Utilizing GIS to Locate Endangered Gravel Hill Prairies of the Wabash River Valley

The Gravel Hill Prairies (GHP’s) of the Wabash River Valley are an endangered ecosystem in the state of Indiana and provide optimal growing conditions for a number of state endangered plants. Currently only four remnants are known to exist near Lafayette, IN, found by a previous study conducted in 1980 by Post, Bacone, and Aldrich (Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 1984, vol. 94: 457-464). These unique ecosystems have been found to occur almost exclusively on soils classified as Rodman Gravelly Loams and Strawn-Rodman complexes which occur predominantly along the outwash terraces of the Wabash River and its tributaries. Seven Indiana-state endangered plant species, more typical of western shortgrass prairies, are documented on these soils. This research effort aimed to develop GIS maps to scout for and discover areas of unknown GHP remnants. The end goal of the project is to assist conservation groups in the development of a strategy to preserve previously undiscovered remnants. This project relied on spatial analyses with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and numerous databases including the USDA’s gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO), which had not been used previously to develop maps and scouting plans. Analysis have identified a total of 972 areas of interest, of which 53 have been visited and had preliminary plant lists put together. These field scouting trips have found five fragments of gravel hill prairie remnants along the Wea Creek and the Wildcat Creek in Tippecanoe Co., one remnant fragment along Bee Run in Warren Co., and numerous high quality open-oak woodlands. These fragments are at varying stages of plant community degradation, however, one of the fragments along the Wea Creek contains the state endangered aromatic aster (Aster oblongifolius)

Core Forest Analysis along the WIldcat Creek for Niches Land Trust

A number of the properties that Niches Land Trust owns and manages are along the length of the Wildcat Creek, a waterway classified under the Rivers Preservation Act of 1973 as a “Natural, Scenic, and Recreational River System” in Indiana that flows through the counties of Tippecanoe, Carroll, Howard, and Clinton (with minor segments in Madison and Grant). The proper management of the land around the Wildcat Creek is crucial to the continued health of the waterway and the terrestrial ecosystems along its banks. Part of my volunteer work with Niches Land Trust involves the establishment of baseline data of forest area along the Wildcat Creek to be used in determining future ecosystem management and restoration projects. The study can also be used in the future as reference data to compare to in the future for determining the net change of forest habitat. My research involves the use of GIS to collect data and use spatial analysis to determine the amount of core forest habitat present in close proximity to the Wildcat Creek

Utilizing GIS to Locate Endangered Gravel Hill Prairies of the Wabash River Valley

The Gravel Hill Prairies (GHP\u27s) of the Wabash River Valley are an endangered ecosystem in the state of Indiana and provide optimal growing conditions for a number of state endangered plants. Currently only four remnants are known to exist near Lafayette, IN, found by a previous study conducted in 1980 by Post, Bacone, and Aldrich (Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 1984, vol. 94: 457-464). These unique ecosystems have been found to occur almost exclusively on soils classified as Rodman Gravelly Loams and Strawn-Rodman complexes which occur predominantly along the outwash terraces of the Wabash River and its tributaries. Seven Indiana-state endangered plant species, more typical of western shortgrass prairies, are documented on these soils. This research effort aimed to develop GIS maps to scout for and discover areas of unknown GHP remnants. The end goal of the project is to assist conservation groups in the development of a strategy to preserve previously undiscovered remnants. This project relied on spatial analyses with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and numerous databases including the USDA\u27s gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO), which had not been used previously to develop maps and scouting plans. Analysis have located a total of 809 areas of interest, of which 47 have been visited and had preliminary plant lists put together. These field scouting trips have found four gravel hill prairie remnants along the Wea Creek and the Wildcat Creek, one prairie remnant along Bee Run in Warren Co., and numerous high quality open-oak woodlands

CHARACTERIZING AND MAPPING THE FIELD SCALE SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF SURFACE HORIZON SOIL PROPERTIES AND WATER CONTENT WITH NONINVASIVE EM38

The spatial variability of physical soil properties at the field scale is increasingly important in agriculture and natural resource management. Changes in topography, parent material, management practices, erosion/deposition rates, etc. can influence the variability of the soil’s physical properties and help guide management and land use plans. The Geonics EM38 is a noninvasive geophysical sensor which is used to measure the apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) of the soil through electromagnetic induction – primarily influenced by clay content, soil moisture content, and salinity. Soil moisture has been found to be a significant contributor to ECa and is therefore useful in determining both spatial and temporal variation in available soil water content across a landscape. This study conducted at the Lake Wheeler Research Facility in Raleigh, North Carolina examined the ability of EM38 to quantify and map the topographic relationship and variability of soil moisture content of the soil surface (0 -.15m). Soil cores were collected at 14 locations and used to determine soil particle size, bulk density, and available water content. Multiple EM38 surveys were conducted along transects of a rain-fed agricultural field and used to calibrate readings with volumetric water content. Data and maps developed with ArcGIS software will be presented of ECa survey measurements, water retention curves, particle size analyses, and bulk densities for soil cores collected. The goal of the study was to determine how soils – and associated moisture content – vary spatially and if this variability can be detected using EM38 sensor techniques