PARK SCIENCE 

A RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BULLETIN 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

U.S. OEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

VOLUME 3 - NUMBER 4 SUMMER 1983 
’ PARK SCIENCE SUMMER 1983 

A report toparkmanagersofrecenland on-going research inparks 

with emphasis on its implications for planning and management. 

Guest Editorial 

By Dick Briceland. Associate Director of Natural Resources 

The Washington Office of Natural Resources is embarking on 

anew era -newdirections, newemphasis,newapproach. Over 

the past few months there have been three specific Washington 

Office management actions that will shape all future WAS0 

activities and responsibilities in the science/natural resources 

area. These management actions involve organizational 

changes, role and mission changes, and realignment changes 

and can be summarized as follows: 

I. Organizational Changes 

In late February, the Department approved a major structural 

and functional reorganization of the Washington Office. This 

reorganization abolished the Office of Science and Technology 

(S&T) and created a new Office of Natural Resources comprised 

of four Divisions: 

- The Air and Water Duality Division, formed by consolidating 

the Air Ouality Division and the Water Resources Division. 

both from S&T. This Division nas two field components 

-the Denver Air Quality Field Unit and the Fort Collins 

Water Resources Field Unit. 

IN THIS ISSUE: PAGE 

Forest and Disturbance 

History at Apostle Islands 

National Lakeshore 3 

Wilderness Campsite Selection - 

What Should Users Be Told? 5 

Wild Fish Conference Takes Wide 

Measure Of Olympic Research 8 

Contor Gives ‘Super’s’ View 

of ONP Native Fish Picture 8 

Ruffed Grouse Comeback At Buffalo 

National Forest 9 

Kudzu Eradication In Southeast Parks 11 

Regional HIghlights 13 

CPSU Unit Established At Clemson 14 

Information Crossfile 15 

A Quarter Mlllton Years Stands 

Still For Photo 17 

Three New Reserves Accepted by MAE.. 17 

ScientistsatSt. Helens Study Natural 

Systems Recovery 18 

MAB Workshop Precedes V.I. 

Reserve Dedication 18 

Threatened Shorebirds Get Help 

From Volunteers At Gateway NRA 19 

Feral Horses 19 

Human Impact On Arctic Vegetation 

Gates Of The Arctic National Park 20 

Prairie Management Perpetuates 

Historic Scene at Pipestone 21 

Dwarf Nightshade At Crater 

Lake NP 22 

Dr. Richard H. Briceland 

_ The Biological Resources Division,formed by consolidating 

the Natural Science Division from S&T and the Natural 

Resburces Management Division from the Office of Park 

Operations. 

_ The Special Science Projects Division, transferred intact 

from S&T. 

_ The Energy, Mining and Minerals Division, a totally new 

organizatronal unit formed byconsolidatingenergy. mining 

and minerals functions from within WASO. the Regional 

Offices and DSC. This Division has one field component, the 

Denver Energy, Mining and Minerals Field Unit 

Responsibility for the Servicewide Energy Conservation Program was shifted in the reorganization from S&T to the WAS0 

Office of Park Operations. Responsibility for the Fire Management Program was retained within the WAS0 Office of Park 

Operations. 

II. Role and Mission Chanaes 

In early March, the Director distributed the approved WAS0 

reorganization plan to the Washington Office and defined the 

future role and mission of the WAS0 staff as follows: 

“The Washington Office, in consultation with Regional 

Directors, will beresponsibleforestablishingand maintaining the adequacy of Servicewide policy; establishing 

nationwide priorities for Service activities; and for coordinating Service matters with the Department, the Congress. 

national organizations and the public.” ^^ 

COntlnued on page u. I’ 

Cover Photo: Coring sediment with a piston sampler through the ice on Stockton Island, 

as part of a program for forest vegetation management on Apostle Islands National 

Lakeshore. Al Swain and Ray Steventon are pictured. (Seep. 3) 

2 
Forest and Disturbance History 

At Apostle Islands National Lakeshore By Albert M. Stuain and Mariorie Winkler 

A program for management of the forest 

vegetation on the Apostle Islands National 

Lakeshore requires an assessment of the 

present forests and also knowledge of the 

changes in forest composition prior to 

European settlement. Some estimates of 

the frequency of forest disturbance (i.e., 

fire) before and after settlement also is 

important because periodic fires have 

played a dominant role in shaping the composition of the hardwood-conifer forests in 

the Apostle Islands as well as in other 

parts of Wisconsin and in Minnesota. 

