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5 KS 1 . Big Salt Marsh. Acreage: 9600. 



CO 



2 Location: Stafford County; Great Bend 1:250,000 Quadrangle; 8 miles E of 



vj£ Hudson. 



Description: Occupies part of Rattlesnake Creek valley, a tributary of the Ar- 

 kansas River. A broad flat valley with large, inland salt marsh. Area extensively 

 studied by Ungar (1964) who has recognized the following vegetation types: 

 Tall Distichlis stricta meadow; D. stricta-Suaeda depressa, Spartina pectinata-D. 

 stricta; Scirpus americanus-Eleocharis rostellata, and Scirpus paludosus-D. stricta. 

 This mosaic of salt grass, sedge meadows, and open salt ponds is relatively 

 undisturbed from grazing. Area includes Little Salt Marsh and lies within 

 Ouivira National Wildlife Refuge. 



References: Ungar, I. A. 1964. A phytosociological analysis of the Big Salt 

 Marsh, Stafford County, Kansas, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci. 67:50-64; Ungar, I. 

 A. 1965. An ecological study of the vegetation of the Big Salt Marsh, Stafford 

 County, Kansas. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 46:1-98. 



Encroachments: Oil-well drillings. Grazing on margin. 



Ownership: BSFW. 



Data source: Irwin A. Ungar, Botany Department, Ohio University, Athens, 

 Ohio 45701; Lloyd C. Hulbert, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 

 Manhattan, Kan. 66502. 



