Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T03:20:43.213Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Industrial Land-use and the Conservation of Native Biota in the Shrub-steppe Region of Western North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

William H. Rickard  and
Lee E. Rogers
William H. Rickard
Affiliation:
Senior Staff Scientist and Senior Research Scientist, respectively, Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, P.O. Box 999, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
Lee E. Rogers
Affiliation:
Senior Staff Scientist and Senior Research Scientist, respectively, Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, P.O. Box 999, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Bitterbrush-Sagebrush/Cheatgrass vegetation-type occupies about 300 km2 on the US Department of Energy's Hanford Site in the shrub-steppe region of southeastern Washington State. Prior to 1943, part of the land was used for irrigated agriculture and the remainder as grazing land for domestic livestock. In 1943, farming and livestock grazing were terminated and the resident human population was relocated. Use of the land since 1943 has been industrial, mostly for nuclear energy development. The land is not available for public use and shooting of wildlife is prohibited.

Nuclear energy development on the Hanford Site consists of a few large buildings that are widely separated, with undeveloped land in between which supports native plants and animals. This undeveloped land provides habitats for native species that are not adapted to intensive irrigated agriculture—a potential use of almost all of the land in the Bitterbrush-Sagebrush vegetation type. The primary disturbance to vegetation is wildfire. Fire destroys Bitterbrush and Sagebrush and these plants are slow to recolonize the burns. Other species are less affected by burning and are capable of quick recovery. The industrial use of the land provides a potential for the ecological study of self-revegetation of abandoned ploughed ground and the response of biota to wildfire.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1983 , pp. 205 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, J. (1980). The ecology and behavior of the Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, in southeastern Washington. Wildlife Monogr. No. 73, 67 pp.Google Scholar
Daubenmire, R.F. (1970). Steppe vegetation of Washington. Wash. Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bull., 62, 131 pp.Google Scholar
Fitzner, R.E. & Hanson, W.C. (1980). A congregation of wintering Bald Eagles. Condor, 81, pp. 311–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzner, R.E., Gano, K.A., Rickard, W.H. & Rogers, L.E. (1979). Characterization of the Hanford 300 area Burial Grounds, Task IV: Biological Transport. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, operated for the US Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute, PNL-2774, 57 pp. + appendix. (Available from National Technical Information Service. US Dept of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151, USA.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzner, R.E., Rickard, W.H., Cadwell, L.L. & Rogers, L.E. (1981). Raptors of the Hanford Site and Nearby Areas. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, operated for the US Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute, PNL-3212, 61 pp. (Available from National Technical Information Service, US Dept of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151, USA.)Google Scholar
Franklin, J.F., Hall, F.C., Dyrness, C.I. & Maser, C. (1972). Federal Research Natural Areas in Oregon and Washington: A Guidebook for Scientists and Educators. Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, Portland, Oregon, USA: unnumbered pages.Google Scholar
Gano, K.A. & Rickard, W.H. (1982). Small mammals of a Bitterbrush-Cheatgrass community. Northwest Science, 56, pp. 1–7.Google Scholar
Hedlund, J.D. (1975). Tagging Mule Deer fawns in southcentral Washington. Northwest Science, 49, pp. 153–7.Google Scholar
Kritzman, E.B. (1974). Ecological relationships of Peromyscus maniculatus and Perognathus parvus in eastern Washington. J. Mammal., 55, pp. 172–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauenroth, W.K. (1979). Grassland primary production: North American grasslands in perspective. Pp. 3–24 in Perspectives in Grassland Ecology (Ed. French, N.R.). Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, USA: vii + 104 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rickard, W.H. (1970 a). Ground-dwelling beetles in burned and unburned vegetation. J. Range Manage., 23, pp. 293–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rickard, W.H. (1970 b). The distribution of ground-dwelling beetles in relation to vegetation, season, and topography in the Rattlesnake Hills, southeastern Washington. Northwest Science, 44, pp. 107–13.Google Scholar
Rickard, W.H. & Sauer, R.H. (1982). Primary production and canopy cover in Bitterbrush-Cheatgrass communities. Northwest Science, 56, pp. 250–6.Google Scholar
Rickard, W.H., Cline, J.F. & Gilbert, R.O. (1974). Pitfall trapping and direct counts of darkling beetles in cheatgrass communities. Northwest Science, 48, pp. 95–101.Google Scholar
Rickard, W.H., Hanson, W.C. & Fitzner, R.E. (1982). The non-fisheries biological resources of the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. Northwest Science, 56, pp. 62–76.Google Scholar
Rogers, L.E. & Fitzner, R.E. (1980). Characterization of darkling beetles inhabiting radioecology study areas at the Hanford Site in south-central Washington. Northwest Science, 54, pp. 202–6.Google Scholar
Rotenberry, J.T., Fitzner, R.E. & Rickard, W.H. (1979). Seasonal variation in avian community structure: differences in mechanisms regulating diversity. Auk, 96, pp. 499–505.Google Scholar
Rotenberry, J.T. (1980). Dietary relationships among shrubsteppe passerine birds: Competition or opportunism in a variable environment? Ecol. Monogr., 50, pp. 93–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schreiber, R.K. (1973). Bioenergetics of Rodents in the Northern Great Basin Desert. Ph.D. thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA: 133 pp. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
Sheldon, J.K. & Rogers, L.E. (1976). Grasshopper Populations Inhabiting the B-C Cribs and Redox Pond Site, 200 Area Plateau, US Research and Development Administration Hanford Site, Hanford Reservation. BNWL-1943, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA: 37 pp. + appendix.Google Scholar
Steigers, W.D. Jr, (1980). Mortality and movements of Mule Deer fawns in Washington. J. Wild. Manage., 44, pp. 381–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoel, P.F. (1976). Some Coyote Food-habit Patterns in the Shrub-steppe of Southcentral Washington. M.S. thesis, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA: 114 pp. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
US Department of the Interior (1979). Snake River Birds of Prey: Special Research Report to the Secretary of the Interior. Bureau of Land Management, Boise District, Idaho, USA: 116 pp. + appendixes.Google Scholar
Vaughan, B.E. (1981). Pacific Northwest Laboratory Annual Report for 1979 to the DOE Assistant Secretary for Environment, Part 2: Ecological Sciences. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, operated for the US Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute, PNL-3700, Part 2, 145 pp. (Available from the National Technical Information Service, US Dept of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151, USA.)Google Scholar
Young, J.A., Eckert, R.E. Jr, & Evans, R.A. (1979). Historical Perspectives Regarding the Sagebrush Ecosystem. Paper presented to the Sagebrush Ecosystem: A Symposium, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA: 13 pp. (mimeogr.)Google Scholar