Life Sciences Commons^™

Watershed Scale Impacts Of Buffers And Upland Conservation Practices On Agrochemical Delivery To Streams, Thomas G. Franti, Dean E. Eisenhauer, Mary Carla Mccullough, L. M. Stahr, Mike Dosskey, D. D. Snow, Roy F. Spalding, Alan L. Boldt

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Conservation buffers are designed to reduce sediment and agrichemical runoff to surface water. Much is known about plot and field scale effectiveness of buffers; but little is known about their watershed scale impact. Our objective was to estimate the watershed scale impact of grass buffers by comparing sediment and agrichemical losses from two adjacent 141-165 hectare watersheds, one with conservation buffers and one without. Rainfall derived runoff events from 2002-2003 were monitored for water runoff, TSS, phosphorous and atrazine loss. A conservation-watershed included 0.8 km of grass buffers and 0.8 km of riparian forest buffer, ridge-tilled corn, corn-beans-alfalfa rotation, terraces …

Where Should Buffers Go? Modeling Riparian Habitat Connectivity In Northeast Kansas, Gary Bentrup, Todd Kellerman

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Through many funding programs, riparian buffers are being created on agricultural lands to address significant water quality problems. Society and landowners are demanding many other environmental and social services (e.g., wildlife habitat and income diversification) from this practice. Resource planners therefore need to design riparian buffer systems in the right places to provide multiple services. However, scientific guidance for this is lacking. We developed a geographic information system (GIS)-based assessment method for quickly identifying where buffers can be established to restore connectivity of riparian areas for the benefit of terrestrial wildlife. An area in northeastern Kansas was selected to evaluate …

Historical Evidence Of Riparian Forests In The Great Plains And How That Knowledge Can Aid With Restoration And Management., Elliot West, Greg Ruark

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

While some argue that the Great Plains were dominated by grasslands and that riparian woodlands were rare, others contend that trees would logically have occurred in riparian areas due to favorable microenvironment conditions. Historically, what native plant communities were found in riparian zones of the Great Plains? The answers to this question depend to a large extent on what time period is used as a reference of pre-settlement conditions.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1981) drew upon conditions in 1905 for insight and concluded that trees were “wholly absent” or consisted of scattered cottonwood and willow. However, such a …

Working Trees For The 2002 Farm Bill

Working Trees (USDA-NAC)

The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm Bill) has been hailed as the single most significant commitment toward conservation on private lands in the Nation's history. Landowners can benefit from a portfolio of voluntary services. The conservation provisions can assist farmers and ranchers in meeting environmental and production challenges on their land. This legislation modifies existing programs and creates some new programs. The 2002 Farm Bill provides many opportunitiesy to enhance the long-term quality of our environment and the conservation of our natural resources.

Agroforestry has come a long way in the United States in the last …

Green-Ampt Infiltration Parameters In Riparian Buffers, L. M. Stahr, Dean E. Eisenhauer, M. J. Helmers, Mike Dosskey, Thomas G. Franti

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Riparian buffers can improve surface water quality by filtering contaminants from runoff before they enter streams. Infiltration is an important process in riparian buffers. Computer models are often used to assess the performance of riparian buffers. Accurate prediction of infiltration by these models is dependent upon accurate estimates of infiltration parameters. Of particular interest here are Green-Ampt infiltration parameters, satiated hydraulic conductivity (K_o) and wetting front suction (h_f). The objectives of this research were to (i) modify the Smith sorptivity procedure so that it can be used to estimate Green-Ampt infiltration parameters, (ii) Determine the relative …

Simulating The Dynamics Of Linear Forests In Great Plains Agroecosystems Under Changing Climates, Qinfeng Guo, James R. Brandle, Michele M. Schoeneberger, D. Buettner

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Most forest growth models are not suitable for the highly fragmented, linear (or linearly shaped) forests in the Great Plains agroecosystems (e.g., windbreaks, riparian forest buffers), where such forests are a minor but ecologically important component of the land mosaics. This study used SEEDSCAPE, a recently modified gap model designed for cultivated land mosaics in the Great Plains, to simulate the effects of climate change on the dynamics of such linear forests. We simulated the dynamics of windbreaks with different initial planting species richness and widths flight changes as the selected resulting factor) using current climate data and nested regional …

Computer-Based Tools For Decision Support In Agroforestry: Current State And Future Needs, E. A. Ellis, G. Bentrup, M. M. Schoeneberger

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Successful design of agroforestry practices hinges on the ability to pull together very diverse and sometimes large sets of information (i.e., biophysical, economic and social factors), and then implementing the synthesis of this information across several spatial scales from site to landscape. Agroforestry, by its very nature, creates complex systems with impacts ranging from the site or practice level up to the landscape and beyond. Computer-based Decision Support Tools (DST) help to integrate information to facilitate the decision-making process that directs development, acceptance, adoption, and management aspects in agroforestry. Computer-based DSTs include databases, geographical information systems, models, knowledge-base or expert …

Bank Stabilization, Riparian Land Use And The Distribution Of Large Woody Debris In A Regulated Reach Of The Upper Missouri River, North Dakota, Usa, Ted R. Angrandi, E William Schweiger, David W. Bolgrien, Peter Ismert, Tony Selle

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Staff Publications

Large woody debris (LWD) is an important component of ecosystem structure and function in large floodplain rivers. We examined associations between LWD distribution and riparian land use, bank stabilization (e.g. riprap revetment), local channel geomorphology, and distance downriver from the dam in the Garrison Reach, a regulated reach of the upper Missouri River in North Dakota, USA. We conducted a survey of shoreline-associated LWD in the reach during typical summer flow conditions. Reachwide LWDdensity was 21.3 pieces km^-1 of shoreline, of which most pieces (39%) were ‘beached’ between the waterline and the bank full level, 31% of pieces had evidence …

