State Wildlife Grants Program Projects

2005-2007

This project adds lupine to existing barrens habitat and is expected to directly benefit Karner Blue Butterfly and other invertebrates dependent on lupine.

The objectives of the Songbird Survey of Iron County Forest are to sample unique habitats within the Iron County Forest for bird species of special concern. As well as, document all bird species detected and their distribution among habitats and areas surveyed.

The overarching goal of this research is to identify the effects of housing growth on the breeding success of forest songbirds in the Baraboo Hills. It is proposed to:

1. Measure nesting success of ground- and low- nesting forest bird species in order to quantify housing density thresholds associated with specific effects on nesting success.
2. Measure community composition and relative abundance of both carnivore and rodent nest predators in relation to housing density.

The goal of this project is to maintain and restore the entire Lulu Lake State Natural Area to savanna, wetland, and prairie habitat. As part of the restoration effort there is a need to plant 30 acres to prairie, to restore 80 acres to savanna by removing woody species including buckthorn, honeysuckle, black cherry, and red cedar and to maintain 60 acres of savanna by removing invasive garlic mustard and conducting prescribe burns.

The objective of this project is to remove woody species, especially red cedar that is degrading the alvar community. The work will directly benefit and provide better security for Species of Greatest Conservation Need by improving the highest quality alvar known in the state.

The Mississippi River Bluffland is home to 85 species of greatest conservation need. The plan of the project is to pick twenty-four State Natural Areas within the study area that harbor the best known remaining examples of high quality natural communities. These areas will have management applied to maintain and enhance the natural communities and habitat.

The Wisconsin Henry's Elfin Butterfly (Incisalia henrici) sites are mostly recorded from jackpine barrens habitat. However, the larval foodplant(s) of the Wisconsin populations is unknown. The objectives of the study include: 1) To answer the questions of habitat and larval foodplant(s) for Wisconsin populations of Incisalia henrici and 2) To inform the conservation status of Henry's Elfin Butterfly in Wisconsin and further protect the species through incorporation of the data into Natural Heritage Inventory databases.

The primary objective for this project is to control (and eradicate when possible) invasive herbaceous exotics on 72 southern Wisconsin sites with remnant plant communities, including 47 primarily state-owned State Natural Areas, 24 Prairie Enthusiast remnants, 1 Nature Conservancy site, and several other sites which GCCL and Friends of Devils Lake State Park actively manage. This will be carried out by prescribed burning (fall and spring), and invasive woody species control (fall to spring).

The first phase period for this project was 1 October 2004 - 30 September 2005. This phase included removing invading brush and trees from 9 grass dominated fields to restore their value as nest habitat. Following this brush removal was phase 2. This phase will evaluate the effects of habitat management (removal of wooded fencerows) on density and productivity of grassland birds and their nest predators. The objectives of the entire project are to determine the impact of removing linear woody features on the density and productivity of grassland birds in idle grassland fields enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program.

The objective of this project was to prescribe burn 550 acres of savanna and prairie habitat. As well as, restore 50 acres of savanna and 40 acres of prairie by removal of invasive and woody species.

In order for the State of Wisconsin to address current and future issues related to bats within the state, we will develop and implement a Bat Conservation and Management Plan at the statewide level. Wisconsin has little information available about its resident bat populations and even less is known about their seasonal migratory movements. This proposal (Phase I) identifies the goals and priorities related to gathering information applicable to natural resource related issues.

This Coniferous Wetland Forest Bird Inventory provides a broad-scale survey of birds and plants associated with tamarack swamps, northern white-cedar swamps, and black spruce bogs throughout the Northern Highland Ecological Section in northern Wisconsin.

The goal of this restoration is to reclaim 1000 acres of open area over the next 10 years (clear 100 acres/year). Reclaimed lands will be burned within 2 years of initial treatment and incorporated into the prescribed burn rotation as needed to maintain their open characteristics. Follow-up cutting will be used as needed to repel woody invasion.

Twelve SNAs which harbor the best known remaining example of high quality natural communities will have management applied to maintain and enhance the natural communities and habitat for the species of greatest conservation need. Activities will include brushing and thinning of woody species in savannas and prairies, removal of invasive exotic species, and conducting prescribed burn to rejuvenate the prairies and savanna natural communities on 645 acres.

The result of this project will be a greatly enhanced and improved web interface that will allow Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff, staff from other governmental agencies, the private sector, educational institutions, scientific and conservation organizations, and the general public to access and map detailed and accurate information on the current and historic distribution of Species of Greatest Conservation Need and other fishes in Wisconsin.

