The History, Ecology, and Economy of The Thunder Basin Prairie Ecosystem
Building A Knowledge Base For an Ecosystem Management Plan
Proceedings of the First Symposium
of
The Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association
November 1-2, 2001
The Parkway Plaza – Casper, Wyoming
Building A Knowledge Base For an Ecosystem Management Plan
A SYMPOSIUM
November 1-2, 2001
The Parkway Plaza, Casper, Wyoming
Purpose: This symposium is hosted by the Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association, a Wyoming non-profit corporation. The Association is a private landowner membership organization whose members own over 200,000 acres of private land in the Thunder Basin of eastern Wyoming. This group of private landowners has initiated an ecosystem assessment of their lands that will provide the basis of information for the development of an ecosystem management strategy and plan.
This symposium is designed to provide an understanding of the current level or state of knowledge about the history, ecology, and economy of the Thunder Basin. Included in the symposium will be a focus on what we do know, as well as what we don’t know, in order to facilitate planning for the Thunder Basin. The workshop will focus on building a background of pertinent information from which to build an ecosystem management plan.
As such, this symposium is not designed to develop recommendations for management or solutions to ecological, social, or economic challenges, but rather to identify a common understanding of what is known about the history, ecology and economy of the Thunder Basin as the first step in developing a cooperative and collective ecosystem management process.
Symposium Managed by: The Ecosystem Management Research Institute and Nancy O. Geehan Consulting, Inc.
Symposium sponsored by:
The Bradley Fund for the Environment
Powder River Coal Company: North Antelope/Rochelle Complex
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
The Wildlife Society
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
The Wyoming Farm Bureau
Wyoming Chapter, The Wildlife Society
The Wyoming Wildlife Federation
With support from:
The Wyoming Black-tailed Prairie Dog Working Group
The Wyoming Governor’s Office – The Honorable Jim Geringer, Governor
Approved for 14 hours of professional
development/continuing education by the Wildlife Society and the Society of
Range Management.
Introduction
This publication documents the papers presented at the symposium. Both presenters and attendees at the symposium came from a wide background of experiences. Some of the speakers were very used to giving presentations and many were highly published in a variety of scientific journals. Others seldom gave talks and had never had anything published. We therefore chose not to impose strong publication standards for these papers. No particular format was required. The papers were edited only for typographical errors. The content of each paper belongs strictly to each author.
Some of the authors used charts and other visual aids in their talks, which could not be included in these proceedings. Any questions readers of this publication have regarding this should be addressed to the individual author. Four speakers were unable to provide papers documenting their talks and were therefore not included in this publication. These speakers were Jon Wade of the Wyoming Water Development Commission on Water Resources/Watersheds, Roy Roath of the Colorado State University on Dynamics of Vegetation and Grazers, Kevin Buss, CPA on Economic Challenges and Opportunities from a Business Perspective, and Senator Mike Enzi on A Landmark Change in the Paradigm in Private Lands Conservation.
Authors may be cited by using their names and title of their paper in the symposium.
An example is:
Haufler, J.B. 2001, An Ecosystem Management Process For The Thunder Basin. Pages 171-188 in: Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association Technical Bulletin Number 1: The History, Ecology, And Economy Of The Thunder Basin Prairie Grasslands: Building A Knowledge Base For An Ecosystem Management Plan. Douglas, WY.
Table of Contents
Energy Resources – Coal/Oil/Gas
The History of the Thunder Basin
Thunder Basin Grassland Demographics and Economic Measures
The Setting Of The Thunder Basin-Cultural Resources
Classification And Description Of Terrestrial Vegetation Ecosystems Of The Thunder Basin
Area Historic Fire Regimes And Shrub Demography
How Herbivores Shaped The Rangelands Of The Northern Great Plains
Past and Present Distributions of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs
Interactions of Prairie Dogs and Vegetation
Plague In Black–Tailed Prairie Dogs: Implications For Management At Thunder Basin National Grassland
Raptor Ecology in the Thunder Basin of Northeast Wyoming
Sage-Grouse Habitat Relationships: A Review of what is Known
Economic Relationships From A County Government’s Perspective
Current Grazing Practices and the Relationship to Communities
Coal mining-current methods and relationships of public/private
Tourism and Recreational activities and their contribution to the Thunder Basin
An Ecosystem Management Process for the Thunder Basin
Landowner Incentive Programs for Species Management
Collaborative Processes in Landscape Planning: Private Landowner Leadership in Conservation