The forest composition immediately 

before settlement can be obtained by identifying old stumps that still remain from 

the time of cutting or by studying logging 

histories and cover-type maps made from 

land survey records. For a longer term 

paleoecological record, the analysis of 

pollen and charcoal from lake and bog sediments and of tree rings from fire-scarred 

living trees and charred stumps provide 

the basis for reconstructing former environmental conditions. This kind of analysis 

can be done for time scales ranging from a 

few centuries to several thousand years. 

Our study examined the recent and past 

fire and vegetation history on Stockton 

~ Island, Bear Island and the Bayfield peninsula. The paleoecological record is most 

complete from Stockton Island and will be 

emphasized in this report. This island has 

areas of contrasting soils, vegetation, and 

disturbance history that require varied 

management plans. 

THE STUOY AREA 

Stockton Island can be described as two 

islands connected by an area of low sandy 

beach ridges. The area of beach ridges that 

connect the two upland areas is called a 

tombolo and is largely dominated by forest 

vegetation that includes red and white 

pine. The upland areas have soils derived 

from glacial till that overlie bedrock. 

Unlike the forests on the tombola. hardwood species such as sugar maple, red 

maple, yellow birch, red oak, paper birch, 

and aspen species presently dominate the 

upland forests. Hemlock, white cedar, and 

balsam fir also are present in minor quantities. Numerous white pine and hemlock 

stumps indicate that these species were 

dominant forest types on the uplands prior 

to cutting. The soil differences probably 

account in part for the contrasting vegetation on the island. 

Two bogs were cored on Stockton Island 

for pollen and microscopic charcoal analysis. Stockton Bog is located at the north 

end of the tombolo and its surface is only 

slightly above the present level of Lake 

Superior. Brander Bog is located about 2 

km northeast of Stockton Bog on the northeast end of the island at about 30 m 

above present lake level. The bogs were 

assigned names to aid in discussion of 

research findings. 

TREE RING ANALYSIS 

Tree-ring cores from 53 red pines and 

cross-sections from three fire-scarred 

stumps were collected from the tombolo 

on Stockton Island. The results from the 

counts showed evidence for at least Sfires 

between 1765 and 1940. The dates of these 

fires were interpreted mainly from scars 

(or pitch rings) present on the cores, and 

total tree ages, but abrupt changes in ring 

growth also were noted as possible evidence of a fire. Because red pine and jack 

pine both regenerate within the first few 

years (often less than five years) after a 

fire, total ages from stands of these trees 

were used to estimate fire dates. To obtain 

total tree ages one or more years were 

added to ring counts from each core to 

adjust for the height at which the trees 

were cored. The fire history based on tree 

rings represents a minimum estimate of 

fire frequency, because at least one 

historicallv-dated qround-fire resultpd _” in .,, 

no scarred trees. 

Fire frequency on the upland areas north 

1. Map of the Apostle Islands and a portion of the Bayfield Peninsula. 

Figure 2. Map of Stockton Island. Contour inter’vals are in meters. The dashed lines mark the 

north and south boundaries of the tombola. The dotted lmes enclose tree-ring coring sites (T). 

The dotted area represent bogs. 

3 
Forest and Disturbance - Continued 

and south of the tombola was quite diffetent from the tombola itself. Tree cores 

from hemlocks suggested that some remnant stands of hemlock, yellow birch and 

white cedar have not burned for over 250 

years. Other areas of the island showed 

evidence of only one to three fires during 

the past 250 years. The most recent fire on 

the uplands followed logging, since the 

remaining pine and hemlock stumps are 

charred. 