The goal of this project is to make DNA tissue sampling and species identification a routine option for mammal inventory, monitoring, and research projects in Wisconsin. It is expected that this project will develop, refine, and begin applying more efficient and cost effective inventory methods for 22 mammal species.

The work done at Holland Sand Prairie will lead to restoration of native flora. The 61 acres of this prairie are located atop an expansive Mississippi River Terrace that stretches nearly 30 miles from south La Crosse to Trempealeau, WI. This project focuses on four different units within the prairie that need removal of invasive species.

The goal of this project is to maintain grassland and pine barrens habitat on private lands by providing private landowners with assistance and approval to conduct prescribed burns. Many private landowners are interested and willing to maintain these habitat types by prescribed burning if they could obtain assistance and approval from DNR to conduct prescribed burning.

Critical ecological information compiled from both the 2004 Bureau of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) report and the current effort will allow Endangered Resources ecologists to accurately evaluate the BCPL sites and prioritize them for protection purposes. These priority sites can then be shared with BCPL staff that has the authority to defer future harvest in stands that are identified by BER staff. BCPL and DNR staff can then work cooperatively to plan for the long-term protection of these sites through their inclusion into the State Natural Areas System.

The IBA program identifies those areas that are most critical for birds using objective, science-based criteria that can be used to prioritize conservation actions. Objectives for this grant periods included:

• Complete the identification, evaluation, and dedication of IBAs throughout Wisconsin.
• Develop a method to prioritize IBAs most in need of conservation plans.
• Develop an IBA conservation plan template.
• Write conservation plans for highest priority IBAs.
• Explore additional funding opportunities and other resources (e.g., technical assistance, workshops, volunteer recruitment) for implementation of management and stewardship activities at IBAs. Pursue implementation through new and existing partnerships.
• Produce and disseminate a publication of Wisconsin IBAs.

The primary objective of this project is to develop a centralized database for management of Wisconsin wildlife disease information. The database will provide a means for efficient review and analysis of data by species, disease, time, season, and geographical location. It will also allow Wildlife Health staff to review and more easily discover any trends among wildlife within the state. Finally, the database will also be the method by which archived blood and tissue samples from endangered species are tracked and retrieved for future research and disease investigations.

The goal of this project is to improve management and surveys to enhance conservation of raptor species of greatest conservation need. This statewide project includes planning and several implementation categories for the Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Osprey, Northern Goshawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Short-eared Owl.

The project objective is to provide written descriptions of the ecological and socio-economic resources and management opportunities for all 16 Ecological Landscapes in Wisconsin. This will aid in advancing the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan by providing more information on the ecological setting within which the conservation actions will occur. This would help provide a more complete picture of conditions, opportunities, and limitations, aiding planners and managers in determining where various conservation options are likely to succeed.

This project focus is at managing Wisconsin's feral population of Mute Swans, coordinating and implementing a Trumpeter Swan monitoring program scaled back from the current intensive program, and conducting breeding bird surveys to identify breeding rare and SGCN-priority-birds and other birds at 21 areas with wetlands in order to assess adequately proposed IBAs and/or contribute to a data base.

This project has three components: Integration and management of data on remnant prairie communities in the MPRHA (Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area); Surveying remnant prairie and savanna communities in the MPRHA; and Mapping remnant prairie communities in the Southwest Grassland Area.

The main objective of this project is to restore the riparian corridor of the east branch of the Pecatonica River to pre-settlement conditions.

Research and surveys of this project will provide baseline data to guide the Butler's Gartersnake conservation strategy. The research will help determine which sites will serve as long-term conservation sites as part of the implementation of the Butler's Gartersnake conservation strategy.

The purpose of this effort is to identify partners, expertise, and resources needed for the construction and support of a new resource monitoring and data sharing network in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has a wide array of wildlife and environmental monitoring projects and programs. This project plans to bring information gathered in different projects together so it is easier to see distributions, conditions, and trends.

This project will result in a detailed conservation and management plan that lays out a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to protect and manage priority migratory bird stopover sites in the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior basins.

The overall goal of this project is to enhance grassland bird habitat for the Greater Prairie-Chicken and other species. Enhancing grassland habitat will help these species that are in serious decline.

The objective of this grant is to implement, at the Department of Natural Resources regional level, the Wildlife Action Plan: Wisconsin’s Strategy for Wildlife Species of Greatest Conservation Need, by providing technical assistance, performing technical work and developing internal and external partnerships. The objective includes providing information about the threats and conservation actions in the Plan and applying them as the Department and our conservation partners plan, manage and make decisions.