Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Fort Laramie National Historic Site: 2018 data report
Ashton IW and Davis CJ. 2019. Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Fort Laramie National Historic Site: 2018 data report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NGPN/NRDS—2019/1212. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2018 at Fort Laramie National Historic Site (FOLA) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN. This was the eighth year of combined monitoring efforts. Crew members from NGPN visited six long-term monitoring plots to collect data on the plant communities at FOLA. 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. NGPN staff 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. We found one plot had been eroded into the Laramie River since it was last visited and we were not able to collect plant data there. It will be replaced in the future if it remains underwater. In 2018, the monitoring crews identified 77 unique plant species in 5 monitoring plots. Of those species, 19 were exotic species or of unknown origin. Two of the five plots were dominated by exotic plants. One rare species in the state of Wyoming, Emory’s sedge (Carex emoryi), was observed in a riparian plot.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Ashton, Isabel; Davis, Christopher
- Date of Issue
- 2019-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- FOLA , NGPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Grasslands, mixed-grass prairie, Monitoring, monitoring report, plant community monitor, Plant community monitoring, Plant diversity, Vegetation