Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site: 2017 data summary report
Rockwood SL. 2018. Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site: 2017 data summary report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NGPN/NRDS—2018/1154. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring in 2017 at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site (KNRI) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and the Northern Great Plains Fire Effects Program (NGPFire). This was the seventh year of field work conducted by NGPN at KNRI. In 2017, 21 long-term plant community monitoring (PCM) plots were visited to collect data on the plant communities at KNRI. Crew members from NGPN visited eight PCM plots and the NGPFire crew visited thirteen PCM plots. This work is part of a long-term monitoring effort designed to provide a better understanding of the condition of the vegetation community and how it changes over time. Crews measured species richness, herb-layer height, native and non-native species abundance, ground cover, and site disturbance at each of the six plots. In plots where woody species were present, tree regeneration, tall shrub density, tree density, and woody fuel loads were also measured. In 2017, monitoring crews identified 100 unique plant species, 21 of which were exotic species. No rare plants or early detection exotic plants were observed. Overall, the plots visited in 2017 were on average more exotic than native in absolute cover. The NGPN crew collected tree regeneration and fuel load data in four of the 21 plots. A total of seven different tree and shrub species were present. The most commonly observed ground disturbances were severe drought, prescribed fire, and animal use.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Rockwood, Stephanie
- Date of Issue
- 2018-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- KNRI , NGPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- cottonwood, Grasslands, mixed-grass prairie, Monitoring, monitoring report, plant community monitor, Plant diversity, Riparian forest, Vegetation