Fire In Southern Appalachians: Fuels, Stand Structure And Oaks, David L. Loftis, Mary A. Arthur, Rex Mann, Jeffrey Lewis

JFSP Research Project Reports

Managers responsible for maintaining the diversity and productivity of Southern Appalachian forests are increasingly turning to prescribed fire as an important management tool in oak dominated forests. The decision to use fire with increasing frequency and spatial extent is based, in part, on an emerging sense of the prehistoric significance of fire in this landscape and its potential to control the proliferation of fire-sensitive competitors in contemporary forests. While it is well documented that fire has been an important ecological force in Southern Appalachian forests for a very long time, there has been little research to demonstrate that prescribed fire …

The Effects Of Habitat Resolution On Models Of Avian Diversity And Distributions: A Comparison Of Two Land-Cover Classifications, Joshua Lawler, Raymond O'Connor, Carolyn Hunsaker, K. Bruce Jones, Thomas Loveland, Denis White

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Quantifying patterns is a key element of landscape analysis. One aspect of this quantification of particular importance to landscape ecologists is the classification of continuous variables to produce categorical variables such as land-cover type or elevation stratum. Although landscape ecologists are fully aware of the importance of spatial resolution in ecological investigations, the potential importance of the resolution of classifications has received little attention. Here we demonstrate the effects of using two different land-cover classifications to predict avian species richness and the occurrences of six individual species across the conterminous United States. We compared models built with a data set …

Genetic Diversity And Structure Of The Fisher (Martes Pennanti) In A Peninsular And Peripheral Metapopulation, Samantha M. Wisely, Steven W. Buskirk, Gregory A. Russell, Keith B. Aubry, William J. Zielinsky

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Evolutionary processes can be strongly affected by landscape features. In vagile carnivores that disperse widely, however, genetic structure has been found to be minimal. Using microsatellite DNA primers developed for other mustelids, we found that populations of a vagile forest carnivore, the fisher (Martes pennanti), exhibit high genetic structure (F_ST = 0.45, SE = 0.07) and limited gene flow (Nm < 1) within a .1,600-km narrow strip of forested habitat; that genetic diversity decreases from core to periphery; and that populations do not show an equilibrium pattern of isolation-by-distance. Genetic structure was greater at the periphery than at the core of the distribution and our data fit a 1-dimensional model of stepping-stone range expansion. Multiple lines of paleontological and genetic evidence suggest that the fisher recently (<5,000 years ago) expanded into the mountain forests of the Pacific coast. The reduced dimensionality of the distribution of the fisher in western coastal forests appears to have contributed to the high levels of structure and decreasing diversity from north to south. These effects were likely exacerbated by human-caused changes to the environment. The low genetic diversity and high genetic structure of populations in the southern Sierra Nevada suggest that populations in this part of the geographic range are vulnerable to extinction.

On The Road: Workable Solutions To The Problems Of Roads And Highways, Mary M. Rowland

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Fourteen authors, ranging from transportation specialists to ecologists, have collaborated to write this very useful compendium describing the newly minted discipline of "road ecology." The authors state that road ecology "uses the science of ecology and landscape ecology to explore, understand, and address the interactions of roads and vehicles with their surrounding environment." The book is not aimed at ecologists; rather, the book's intended primary audience is people associated with transportation, including engineers, planners, environmental specialists, economists, and social scientists. This perspective is one of the most beneficial aspects of the book. Although a large body of road-related literature is …

Biology And Biological Control Of Purple Loosestrife, Linda M. Wilson, Mark Schwarzlaender, Bernd Blossey, Carol Bell Randall

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, is a member of the Loosestrife family (Lythraceae). It is a large, perennial, wetland plant that can grow up to 9 feet (3 m) tall. It was introduced to the northeastern United States and Canada in the 1800s from Europe, probably as seed contained in soil used as ship’s ballast. It was also brought to North America for ornamental and medicinal purposes.

A Nebraska Log Cabin, Marvin Liewer

Nebraska Forest Service: Publications

Nebraska pioneers built their homes with materials that were locally available. The prairie often dictated the use of sod. However, logs were generally used when trees were available. Today, logs are used in construction of country homes, vacation cabins, and hunting lodges despite modern construction materials. Log construction is aesthetically pleasing and energy efficient.

In 1994, I began building a log cabin along the Niobrara River near Butte, Nebraska. My goal was to build an attractive, comfortable cabin using local wood products. I used ponderosa pine logs for the walls. Bur oak and green ash lumber was used for window …

Determining The Need To Fertilize Landscape Trees And Shrubs, District/Extension Forester, Extension Soils Specialist, State Extension Forester

Nebraska Forest Service: Publications

Most Nebraska soils are fertile enough to support tree and shrub growth without applying fertilizer. However, when woody plants exhibit poor growth or reduced vigor, yet have had adequate moisture and are not experiencing pest problems or other environmental limitations, the proper application of fertilizer may be necessary.

Care Of Newly Planted Trees, David P. Mooter, Mark O. Harrell, Laurie J. Stepanek

Nebraska Forest Service: Publications

Landscape trees provide beauty and utility. The care they receive during the first few years after planting is critical. This NebGuide discusses recommended cultural practices for young trees. Many recommendations have changed drastically in recent years in light of new and more thorough research.