2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

AUTHORS:  Chris Newbold, Missouri Department of Conservation

ABSTRACT:  The Missouri Department of Conservation conducted a 700 + acre prairie reconstruction project at Prairie Fork Conservation Area in east-central Missouri from 2004-2019. This long-term reconstruction project provided an opportunity to use a chronosequence approach to assess the success of two reconstruction methods in emulating local, reference remnant prairie plant communities. We compared broadcast dormant seeding following two types of site preparation, agricultural cropping (Crop) or herbicide control in existing grass assemblages (Grass), and remnant communities. The Crop site preparation method resulted in a rapid increase in richness shortly following seeding. Although more similar to remnant assemblages initially, the Grass method took longer for mean coefficient of conservatism and floristic quality index to approach conditions of the reference communities. However, neither method resulted in plant community compositions that converged with the reference through time. Further, indicator species analysis identified a diverse assemblage of species lacking from the reconstructed prairies. This information is important for land managers in the development of adaptive management strategies during active reconstruction. We also provide some ‘lessons learned’ over the course of the 15-year reconstruction project that could be useful to other prairie managers.

AUTHORS:

ABSTRACT: Shaw Nature Reserve has been tinkering with landscape-scale woodland management for biodiversity since the 1980s, using local manager-based institutional knowledge as well as site-specific scientific studies to back up their methods. We present insights and findings from management of woodlands and savannas, with a focus on the combination of 1) invasive species control, 2) prescribed fire, and 3) native herbaceous species re-introductions using locally-sourced seed.

AUTHORS: Elizabeth Yohe, U.S. Forest Service - Eastern Region; Kyle Steele, U.S. Forest Service - Mark Twain National Forest; Mike Leahy, Missouri Department of Conservation; Brian Davidson, U.S. Forest Service - Mark Twain National Forest; Rebecca Landewe, U.S. Forest Service - Mark Twain National Forest; Jason Stevens, U.S. Forest Service - Eastern Region; Greg Nowacki, U.S. Forest Service - Eastern Region

ABSTRACT: The Missouri Pine-Oak Woodlands Restoration Project (MOPWR) on the Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) is one of 17 currently funded projects across the country supported by the U.S. Forest Service Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project (CFLRP). The project aims to restore mixed shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata)-oak (Quercus spp.) woodlands that have historically dominated this landscape. Alongside other methods, the Community Health Index (CHI) assessment was utilized to monitor restoration progress and results in this landscape. Our monitoring data suggests that we are moving selected restoration units toward more ecological functionality. However, uncertainty remains as to whether or not reference conditions are attainable, given modern-day concerns and obstacles.

AUTHORS: Carolyn A. Stephen, Missouri Department of Natural Resources; Jamie H. Ladner, National Park Service; Dan G. Drees, National Park Service; Lauren L. Sullivan, Michigan State University

ABSTRACT: This abstract was previously published in the journal Fire Ecology.
Citation: Stephen, C.A., Drees, D.G., Ladner, J.H., Sullivan, L.L. Fire effects on plant communities in Ozark woodlands and glades. Fire Ecology 20, 70 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00299-3
Background: Decades of fire suppression caused drastic changes to community structure and composition across ecosystems, including in Ozark woodlands in Missouri, United States. Reintroducing fire can restore ground flora by reducing midstory tree density, increasing ground layer light, and reducing leaf litter accumulation, but we lack a clear understanding of how these effects vary across time and space. We investigated the effects of repeated prescribed fire on ground flora species richness, floristic quality, abundance, community composition, and stand structure over 20 years in a landscape matrix of dry-mesic woodlands, dry woodlands, and glades using data collected from the Ozark National Scenic Riverways Fire Effects Monitoring program in the Current River Watershed in the Missouri Ozarks.
Results: We found that fire plays a key role in driving community structure and dynamics across community types, although with varying levels of intensity. Herbaceous species richness, abundance, and floristic quality index increased across all community types, while mean coefficient of conservatism decreased. Abundance and floristic quality effects were stronger in drier sites. Community composition changed with successive burns, resulting in several indicator species for post burn treatments. The density of midstory trees declined across community types with repeated fire. The number of burns significantly affected overstory tree density overall, but overstory tree density only declined in dry woodlands and glades and not in dry-mesic woodlands.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that landscape fire shapes plant community structure and dynamics. Specifically, these findings show that fire effects vary among community types and suggest that land managers should consider landscape heterogeneity in fire application for restoration. Separate community types imbedded in the same landscape may respond to fire differently. Understanding repeated fire effects over several decades across multiple community types is critical to informing fire-driven woodland restoration across landscape scales.

AUTHORS: Ron Colatskie, Missouri State Parks

ABSTRACT: Following decades of focused fire suppression efforts in the early to mid-20th century, prescribed fire as a landscape management tool faced heated controversy as the concept and its application in Missouri landscapes developed in the 1980’s. By the 1990’s, prescribed fire became a common and accepted practice to maintain fire-adapted natural communities to the benefit of their associated flora and fauna. Missouri State Parks took a leading role in applying prescribed fire to a variety of natural communities statewide and now maintains over 42,000 acres within a burn rotation with nearly 10,000 acres burned annually throughout Missouri State Park lands. Contemporarily, prescribed fire in is again under a microscope as some within the greater conservation community have shared concerns regarding potential negative impacts from prescribed fire to natural communities. Primary questions include burn seasonality, application methods and where fire is applied. This brief discussion will explore steps Missouri State Parks staff are taking and challenges they are encountering to best replicate historic fire processes for the benefit of flora and wildlife in Missouri State Park landscapes. Additionally, preliminary findings from recent research and monitoring efforts to address potential negative fire impacts will be shared.

AUTHORS:  Ken McCarty, Missouri State Parks (retired)

ABSTRACT:  Native Ozark woodland- and glade dominated landscapes easily support 30 to 40 percent of Missouri’s native plant species at even a single site, including large numbers of conservative species. Their plant-dense, season-long floral progressions potentially support equally robust and diverse bee communities. Forty years of conservation effort protecting remnants, applying fire, and managing woody density or composition has yielded impressive examples and many designated Missouri Natural Areas. Intensive surveys since 2016 have explored bee diversity and bee community characteristics across 17 such sites within Missouri’s state parks. This presentation summarizes the findings, to emphasize the important role remnant native ecosystems play as reservoirs of bee biodiversity, and benchmarks that may help pollinator conservation efforts in more developed or altered contemporary environments.

AUTHORS: Frank Nelson, Missouri Department of Conservation

ABSTRACT: The wetlands in southeastern Missouri have a long history of alteration. Since the 1950’s, Duck Creek Conservation Area has been managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation to provide wetland habitat for waterfowl and other wetland dependent species within this altered landscape. Over time our philosophy of wetland management, the implications of infrastructure design, and the interaction of natural features has evolved. Based on a hydrogeomorphic assessment of the larger Mingo basin surrounding Duck Creek we identified the four following objectives to renovate the aging wetland management area: 1) restore natural water flow patterns where possible, 2) mimic natural water regimes, 3) restore natural vegetation communities, and 4) accommodate public uses that are consistent with resource objectives. A multi-disciplined team of biologists and engineers used a basin wide digital elevation model, aerial photos, and field observations to examine the landscape features and identify opportunities to restore wetland system processes to achieve these objectives. These steps have reduced several chronic management challenges, increased the wetland habitat diversity, and enhanced the wetland function of the area. Following construction, we've been able to document the responses of both aquatic and avian communities through the annual cycle and periods of flood connectivity. The collaborative approach and incorporation of system processes into the renovation have benefited Duck Creek Conservation Area.