integral to the conservation of prairie ecosystems. In a multi-scale, multi-year experiment, the Park is quantifying the impacts of grazing disturbance on the structure, function, and composition of prairie communities. In addition to measuring the impact of grazing on the prairie biodiversity, the condition of cultural resources located throughout the experimental units will be similarly examined for the duration of the experiment. The twenty-six cultural sites selected for monitoring range from small lithic scatters to more extensive features, including rock cairns and tipi rings. Sites were selected at varying distances from water, roads, and fencelines, in both upland and riparian areas, and were distributed among pastures representing the three classes of grazing intensity. At each location, photographs, sketches, and descriptions of the condition of each artifact will serve to quantify changes in the condition of cultural resources. Cultural resource monitoring sites will be revisited over the 10 year course of the grazing experiment; two times in areas grazed at medium and low intensity, and four times in areas grazed at high intensity. Results of this experiment will help quantify the impacts of grazing on cultural sites in Grasslands National Park and contribute to calculating optimal stocking rates. More importantly, this study will help incorporate the protection of cultural resources into the restoration of ecological integrity within protected areas throughout the Prairies.
Alberta Piping Plover Predator Exclosure and Population Monitoring Program
Presenter: Lance Engley
Authors: Lance Engley; Amanda Rezansoff
The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is an endangered shorebird that breeds along the Atlantic Coast, the Great Lakes and the Great Plains in Canada and the US. It nests on gravel beaches often found on waterbodies with fluctuating water levels or highly alkaline conditions. Several factors have led to rapid declines in piping plover populations in Alberta and across North America, including habitat damage, increased pressure from predators and human disturbance.
The first Alberta Piping Plover Recovery Plan was released in 2002. Since that time, the Alberta Conservation Association has been leading a piping plover program that addresses several of the recovery actions identified in the plan. The two primary objectives of the program are to reduce the number of eggs lost to predators through the application of predator exclosures, and to work with landowners and other agencies to implement stewardship activities that help to enhance piping plover habitat in Alberta.
Predator exclosures are small metal cages that are placed over active nests. The mesh used is large enough to allow the incubating adults to pass freely in and out of the exclosure, but small enough that it prevents the primary nest predators (coyotes, foxes, gulls, crows etc) from being able to prey up the eggs. The hatching success of nests which are exclosed is nearly double that of those nests which are not exclosed.
The habitat enhancement component focuses largely on working with landowners to prevent livestock from damaging habitat and trampling nests during the breeding season. This has been accomplished through the installation of temporary or permanent fencing, off-site watering units and implementation of deferred grazing regimes. In addition, educational and cautionary signage has been erected where ATVs use and other human activity is high.
Floristic Quality Assessment of the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve
Presenter: Katrina Hamilton
Authors: Katrina Hamilton; Julie Sveinson Pelc; Laura Reeves; Cary Hamel
One challenge facing land managers is the current lack of a standardized method of measuring the floristic quality of conservation lands. This project aims to address this by developing a floristic quality assessment system specific to the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. The results of this assessment will allow stakeholders to empirically evaluate site quality based on existing data, monitor changes in site quality over time, and assess the effectiveness of habitat restoration efforts.
The assessment system will be based on a floristic quality index, developed by a panel of experts familiar with the preserve’s specific ecological conditions. The index is based on the concept of species conservatism, which is the degree of fidelity to a specific habitat type that a species exhibits. Each individual species is assigned a coefficient value between 0 and 10, which represents their fidelity to the habitat type. Non-native species are assigned a weediness value between -1 and -3, indicating their potential to compromise habitat diversity. The end result is an assessment system that evaluates the floristic quality of a site based on richness of conservative taxa and the presence of potentially noxious weeds. This project will involve the development of two separate indices for application in the upland prairie and sedge meadow habitat types. All findings will be tested against long-term vegetation data to determine the indices’ usefulness as a quantitative measure of site quality.
