Effects of Livestock Grazing Management on Grassland Bird Abundance in the Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie

Grassland bird populations have been declining throughout a majority of their range in the United States and Canada over the past 40 years, and currently have the most accelerated declines of any guild of terrestrial birds in this region. Rangelands used for domestic cattle grazing are important for maintaining large tracts of native grassland that may otherwise be converted to agricultural use or other human development. In addition, grassland birds respond well to livestock grazing systems that increase habitat heterogeneity by mimicking historic grassland disturbance, such as fire and bison grazing. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) implements a rest-rotation grazing system within conservation easements to increase structural heterogeneity of grassland vegetation on the landscape. However, the rest-rotation grazing system administered by Montana FWP was developed for more arid, bunchgrass-dominated rangelands and has not been evaluated as a management tool for creating structurally diverse wildlife habitat in the northern mixed-grass prairie. This study examines the effect of a rest-rotation grazing system on breeding season habitat selection and abundance of four native grassland songbird species, Baird’s sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), vesper sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus), and western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), relative to traditional season-long or rotational grazing systems on a Montana FWP conservation easement in eastern Montana. Our objectives for the study are: 1) evaluate how abundance and spaceuse of four focal grassland bird species are affected by grazing treatment; 2) estimate the importance of habitat and vegetation characteristics for focal species within pasture treatments; 3) offer management recommendations to agencies and private landowners for improving grassland bird abundance and habitat quality

Appropriate Use Criteria for Echocardiography

Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE) is one of the most common diagnostic imaging tests used in Cardiology. It is portable, noninvasive and provides important data regarding diagnosis and management of many cardiac conditions. In recent years TTE has had an increased in popularity for its use in both inpatient and outpatient settings. This has resulted in an increase of inappropriate use leading to overutilization of resources. At our institution, University of New Mexico Hospitals we evaluated the prevalence rate of appropriateness of TTE with a quality improvement project. During the first phase of the project 100 TTEs each were randomly selected in both the outpatient and inpatient settings. We evaluated appropriateness based on the AUC of TTE published in 2011 by the American College of Cardiology. Results demonstrated inpatient TTE orders had reduced number of inappropriate echo orders compared to outpatient echo orders. The percentage of inappropriate TTE orders in the outpatient setting was unacceptably high approaching 30% of all outpatient TTE requests. Recent studies have shown that education of physicians concerning the appropriate use of echocardiography can improve resource utilization in clinical practice. The purpose of the second phase of this quality improvement project is to reduce the number of inappropriate TTE orders in the outpatient settings at our UNM clinics through multiple and continued mechanisms. This will be achieved through educational material, EMR modifications, follow up audit reports and feedback sessions

Representative recharge rates in a complex unsaturated hydrogeology

This study summarizes analyses used for the determination of representative recharge rates in a semi-arid terrain of complex topography for the purpose of modeling the performance assessment of a mesa top disposal facility. Four recharge rates are identified based on different terrains. The terrain is first broadly grouped into canyon bottoms and mesa tops, with each covering about half the topography. The canyon bottoms are considered wet or dry depending on the local infiltration conditions and the influence of mans` activities. The mesa tops are separated into locations which are undisturbed and disturbed by laboratory operations. Disturbed locations at the disposal facility include the disposal pits utilized for shallow land burial of low-level radioactive waste, covering approximately half the mesa top area. Several sources of data and analyses have been synthesized to estimate the resulting recharge rates. Data and analyses include: (1) detailed surface water balance calculations with site-specific parameter values as input; (2) chloride ion profiles and analysis of implied flux at several borehole locations; (3) analyses of liquid and vapor phase vertical flux from moisture profiles with stratigraphic unit averaged unsaturated hydrologic properties; (4) comparison of moisture content field data with values implied from Darcy flux calculations for assumed unit gradient conditions and for stratigraphic unit averaged unsaturated hydrologic properties; (5) liquid flux calculated under self-consistent gradients from field observed moisture profiles and analytic determinations of in-situ moisture potential and conductivity at limited locations; (6) distributions in near surface soil moisture contents expressed as an equivalent vertical flux under unit gradient assumptions; and (7) limited comparisons to tracers available from past disposal operations