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Drone Technology for Monitoring and Mapping in the Grasslands of Eastern Montana
Get PDFThe Nature Conservancy in Montana has been working to protect wildlife habitat and enhance conservation in the Northern Great Plains for several decades. The foundation of our work has been the Matador Grassbank in south Phillips County. Through the grassbank, ranchers implement conservation practices on their home ranches in exchange for discounted grazing on the Conservancy’s Matador Ranch. One of the conservation practices is the retention of black-tailed prairie dog towns. The southern portion of Phillips County supports among the most acres and largest prairie dog towns in the state. The prairie dog towns in this region of Montana support species of high conservation concern, including two black-footed ferret reintroduction sites, the largest population of mountain plovers, and large numbers of burrowing owls. Discounts for retaining prairie dog towns on grassbank ranches is tiered, based on the size of the town and potential for supporting species of concern. However, precisely mapping towns is challenging when using handheld GPS units and ATV’s to traverse the perimeters. Currently, The Nature Conservancy is using drone technology to create more precise and detailed maps. Drones yield detailed imagery which can be incorporated into a GIS, allowing precise mapping of town boundaries. Using drones will enable ranchers and the Conservancy to better understand the expansion or contraction of towns over time. The Matador ranch successfully implemented drone technology as a tool for more efficient and accurate monitoring, and plans to continue incorporating its use in all aspects of conservation and management
Essentially Normal Composition Operators on the Hardy Space
Get PDFIn this presentation, we will explore composition operators on the Hardy space. We will investigate what it means for such composition operators to be essentially normal. The following question will be answered in this presentation: Are there any composition operators on the Hardy space which are essentially normal but which are not compact
Continuous Nowhere Differentiable Functions
Get PDFIn this presentation we study functions that are continuous everywhere on their domain but differentiable nowhere. One such function is the function whose graph is called the Kiesswetter curve. First we construct the curve and the piece-wise function that represents that curve. We prove several key properties of the function that gives us insight to why this function is continuous on the unit interval. We then prove the continuity and nondifferentiability of the function
Hemorrhagic Disease in Montana’s Wild Ruminants
Get PDFEpizootic hemorrhagic disease and bluetongue virus have been documented in Montana for decades. Montana has experienced localized and variable population declines in wild cervids when these outbreaks occur. Transmission is seasonal in North America, with infection occurring in the late summer and fall. In northern states, transmission ends once adult vectors cease activity with the onset of winter. Montana is in an epidemic zone where outbreaks appear periodically and mortality events can be significant. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife health lab has tested samples from suspected outbreak events, research captures and opportunistically for detection of EHD and BTV. Environmental factors and virus-vector-host interactions are knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to improve our understanding of these orbivirus dynamics. Enhanced reporting, surveillance, and research efforts are potential tools that may improve our understanding of the role these viruses play in wild ruminant populations across the state
Assessing Impacts From One Year of Monitoring at a Wind Farm in Central Montana
Get PDFIn 2015, NorthWestern Energy, owner of Spion Kop Wind Farm, contracted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to assess impacts on birds and bats and formed a Technical Advisory Committee to guide research and monitoring. An explicit objective was to ensure all methods and results are publicly available. We searched turbines weekly May-September, 2016 for mortalities, assessed eagle use via point counts year-round and the Montana Natural Heritage Program deployed acoustic bat detectors to record echolocation sequences for activity. Estimates of fatality were determined by adjusting raw carcass counts for bias using the Huso (2011) Fatality Estimator software. Bat activity and species presence were quantified through analysis of call sequences. We observed three Golden Eagles, Aquila chrysaetos, on counts for a total of 3 eagle use minutes. We found carcasses of two Western Meadowlarks, Sturnella neglecta, 15 Hoary Bats, Lasiurus cinereus, and five Silver-haired Bats, Lasionycteris noctivigans. The mean bird fatality estimate was 14 (95% CI: 9-20) and for bats 221 (95% CI: 120-397). An estimate of raptor fatality is of interest, but since no raptor fatalities were encountered we used the Huso (2014) Evidence of Absence (EOA) software to assess likelihood of a raptor collision. We can assert with 95% credibility that no more than 3 raptors were killed at the site. Impacts to birds are low relative to other wind farms in the west. The observed bat fatality rate (5.5 bats/MW) is below the average but above the median fatality rate observed at 49 wind farms in the mid-west
Genetic Variation of Garter Snakes Across Western Montana
Get PDFThis study addresses the variability in garter snakes across Western Montana. Some common garter snakes in the region exhibit characteristics of the valley garter (sirtalis fitchi), a subspecies typically found west of the continental divide. Other specimens exhibit characteristics of the red-sided garter snake (sirtalis parietalis), a subspecies found east of the continental divide. Wandering garter snakes (elegans vagrans) across Western Montana also exhibit a great deal of variability. Using tissue samples from 108 common garters, 185 wandering garters and 3 melanistic snakes across Western Montana, we explore the effect of distance, topography and land cover on the genetic similarity between members of both species. In addition, we examine whether genetic differences account for phenotypic differences amongst species and whether microsatellite sequences indicate geographic isolation, assortative mating or inbreeding among garter snakes
