Session Descriptions
| Title/Session Chairs |
Description |
Partnerships: The Public/Private
Key to Natural Areas Protection
Carl Becker, Illinois DNR
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Partnerships have both a long history in natural area conservation,
best demonstrated in our host state by the Missouri Natural
Areas Committee, and offer strategic opportunities for meeting
future challenges. Sustaining biological diversity by maintaining
landscape-level ecological processes frequently requires multi-owner
and multi-agency participation. Community-based conservation
and ecosystem management initiatives are demonstrating that
private and public land managers can join forces to accomplish
conservation challenges not achievable by individuals or single
agencies. Obtaining grants from both public and private funding
sources often requires a partnership component in the proposal.
As natural resource managers, both those seeking to obtain products
from the land, better understand their common dependence on
ecological processes to achieve sustainable results, the opportunity
for unique and powerful partnerships is unlimited. This session
will feature speakers in these and other areas where partnership
is the key to natural area conservation success. The two goals
for the session are to provide participants with a broader understanding
of the power of partnerships and to give specific examples that
they can apply to their own situations.
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Land Trusts and Their
Role in Land Conservation
Annie Hoagland, Great Rivers Land Trust
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The land trust session will have five speakers (unless we open
it up as a full session and accept two more submitted papers).
Jean Hocker, President of the Land Trust Alliance, the national
umbrella organization for all of the land trusts across the
country, will give an overview of the tremendous land trust
movement underway in the United States. Annie Hoagland, board
member of Great Rivers Land Trust, will discuss general concepts
regarding what land trusts are, what land trusts do, how they
usually function, and the types of land trusts across the country.
She will discuss how not-for-profit land trusts partner with
government using various techniques because they are flexible,
responsive, confidential, non-governmental entities with options
that are not available to the government. Wayne Freeman, Executive
Director of Great Rivers, will present examples of the work
that is done along the Mississippi River and the techniques
used for land preservation including the types of funding arrangements
used. John Sommerhof, Executive Director of The Nature Institute,
the stewardship partner of Great Rivers, will explain the management
policies and stewardship techniques used by these two organizations
in partnership with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources'
Illinois Nature Preserve Program. Debbie Newman of the Illinois
Nature Preserve Program will explain the state's perspective
in working with this community group.
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Communicating the Importance
of Natural Diversity
Carol Davit, MDC
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Everyone in the natural resources professions has, at one time
or another, cringed at misinformation in the press on environmental
news, or been frustrated with the content of nature documentaries
or environmental science curricula. Journalists, artists, and
educators who work to integrate environmental awareness into
mainstream society are sometimes impeded by lack of communication
from the natural resources and scientific communities. The goal
of this session is to learn what environmental communications
and natural resource professionals need from each other to do
their jobs. The session will also explore effective and innovative
ways to communicate the importance of natural diversity of life
on earth. Elementary, secondary, and university educators, public
information officers, poets, film makers, photographers, journalists,
website designers, nature writers, museum professionals, naturalists,
and others are invited to contribute their knowledge of what
works and what they need to communicate this urgently needed
message. Within these diverse fields, there is a wealth of communication
talents and tools; this session is intended to help appreciate,
enrich and fully use them.
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Techniques and Results
of Natural Area Restoration
Ken McCarty, Missouri DNR
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I would like this session to be a selection of state-of-knowledge
reports on what is being done to restore/actively manage natural
areas, that especially emphasize what those techniques are yielding.
We could choose either a broad selection spanning multiple ecosystems
and geographic regions or focus on Midwestern disturbance-dependent
landscapes including wetlands, savannas, prairies, and woodlands.
Selected papers must deal with restoring or actively manipulating
remnant native communities, involve the application of a specific
technique towards a defined restoration or management objective,
present results attributable to that technique (quantitative
preferred but qualitative could be accepted), and explain what
those results teach us about natural areas management.
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Impact and Control
of Exotic Species in Natural Areas
Tim Smith, MDC, and Mary Yurlina, Center for
Plant Conservation
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The spread of exotic species has been called the greatest threat
to biodiversity after loss of habitat, and it is reported to
cost the United States millions of dollars annually. There are
many case studies of aggressive exotic plants or animals altering
ecosystems to the point that they no longer can support a diverse
flora or fauna. We would like to see one presentation that provides
an overview of the scope of the problem of spreading aggressive
exotic species. This would be followed by a couple of presentations
describing responses to this issue (ie., multi-agency task force
with landowner support to combat leafy spurge in the Great Plains,
the federal response to the problem). One presentation should
address the issue of biological control - what are the risks
and when are they worth taking? The remainder of the session
would consist of presentations relating strategies for controlling
exotic species with emphasis on generating public and agency
support for tackling the problem. There are so many exotic species
being fought today that we don't envision this session being
devoted to management recommendations for particular species,
unless it is for a particularly widespread species such as purple
loosetrife. We think that, given the large number of problem
species within the geographic range of the attendees, our time
would be better spent reviewing various approaches to the exotics
problem.
