The following pages present a summary of all ecological 

 and botanical data collected in the field, in addition to 

 observations and much background information 

 assembled for interpreting results. Background 

 information includes description of environment, land 

 use prior to and subsequent to National Wildlife 

 Refuge establishment, and management comments as 

 preliminary identification of management concerns or 

 questions associated with ecological and botanical 

 features. 



An overall statement of biodiversity significance has 

 been drafted, building on previous RNA information. 

 Other non-biological values are also cited much as they 

 were addressed in the original RNA records. 



This background information is all the more important 

 and difficult to compile in light of the dynamic nature 

 of the Great Plains vegetation, and the absence of 

 precise vegetation information for reconstructing 

 landscape conditions. The references that are made to 

 fire and grazing in the following pages as historically 

 widespread factors that shaped the landscape are based 

 on such works as Higgins (1986) and Umbanhowar 

 (1998) for fire, and on such works as Hanson (1984) 

 and Peden et al. (1974) for bison grazing. This is made 

 in full recognirion that there are different theories on 

 how these apply to current landscapes and 

 management practices. One of the common methods 

 for investigating this is through vegetation 

 manipulation experiments with a control. Grazing 

 studies have often used comparative vegetation 

 sampling inside and outside exclosures, as with a recent 

 Rocky Mountain study of grazing affects that included 

 study sites on the Charles M. Russell NWR (Stohlgren 

 et al. 1999). The reader is referred to such works in the 

 management literature, and the management notes 

 that are included in the following pages are 

 rudimentary context for the vegetation data. 



The study sites are sequenced alphabetically by refuge 

 name, and alphabetically by RNA name within refuges. 

 Plant associations are described as they occur in each 

 RNA. They are sequenced by relative extensiveness 

 within the RNA, listing the most widespread plant 

 associations first. The classification and 

 characterization of major plant associations is derived 

 from vegetation plot sampling data. The plots provide 

 basic documentation of the existing vegetation, and 

 provided a basis for cor^sidering their classification as 

 well as their condition. The plot information regarding 

 species composition is arranged in "synthesis" tables 

 (Appendix D) in the same order of presentation as in 

 the text. "Constancy/cover" tables are also included to 

 convey the variability across a community type. Finally, 

 we note less extensive plant associations and provide 

 qualitative description. 



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