Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Scotts Bluff National Monument: 2022 data report
Davis MB. 2023. Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Scotts Bluff National Monument: 2022 data report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/SCBL/NRDS—2023/1391. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2295542
This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2022 at Scotts Bluff National Monument (SCBL) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire). NGPN began vegetation monitoring at SCBL in 2011, and this was the twelfth year of combined monitoring efforts between NGPN and NGPFire at SCBL. NGPN did not visit SCBL in 2020 or 2021 due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, NGPFire was able to do vegetation monitoring at SCBL during these two years. Crew members from NGPN visited eight long-term monitoring plots to collect data on the plant communities at SCBL. 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 plots. In plots where woody species were present, tree regeneration, tall shrub density, tree density, and woody fuel loads were also measured. The NGPFire crew visited an additional seven plots in the Eagle Rock and North Platte burn units to better understand the effects of prescribed fire on vegetation. The NGPFire crew measured herb-layer height, native and non-native species abundance, ground cover, and site disturbance at each of the plots. The NGPFire crew conducted one prescribed fire in 2022, in the Eagle Rock burn unit, on April 25, 2022. In 2022, the monitoring crews identified 73 unique plant species in 15 monitoring plots. Of those species, 12 were exotic species. Two species considered rare in Nebraska were observed in the plots, including spotted fritillary, Fritillaria atropurpurea. At every plot except for two, the absolute cover of native species was greater than the absolute cover of exotic species. Monitoring crews collected tree regeneration data in three plots and found one species of seedling (chokecherry) and one species of adult tree (Rocky Mountain juniper). Ground disturbances, observed in fourteen of the fifteen plots, included animal use, prescribed fire, erosion, and soil disturbance
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Davis, Molly
- Date of Issue
- 2023-04
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2295542
- Units
- NGPN , NRSS , SCBL
- Keywords
- Forest, Grasslands, mixed-grass prairie, Monitoring, monitoring report, plant community monitor, Plant community monitoring, Plant diversity, Vegetation
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Invasive Species | Invasive/Exotic plants , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Sparsely Vegetated Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Grassland/Herbaceous Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Shrubland Communities