U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Regional Director Bill Hartwig has authorized the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Habitat Preservation Area project and named Ron Cole, project leader of the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), as project coordinator. Hartwigs signing of the official Record of Decision document on May 16 clears the way for Service officials to begin working with landowners, businesses, local governments and non-profit groups to preserve up to 77,000 acres of existing northern tallgrass prairie areas throughout 85 counties in western Minnesota and northwest Iowa.
Of the three alternatives proposed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Hartwig selected Alternative B, the option preferred by the Service and many of its private and public partners. This alternative allows the Service to permanently protect and enhance prairie remnants through voluntary partnerships, incentives, education, cooperative agreements, and land acquisition.
Other alternatives contained in the FEIS but not selected included a No Action option and a third option in which the Service would act only as liaison to coordinate the efforts of other partners.
This is an exciting start to a very important project, said Hartwig. The prairie, particularly the northern tallgrass prairie, is considered one of the rarest and most fragmented ecosystems in North America. Less than one percent of the original northern tallgrass prairie remains--about 300,000 acres. Our northern tallgrass prairie project will attempt to preserve 77,000 acres of this remaining prairie.
According to Hartwig, partnerships will be critical to the projects success. Of the 77,000 acres included in the plan, about half of the acreage will continue to be owned and managed by public and private landowners. The Service plans to protect the remainder by acquiring the acreage in fee title and easement. The final acreage included in the preservation area will depend on the number of landowners willing to preserve prairie tracts on their own, available funding, and the number of willing sellers. Project coordinator Cole and other Service representatives will assist private landowners with the management of their tracts.
Only 10 percent of the total acreage, or about 7,000 acres, would be converted from cropland to prairie. In most cases these restored tracts would be used as buffers to protect existing prairie areas.
The process of establishing the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Habitat Preservation Area began in January of 1996, when the Service published a Notice of Intent to write an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project. Since that date, 75 public meetings and 10 open houses were held in the project area.
Over 2,000 participants attended these meetings to learn more about the project and provide their comments and observations to Service officials. In July of 1997, a draft EIS was issued by the Service addressing the comments and concerns of those in the project area. A final EIS was issued in March of 1998. The signing of the Record of Decision document on May 16 clears the way for the Service to begin actively working with partners. Although unsolicited, some landowners have already approached the Service with offers to sell their land.
Cole, who recently transferred to Minnesota from Oregon where he held the position of Deputy Project Leader at the Sheldon-Hart Mountain NWR, looks forward to working with landowners throughout the northern tallgrass region to identify and protect the remaining tracts.
Weve identified many prairie tracts already, Cole said. Most are degraded to some degree, either from intensive grazing, herbicides or agricultural uses. But a few are in excellent condition. We hope to help landowners manage these areas through controlled burning, the establishment of buffer zones and reseeding with native plants. In many cases, we can help landowners do this at no cost or very low cost through our partnership programs.
Well-established prairie actually requires very little maintenance, Cole added, pointing out that periodic burning is usually all that is needed to maintain established tracts. Often, prairie areas neglected in an agricultural sense contain the most plant and animal diversity.
Although dramatically reduced in numbers now, historically the northern tallgrass prairie region hosted hundreds of plant and animal species. Even today, over 250 species of birds use the area, including species of concern such as the greater prairie-chicken, northern harrier, upland sandpiper, Henslows sparrow, and bobolink. Over 25 animal species called the area home as well--the Great Plains wolf, swift fox, pronghorn antelope, elk, and bison. Few of these
mammals remain.
Reptiles, amphibians, and insects--thousands of insect species--round out the rich northern tallgrass prairie ecosystem.
We cant turn back the clock, said Cole. It took thousands of years for the northern tallgrass prairie to develop, so its not something we can replant or restore overnight, or even in our lifetimes. Thats why its so important to save whats left.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the primary Federal agency responsible for the conservation and protection of fish, wildlife and their habitats. The agency manages 514 National Wildlife Refuges and over 92 million acres of wildlife habitat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
