Get reliable rangeland science

In 2014, the first year of Level I Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem surveys were conducted on the Bighorn National Forest to provide the Forest Service with information documenting the locations of fens (peat accumulating wetlands), the variety in their biotic and abiotic features, and the degree of impact on them from human activities. The Palustrine Emergent Class with a saturated water regime (PEMB) and the Palustrine Scrub-shrub Class with a saturated water regime (PSSB) of the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are thought to have the highest likelihood among all the wetland types of containing fens. PSSB and PEMB polygons were selected for sampling with a stratified sampling method that included elevation zones and geologic types throughout the Forest. Products from these surveys will include: a profile of fen-types on the forest, a protocol to be used by forest service biologists and resource specialists in additional fen surveys on the forest, a digital layer and a database of fen sites and other wetland sampling sites on the forest, and estimates of the success rate of the NWI layer in predicting the occurrence of fens. With this, Forest biologists and managers will be better able to plan future resource inventories and mitigation projects, and to understand the effects of management plans on wetlands.