American bird conservancy will work with the service to evaluate acres to treat on big stone national wildlife refuge(bsnwr)

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the National Wildlife Refuge System Enhancements program (CFDA 15.654) provides $136,000 to the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) to evaluate and implement habitat restoration and enhancement activities on the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota. The goal is to restore and maintain native prairie and grassland habitats that are threatened by invasive tree and shrub encroachment. ABC will hire private contractors to remove woody vegetation and treat stumps, focusing on areas with high fuel loads that pose a risk of damaging wildfires. This work will help protect core remnant prairie and grassland habitats on the refuge, reducing the long-term monitoring and treatment needs. The project will run from February 1, 2024 through December 31, 2028.

The efforts will help restore and enhance wetland and upland habitats to benefit migratory birds and address the impacts of climate change. The goal of this project is to restore and enhance core tracts of native, remnant prairie and grasslands at the bsnwr at risk of being overtaken by encroaching invasive tree and shrub species. Currently, non-native and invasive tree species, such as siberian ELM and russian olive, have invaded areas throughout the refuge and pose a significant threat toprairie and grassland habitats. This effort will initially target patches of seed trees on bsnwr to prevent the further spread via seed sources. Other focus areas will include remnant prairies and granite outcrop areas, as well as locations where new or improved fire breaks are needed. Additionally, a subset of the project units contain high fuel loads capable of burning hot enough to sterilize the soil due to their woody species presence. Removing woody invasive trees shrubs from these areas will reduce the likelihood of fires becoming too hot and resulting in damage to native plant communities and soil resources.american bird conservancy will hire private contractors experienced in brush tree cutting to complete woody vegetation removal and stump treatment within native prairie and grassland remnants. Targeted brush and tree clearing within core remnant prairie and grassland areas will remove encroaching woody vegetation that threatens these habitats, and reduce the number of woody species invasion points, while also significantly reducing the time and money needed in the future to monitor and treat woody species within core remnant prairie areas.