Elk Near Fossil Butte National Monument in Southwest Wyoming Migrate Early to Escape Human Disturbance
Get PDFMigration allows individuals to strike a balance between risk and reward, and use resources in the places and at times that maximize fitness. Large ungulates commonly migrate to increase access to quality forage in spring and decrease risks associated with winter weather in the fall in an effort to maintain the body condition necessary for winter survival and successful reproduction. However, foraging exists within a realm of strategies employed to maximize fitness, and so animals must take factors like safety into account when choosing to migrate. Here, we use 5 years of data from 73 female elk (Cervus canadensis), most of which are part of a subgroup of elk that utilize a protected area during hunting season, to identify the driving factors behind the initiation of migration from their late summer range. The onset of archery season, remotely sensed vegetation degradation, and having access to lands where hunting was prohibited (Fossil Butte National Monument) initiated autumn migration, with bad weather having a smaller effect. 67% of elk using the Monument initiated migration prior to the onset of archery hunting season (1 September), preemptively avoiding risk, while no elk from the subgroup not using the Monument left prior to archery season, despite spending summer at higher elevations. Departure from productive summer range nearly two months before vegetation senescence afforded protection on the Monument during hunting season, but decreased access to late summer-fall forage (integrated NDVI) by 21%. Our results illustrate the complexity of managing a wide-ranging ungulate across jurisdictions with multiple missions
Transforming Land, Transforming People
Get PDFNorman Mclean wrote, “Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”Restoration is about reconnecting water to land, living things to their former habitats and people to each other. The O’Dell Creek Headwaters Restoration project is a collaborative multi partner effort to restore wetlands and degraded stream channels from O’Dell’s headwaters to its confluence with the Madison River 12 miles downstream. The project began in 2005 on The Granger Ranches with funding provided by PPL Montana (now Northwestern Energy). The results were immediately apparent and the work accomplished in the Phase 1 project quickly gained support from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The potential for this project as well as its public benefits have led to an extensive and growing public private partnership that continues to evolve. Nonprofits such as The Trust for Public Land, The Montana Land Reliance and The Madison River Foundation along with neighboring ranches and The Patagonia Company have also become highly engaged partners. Regular visits from student groups, agency personnel, the ranching community and wounded veterans fishing organizations have been an integral aspect of reconnecting people to the land and have provided important educational benefits from both the project’s outcomes and its partnerships. A decade since the project’s inception all the major drainage canals have been closed and the restored wetlands now host over 200 plant species including 6 listed by the state of Montana as “Species of Concern”. Monitoring by the University of Montana’s Avian Science Center has documented an increase from 10 bird species to approximately 130. Water temperatures in the restored stream channels have been substantially reduced and stabilized. Efforts to re-introduce threatened Trumpeter Swans and Arctic Grayling are ongoing. One thousand Greater Sandhill Cranes have been observed staging along O’Dell prior to fall migration. Simultaneously, the Granger Ranches has grown ints livestock operations, demonstrating that healthy and diverse habitat can coexist along with sustainable ranching. The O’Dell Project has succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations
Transfer of Federal Lands to the State
Get PDFThe federal government owns over half of all land in western America. This is not only unfair, it is not working. Some of this land can and should be transferred to the states so it can be tended with greater care and accountability. Restoring the balance and strengthening the local voice in public land management will lead to better outcomes in environmental quality, economic productivity, recreational opportunity and social harmony. A variety of historic, legal, economic, political and environmental factors support the viability of transferring certain federally controlled public lands to the States
Transferring Federal Lands to States: Unanswered Questions and Implications for Wildlife
Get PDFThe Wildlife Society should oppose the transfer of federal lands to the states or their sale to private interests. Federal public land and the wildlife it supports is in the national interest and is essential to the conservation of biological diversity. Those interests advocating the transfer of federal lands to the states have still yet to explain how transferred lands would be managed. These unanswered questions have significant implications for wildlife conservation and the management of habitat. Managing federal public land in a democracy comes with its challenges. The solution is not to transfer federal lands to the states or sell them to private interests or to backslide on foundational federal land and environmental laws. The more constructive approach is to seriously investigate ways in which these laws can be more effectively and efficiently implemented