Treesearch

This presentation will be a "reflective story" of a personal transformation that began at a dinner discussion in Antigua, Guatemala, with a BLM wildlife biologist, while on vacation. Classic literature cited in this evening conversations included Cadillac Desert and A Sand County Almanac. This introduction provided the door of awareness and opportunity for one person to become a "regular" volunteer with the BLM, USFS, and the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game.

Wetlands and riparian habitats constitute a small, but nonetheless vital component in the Chihuahuan Desert. Big Bend National Park, 801,000 acres, contains about 27,000 acres of wetland. The park has riparian or wetland habitat distributed around 315 water sources, some perennial streams, and along 118 miles of the Rio Grande. These areas contain unique vegetation components, which provide habitat for wildlife, including resident and migratory birds, and support other wildlife. The same habitats have become increasingly popular as overnight campsites for rafters and boaters on the Rio...

The paper describes streamflow, sediment movement and vegetation interactions within riparian systems of the southwestern United States. Riparian systems are found in a wide range of vegetation types, ranging from lower elevation desert environments to high elevation conifer forests. The climatic, vegetative and hydrologic processes operating in the southwestern environments provide a unique setting for discussing riparian ecosystem interactions with both water and sediment. Most streamflow at lower elevations is intermittent, and riparian vegetation frequently occupies channels that are...

Sediment and nutrient loss from headwater streams of sedimentary basins in the semi-arid Southwest have been attributed to both over-grazing by livestock and to climatic cycles that influence arroyo formation. Considerable effort has been directed toward the influence of livestock grazing on riparian species abundance and diversity. Less work has concentrated on the influence of livestock on in-stream processes and communities. In contrast, considerable research has described the importance of floods as ecological organizers of riparian and benthic communities in lotic ecosystems. Here, we...

Wildcat Creek, a tributary of the Black River on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is being studied to determine the impacts of cattle and elk grazing on riparian wet meadows. An intensive survey of a selected stream reach revealed a unique channel development involving an aggradation/degradation process in a pool-riffle sequence of an E-6 stream channel. Grazing and trampling impacts of elk and cattle were found to affect the process in two ways: 1) overgrazing of stream banks resulted in exposure of the soil fabric and loss during high flows, sloughing of banks, channel widening, and...

Natural regeneration and growth of coyote willow (Salix exigua Nutt. ssp. exigua) and whiplash willow (S. lasiandra Bemth. var. caudata [Nutt.] Sudw.) were monitored from 1987 to 1993 on a low-elevation eastern Oregon stream degraded by more than a century of heavy livestock grazing. Treatments were no grazing, moderate spring grazing, moderate fall grazing, and continued heavy, season-long grazing by cattle. Fresh sediments deposited by a May 1987 flood provided moist, open seedbed conditions for willow recruitment from off-site seed sources. Initial establishment of coyote willow was...

This paper describes life histories, defoliation problems and other activities of insects associated with forest tree species growing along high elevation streams and river banks. In addition, examples of insects and diseases associated with lower elevation riparian areas are given.

Studies were initiated in June, 1994 by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station to update knowledge on the distribution of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout a Forest Service Sensitive Species, and its co-occurrence with two native cypriniforms, Rio Grande sucker and Rio Grande Chub. The Rio Grande sucker IS listed as endangered by the state of Colorado. The native cutthroat was found to co-occur with the native sucker in Tusas Creek on the Carson National Forest, and in the Rio de las Vacas, American Cr. and the Rito de las Palomas on the Santa Fe National...

This paper explores the question "is there a relationship between seasonal precipitation amounts and vegetative cover at a specific site near Grants, New Mexico?" Several hypotheses will be investigated. One is that the organizing factor for vegetation response to precipitation is the amount of summer precipitation from convective thunderstorms. The variable winter precipitation (high in El Nino years and low in La Nina years) does not provide a dependable amount of moisture, and plant cover or basal areas are not well correlated with it. Alternatively, winter or annual precipitation...

In this paper, we report species composition and relative abundances of stopover migrants during spring and fall migration along the middle Rio Grande in 1994. We recorded 157 landbird species using mist-netting and survey methods at two sites on the Rio Grande, the Bosque del Apache and the Rio Grande Nature Center. A total of 6,509 birds was captured during spring and fall migrations at these sites. Of 157 species, 47% were neotropical long-distance migrants, 50% were short-distance migrants, and the remaining 3% were residents or border migrants. Comparisons of relative abundance from...