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Public Natural Areas
Programs
Kim Herman, Michigan DNR, and Rook Cleary, Florida
Department of Environmental Protection
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The scope and cost of large-scale natural areas conservation
is such that programs to address this need typically reside
in a government agency. In the U.S., federal, state and local
government agencies may have inventory, acquisition, management,
or other components of a natural areas program. More often,
a program that contains most or all of the necessary components
will be housed at the state level. Even when all the components
are in place, a program may face difficulty in achieving its
goals due to a lack of funding, a non-supportive public, bureaucratic
inefficiency, or other factors beyond the purview of a natural
areas biologist.
This session will feature speakers from established, public
natural areas programs that have weathered the whims and fancy
of politics, public opinion, legislated funding and other unnatural
disasters to create an integrated system of protected natural
areas. The goals for the session are to provide participants
with a broader understanding of public natural areas programs,
to give specific examples of various strategies that have contributed
to the successes of these programs, to provide information and
personal contacts to those wishing to create or improve a public
natural areas program, and - perhaps most importantly - to celebrate
the successful protection of natural areas throughout the nation.
The Natural Areas Association is committed to fostering natural
areas programs throughout the nation. The Program Assistance
Committee was formed to provide assistance to natural areas
professionals toward establishing, improving and recognizing
public natural areas programs. The Program Assistance Committee
is the sponsor of this session.
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Management Effects
on Natural Diversity and System Dynamics
Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Examples - Tom
Treiman, MDC
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In 1989 the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) initiated
a long-term research project to examine the impacts of forest
management practices on multiple ecosystem components. The Missouri
Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) is a long-term, landscape-level
experiment comparing effects of even-aged, uneven-aged, and
no harvest management on Ozark forest flora and fauna. Several
years of pre-treatment data were collected prior to implementing
the first series of timber harvesting in 1996. Researchers are
now collecting and analyzing initial post-treatment responses
to these forest management practices.
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Stream Ecology and
Conservation
Chris Barnhart, Southwest Missouri State University,
and Janet Sternburg, MDC
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This session will broadly address issues relating to streams,
including biology, hydrology, human impacts, and management
issues. Streams are among the habitats most affected by man,
and they are perhaps the most difficult of all habitats to maintain
in a natural state. The combined impacts of pollution, erosion,
and introduced species threaten not only water quality for human
use but also the survival of complex and sensitive communities
of organisms, including many groups with high levels of species
diversity and endemism. The theme of this session will encompass
the biology of stream organisms as well as the conservation
and management of stream habitats. Possible topics include stream
faunal studies, the biology of endangered species and invading
species, stream hydrology, the effects of agriculture and urbanization,
point and non-point source pollution, channel modifications,
gravel mining, logging, hydropower management, and confined
animal feed operations.
Papers addressing watershed management and stream restoration
are especially welcome.
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Endangered Species
Research and Management
Alan Leary, Missouri National Guard
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Often times, public opinion does not support research and management
of certain threatened and endangered species. For example, wolves
(Canis lupus and C. rufus) and grizzly bears (Ursus
arctos) are viewed by many people as being bad because they
feel these species are dangerous to humans or are a threat to
livestock. Other species, such as the spotted owl (Strix
occidentalis), are viewed by many as bad because people
feel protecting the species threatens their livelihood. Still
other threatened and endangered species, such as many plants,
insects, and mollusks, are not high profile species and don't
appear to have any direct value to humans; thus, many people
believe they are not important. I would like the presentations
in this session to discuss research or management projects that
have been conducted on threatened and endangered species, with
some discussion of how public perception affected the project
and what the researcher or manager did to change the public's
perception of the species. This could be on a small scale, like
dealing with land owners in a local area during a particular
study, or on a large scale, like changing the overall perception
of a species. Hopefully some of these presentations will be
success stories. Of equal interest, however, would be papers
about strategies that did not work. Papers regarding public
perception of threatened and endangered species policies and
what has been or can be done to influence public perception
of policies would also fit well into this session.
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Landscape Effects on
Animal Populations
Alan Templeton, Washington University
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Many recent conservation management and restoration programs
focus upon the landscape level. The rationale for this focus
is the belief that the long-term maintenance of biodiversity
at lower levels(genetic, species, and habitat) can best be achieved
by managing landscapes that contain a mosaic of communities
and that are large enough to allow effective disturbance regimes,
to contain a variety of successional stages, to minimize edge
effects, to meet the needs of wide-ranging animals, and to enable
species to respond to long-term environmental changes and stresses.
However, there is a need for studies that test this fundamental
rationale that landscape management affects biodiversity at
lower levels in a positive fashion. Presentations in this session
will illustrate the impact of landscape level phenomenon upon
genetic and species diversity of animal populations. Such studies
illustrate both the promises and challenges associated with
landscape level management and restoration.
