Protection, Conservation, and Restoration of the Fort Peck Tribes’ Manning Lake Wetland Complex on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation

The Manning Lake Wetland Complex (MLWC), located on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, is an incredible and unique landscape providing vital breeding and rearing habitat for a diversity of waterfowl, migratory birds, songbirds and other species, including at least 10 of conservation concern. The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes and their partners have been working toward the protection, conservation, and restoration of the 22,000-ac wetland complex since 2004, when nine natural resource professionals from tribal, state, and federal agencies and programs formed a working group. Since then, thanks in part to grants from USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and Montana Audubon, great progress has been made toward reaching this goal. This presentation will introduce the Manning Lake Wetlands Tribal Wildlife Refuge and share our methods and accomplishments to date which include 1) designation of the Complex by Montana Audubon as An Important Bird Area; 2) Tribal establishment and management of 4000 ac as a Tribal Wildlife Refuge with plans to include additional acres in the future through purchase or long term conservation leases; 3) development of a habitat management plan and a wetland monitoring and assessment plan; 4) creation of a reservation specific wetland rapid assessment method; 5) creation of a baseline macroinvertebrate, bird, and amphibian species list; 6) development of water quality references; and 7) creation of habitat, vegetation associations, and land usage maps

Thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation regarding Pispiza (black-tailed prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianus)

Wildlife management decisions must be made with an understanding of the species and its relationship to stakeholders. However, relationships between Native American stakeholders and Pispiza, black-tailed prairie dogs, have not been examined even though the majority of prairie dog occupied habitat exists on Tribal lands. I addressed this gap in the literature by examining Pispiza-related attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. A total of 109 high school students, culturally knowledgeable community members, and randomly selected general community members completed questionnaires administered interview style. Factor analysis and stepwise regressions explored potential relationships between stakeholder groups and attitudes and knowledge. Factors with significant effects included cultural differences and ranching experience. The evidence of such relationships, in addition to social justice, demands macro-level investigations and explanations in future research. Additionally, Tribes must not be excluded from Pispiza conservation and management decisions nor left shouldering the majority of the conservation "burden."</p

Statwide Efforts to Monitor Year-Round Bat Activity Patterns and Characterize Cave and Mine Roost Habitats

Montana’s bat populations face a wide array of conservation issues, including loss of roosting sites, pesticide impacts to prey species, collision and drowning hazards at sites where they forage and drink, barotrauma and collisions with wind turbines, and the potential arrival of Geomyces destructans, the cold-adapted soil fungus that causes White-Nose Syndrome and has decimated bat populations in eastern North America. These conservation issues, and the low reproductive output of bats, highlight the need to gather baseline information that can be used to mitigate impacts to populations. Beginning in the fall of 2011, a collaborative effort was initiated to document roost habitat characteristics and year-round spatial and temporal activity patterns of Montana’s bats. To-date, collaborators have deployed over 30 temperature and relative humidity data loggers near known winter bat roosts; most known bat hibernacula in Montana are now being monitored. Collaborators have also established a nearly statewide array of 42 passive ultrasonic detector/recorder stations that are deployed year-round and powered by solar panels and deep cycle batteries. Through December 2012, these recording stations have resulted in more than 750,000 sound files containing nearly 3 terabytes of information. Highlights to-date include numerous first records of species in regions with previously limited bat survey effort, numerous first records of bat activity during the fall, winter, and spring months, documentation of temperatures at which bats are active year-round, documentation of winter bat roost temperatures, documentation of nightly activity patterns throughout the year, and the potential year-round presence of species previously considered migratory