Prairie Management Baseline and Monitoring Program, George Washington Carver National Monument

Wilson, Louise; Jackson, James

This report documents the prairie management baseline and monitoring program established for George Washington Carver National Monument based on data collection and analysis conducted in 1984. The introduction discusses the need for a prairie monitoring program and the research objectives. Methods used during the analysis addresses the management units, species list, quantitative vegetational analysis, sample plots locations, data collection and analysis, importance values, species diversity and evenness and management unit similarity. The results for each of these areas are also included. A discussion is included of individual management units, similarity between units, comparison with Diamond Grove Prairie, coefficients of similarity and importance value, and monitoring protocol. Figures illustrate the location of management units, cluster analysis dendrogram, and summer and autumn diversity and evenness. Additionally, figures identify the distribution of each species for each plot as determined by plot sampling. Table data include plant species identified in the summer and autumn of 1993 for each unit and a comparison of importance values with the 1982 analysis for each unit. A table identifies the coefficients of similarity and importance values.