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Conserving Caves and
Karst Communities
David Ashley, Missouri Western State College,
and Bill Elliott, MDC
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The presentations in this session will address a variety of
topics related to the conservation and management of caves and
karst communities. Karst is a term for a landscape which may
be characterized by the presence of springs, caves, sinkholes,
and losing streams. The attribute these natural features have
in common is the subsurface movement of water through solutionally-defined
cavities. The biotic communities associated with cave environments
often include endemic species and species with unique evolutionary
adaptations. We are particularly interested in soliciting papers
which focus on the protection, management, restoration, monitoring,
and basic biology of caves, karst, and even non-karst cave areas
(such as lava caves). We encourage individuals to submit abstracts
on any aspect of research on caves and karst. The papers chosen
for the oral session will provide a broad overview of cave natural
areas. (Additional papers of a more specific nature will be
chosen for the poster session.) Our goal is to present a schedule
of posters and talks which will be useful to cave specialists
as well as to land managers with little or no formal training
in cave or karst ecosystems.
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Ecoregional Planning
and Sustainable Landscapes
Tim Nigh, MDC
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There are numerous current efforts by state and federal agencies,
and non-governmental organizations - often in partnership with
each other - to approach conservation at larger landscape and
watershed scales. These efforts often include natural resource
inventory at ecoregional or watershed levels, which result in
the identification of key landscapes or watersheds on which
to prioritize conservation efforts. Local, grass roots efforts
are then stimulated or promoted to develop management actions
that sustain local ecosystems and economies. This session will
include papers that focus on specific aspects of ecoregional
planning and landscape sustainability from inventory, through
prioritization, to operational planning and management.
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Monitoring - Procedures,
Objectives, and Techniques
Blane Heumann, Missouri TNC, and Karen Kramer,
MDC
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Monitoring natural area quality, biota, or natural functions
are complex in both purpose and approach. Monitoring may measure
or observe changes in a single species (ie, twenty years of
change in population density of Epioblasma florentina curtisi
in the Little Black River, Missouri) or in physical parameters
(ie, change in surface water pH is tracked in streams and wetlands
below an abandoned sawdust pile). Or, more commonly, monitoring
may measure or observe changes in composition, diversity, and/or
structure of vegetation. Often, sampling techniques are borrowed
from research methodologies, sometimes obfuscating the differences
between monitoring and research. Monitoring is a measurement
or observation that is repeated through time and provides information
relating to the effectiveness of management toward goals and
objectives. The challenge in natural areas management is to
design monitoring that is efficient, doable with the time, tools,
an expertise available, and is effective at tracking changes
relating to management objectives. Papers in this session should
discuss ongoing natural areas monitoring that is well focused
on management goals and objectives. We hope to select a diversity
of papers demonstrating successful monitoring that is both efficient
and effective.
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Conservation Lands
in an Urban Setting
Charlie Nilon, University of Missouri - Columbia
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Goals for nature conservation in North American cities typically
include protecting sites that are remnants of pre-settlement
ecosystems and restoring sites to presumed pre-settlement conditions.
Approaches to conservation that focus on the value of sites
to local residents, and the focus on the role of these areas
in an urban context, are less common. However, research and
managers that study and work in cities realize that management
involves more than removing exotic species and protecting sites
from development. New approaches to conservation include understanding
how the range of sites that occur in cities function and involving
local residents in participatory approaches to management. Papers
in this session will focus on the ecology and management of
the broad range of places that are called urban natural areas.
I hope to include papers from researchers in the social and
natural sciences and land managers.
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Insects in Natural
Communities
Mike Arduser, MDC
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Natural areas are managed to maintain and restore biodiversity-rich
natural communities, and their significant plant and animal
assemblages. Management outcomes on these areas are usually
measured by monitoring the response of certain taxa (plants,
birds, etc.) to some treatment (mechanical removal, prescribed
fire, etc.) over time. Insects and other arthopods are potentially
very useful and appropriate taxa to use in assessing outcomes
of management decision because they comprise the greatest part
of the biodiversity of most natural aras. They have been overlooked
in many terrestrial conservation efforts, however, primarily
because they are considered difficult to sample and identify,
the training to do so is not easily acquired, and comparative
baseline data are often unavailable or lacking. Despite these
challenges, management efforts directed at maintaining, restoring,
and monitoring diversity stand to benefit by the incorporation
of nature's most diverse group of organisms. The relatively
new science of insect conservation biology is increasing the
awareness of insects and other arthropods in natural communities,
but in general, management decisions on natural areas are made
without much consideration of their impacts on these groups.
More information is needed to understand the effects of management
on insect diversity and to enable their use as community and
natural quality indicators. To address this need, we would like
the papers in this session to focus on management, monitoring,
and research programs involving insects in natural communities.
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