A natural resource condition assessment for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Appendix 13 – meadows.
Hopkinson P, Hammond M, Bartolome J, Brooks M, Berlow EL, Klinger R, Matchet JR, Moore P, Ostoja S, Soulard C, Joppa L, Williams R, Alvarez O, Guo Q, Haultain S, Frenzel E, Saah D. 2013. A natural resource condition assessment for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Appendix 13 – meadows.. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SEKI/NRR—2013/665.13. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Although relatively rare features of the Sierran landscape (Davis and Stoms 1996), meadows and wetlands provide critical habitat for a wide array of plants and animals (Kattelmann and Embury 1996) and support disproportionately high levels of biodiversity relative to their extent (Ratliff 1982). Meadows play an important role in the life cycle of many invertebrate and amphibian species, and provide a wide variety of ecosystem services such as nutrient retention, flood control, and sediment storage (Johnston 1991, Richardson 1994, Smith et al. 1995, Semlitsch and Bodie 1998, Zedler and Kercher 2005). Meadows also serve as destinations for the many visitors who are attracted by their aesthetic qualities and also for those travelling with pack stock, which rely on meadows for forage for their animals. As such meadows have become focal points of social and legal conflict regarding land management policy in the Sierra Nevada. For these reasons, meadows were selected as a focal resource in the context of the Natural Resource Condition process. Meadows occur primarily throughout the montane and subalpine zones of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. For the purposes of this chapter, meadows include dry, moist, and wet meadows, fens, and low-gradient riparian complexes. The vegetation in these systems is dominated by perennial grasses and sedges, but can also support a fairly diverse assemblage of dicots, and frequently includes a significant non-vascular component. Woody species (e.g., willow or emergent conifers) may be locally dominant. Emergent trees generally reflect the composition of the surrounding upland vegetation. Moist and wet meadows are characterized by a palustrine hydrologic regime, and have standing water present for at least part of the growing season. Dry meadows occupy upland habitats and are often characterized by thread leaf sedge (Carex filifolia), which forms extensive stands in the subalpine and alpine of the two parks. Meadows form on gentle to moderately sloping surfaces primarily in canyon bottoms; although they are also found on low, mid and high slopes. The 2007 SEKI vegetation map documents a total of 6,371 ha (15,744 acres) of meadow vegetation between the elevations of 575 and 3940 m (1888 and 12,925 feet). Meadows are subject to both annual and episodic flooding events and occasional fires. Meadow vegetation composition is strongly correlated with various metrics of water availability (e.g., seasonal water table dynamics and surface soil moisture patterns) and thus may be very sensitive to changes in the timing and amount of water delivery, largely driven by snowpack dynamics. Due to their ecological importance and as one of the few habitats subject to consumptive use in the Sierran national parks, meadows have long been the focus of both academic and management interest.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hopkinson, Peter; Hammond, Michele; Bartolome, James; Brooks, Matt; Berlow, Eric; Klinger, Rob; Matchet, J.; Moore, Peggy; Ostoja, Steven; Soulard, Christopher; Joppa, Lucas; Williams, Rich; Alvarez, Otto; Guo, Qinghua; Haultain, Sylvia; Frenzel, Erik; Saah, David
- Date of Issue
- 2013-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NRSS , SEKI
- Keywords
- dry meadows, fens, grazing in meadows, Meadows, moist meadows, NRCA, SEKI, Sierra Nevada, stock use in meadows
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Wetland Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Grassland/Herbaceous Communities