Agricultural lands account for more than 50% of the lower 48 states and the effects of agricultural land use reach beyond individual fields and farms affecting terrestrial and migratory wildlife. Thus, it is important to know what long-term benefits US Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs and policies have on wildlife habitat and the American public. The USDAs Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was implemented to serve multiple purposes and has provided financial security to agrarian communities while simultaneously provisioning wildlife habitat, access for recreation and hunting, and cleaner air and water across all 50 states. This project is focused on ways to greater maximize the potential of the CRP, as well as other land conservation programs, to benefit wildlife and the agrarian community by means that are acceptable to all interested parties.
Conservation Practices in Agriculturally Dominated Landscapes
The USDAs Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) seek ways to maximize efficacy of their conservation programs for the American public. USDAs strategic goals and management decisions are affected by State conservation agencies’ desire to address both local and regional environmental issues affected by agricultural and conservation practices. The FSA identifies programmatic issues of importance (for example, effects of grazing, planting pollinator habitat, wildlife habitat) and relays them to FORT staff. These issues change over time, as do USDA and State wildlife agency priorities. In turn, FORT staff design and complete field studies that assess these issues and offer valuable information back to the USDA to effectively help refine national agricultural priorities. Learn more.
Native Pollinators in Agricultural Ecosystems
FORT researchers assessed grassland and cropland fields for native bee habitat, diversity, and richness to evaluate the extent to which CRP grasslands provide floral food sources and refugia for native bees in agriculturally intense landscapes. In addition, pollinators and plants were collected and submitted to the USGS Northern Prairie research center pollen library to help establish relationships between plant species and pollinators. Learn more.
Restoring Native Vegetation on Retired Farmland across the High Plains
FORT is evaluating new protocols to reestablish native vegetation on abandoned center-pivot irrigated cropland in the High Plains subregion of the Great Plains. Stabilizing the sandy soils in this region has proven very difficult due to the instability of these soils in a dry, windy area. Efforts to re-vegetate these abandoned croplands through the USDA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program have produced poor results, at best, and many outright failures. Continued failure raises the potential that vast areas could eventually become regions of shifting dunes or covered mostly by invasive weeds. Restoring the sandsage prairie and other sand prairies to native vegetation is paramount for endemic wildlife such as the lesser prairie-chicken as well as for other environmental benefits such as cleaner air, water and healthier soil.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Native Pollinators in Agricultural Ecosystems
Conservation Practices in Agriculturally Dominated Landscapes
Agricultural lands account for more than 50% of the lower 48 states and the effects of agricultural land use reach beyond individual fields and farms affecting terrestrial and migratory wildlife. Thus, it is important to know what long-term benefits US Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs and policies have on wildlife habitat and the American public. The USDAs Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was implemented to serve multiple purposes and has provided financial security to agrarian communities while simultaneously provisioning wildlife habitat, access for recreation and hunting, and cleaner air and water across all 50 states. This project is focused on ways to greater maximize the potential of the CRP, as well as other land conservation programs, to benefit wildlife and the agrarian community by means that are acceptable to all interested parties.
Conservation Practices in Agriculturally Dominated Landscapes
The USDAs Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) seek ways to maximize efficacy of their conservation programs for the American public. USDAs strategic goals and management decisions are affected by State conservation agencies’ desire to address both local and regional environmental issues affected by agricultural and conservation practices. The FSA identifies programmatic issues of importance (for example, effects of grazing, planting pollinator habitat, wildlife habitat) and relays them to FORT staff. These issues change over time, as do USDA and State wildlife agency priorities. In turn, FORT staff design and complete field studies that assess these issues and offer valuable information back to the USDA to effectively help refine national agricultural priorities. Learn more.
Native Pollinators in Agricultural Ecosystems
FORT researchers assessed grassland and cropland fields for native bee habitat, diversity, and richness to evaluate the extent to which CRP grasslands provide floral food sources and refugia for native bees in agriculturally intense landscapes. In addition, pollinators and plants were collected and submitted to the USGS Northern Prairie research center pollen library to help establish relationships between plant species and pollinators. Learn more.
Restoring Native Vegetation on Retired Farmland across the High Plains
FORT is evaluating new protocols to reestablish native vegetation on abandoned center-pivot irrigated cropland in the High Plains subregion of the Great Plains. Stabilizing the sandy soils in this region has proven very difficult due to the instability of these soils in a dry, windy area. Efforts to re-vegetate these abandoned croplands through the USDA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program have produced poor results, at best, and many outright failures. Continued failure raises the potential that vast areas could eventually become regions of shifting dunes or covered mostly by invasive weeds. Restoring the sandsage prairie and other sand prairies to native vegetation is paramount for endemic wildlife such as the lesser prairie-chicken as well as for other environmental benefits such as cleaner air, water and healthier soil.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.