POLLEN AN0 CHARCOAL ANALYSIS 

The records of pollen and charcoal from 

Stockton Bog and Brander Bog were about 

6,OOOto 7,OOOyears long. The chronologies 

were based on five radiocarbon dates for 

Stockton Bog and twofor Brander Bog.The 

two records showed general similarities 

but also some distinct differences. The 

local differences of the bogs were 

enhanced in the pollen record by the isolation of the island from the masking influence of regional mainland pollen. The most 

recent portion of each record (O-50cm for 

Stockton Bog and 030cm for Brander Bog) 

reflects agricultural and logging disturbances during the past century both on the 

islands and on the mainland. The pollen 

diagrams show increased percentages of 

weed pollen such as ragweed and pigweed 

and marked decreases in the percentages 

of white pine and hemlock pollen, particularly at Brander Bog. Cutting of white pine 

and hemlock appears to have been extensive around Brander Bog while only limited 

amounts of white pine were removed from 

the tombolo. The forests on the tombola 

may have been too young for harvesting at 

the time of initial logging because of recent 

fires. The drastic decrease of hemlock and 

white pine in the Brander Bog area during 

the past century allowed maple, oak, 

birch, (perhaps both yellow and paper 

birch) and aspen to increase in 

importance. 

The pollen record at Stockton Bog (Figure 4) showed that the forest vegetation on 

the tombola has been dominated by red 

and white pine and paper birch through 

most of its 6000 year history (as it is now) 

except that white pine may have been 

more common prior to logging. The pollen 

record at Brander Bog illustrated that hemlock, birch (probably yellow birch), and 

other hardwoods were more common on 

the upland areas of the island than on the 

tombola during the past several thousand 

years. The differences in the forest vegetation between the two areas appears to be 

Figure 3. Coring sediment with a piston sampler 

through the ice in winter. The sampler takes a 

core that is one meter long and about five 

centimeters in diameter. See Cover Photo. 

related to fire frequency which is higher on 

the tombola based on the generally lower 

charcoal values and very few prominent 

charcoal peaks (Figures 4 and 5) from local 

fires during the past several thousand 

years at Brander Bog compared to Stockton Bog. Reduced fire frequency would 

favor the growth of hemlock and yellow 

birch which are relatively sensitive to fire 

damage compared to pines and paper 

birch. Pines have fairly resistant bark and 

paper birch will resprout after a fire. 

Both pollen records from Stockton 

Island show an increase in spruce during 

the past 2000 years. This increase suggests a somewhat cooler climate compared to earlier periods. The spruce trees 

are confined to the bog surfaces. 

MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS OF 

HISTORICAL RECORG 

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore 

and adjacent areas in Bayfield Countyprovide contrasting environmental settings 

for studying the history of forest vegetation. The records of pollen and charcoal 

Figure 4 Pollen and charcoal diagram from Stockton Bog. The percentages of Sphagnum spores 

are based on pollensumsthat exclude Sphagnum. The charcoal-pollen ratio represenWcharcoal 

surface area divided by pollen abundance within a known area of a microscope slide 

Ffgure 5. Pollen and charcoal diagram from Brander Bog. See the caption for Figure 4 for the 

explanation of the Sphagnum percentages and the charcoal-pollen ratios. 

4 
rom these different settings showed disinct differences in forest composition and 

listutbance effects during the past 6OOC 

‘000 years. These historical differences 

tffect management decisions that involve 

namtaining or restoring the natural forest 

:ommunities on various sites within the 

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The 

Stockton Island tombolo and the adjacent 

rpland areas of the island are excellent 

examples where management decrsions 

will vary because of different soil types, 

vegetation and disturbance frequency. 

The pollen record from Stockton Bog 

showed that forest composition changed 

relatively little on the tombolo followrng 

European settlement. In this case no tree 

species need to be planted to restore the 

presettlement forests on this part of the 

island, but periodic fires may be required 

to maintain dominance of the pine species. 

With complete fire protection, the pine 

forests on the tombolo will eventually be 

replaced by hemlock, fir, and hardwood 

species that are common in upland areas 

adjacent to the tombolo. 

The tree-ring record of past fires showed 

that at least nine fires occurred during the 

past 250 years on the tombolo. Many of 

these fires occurring within the past 100 

years appear to have been ground fires 

because fire-scarred trees were common 

and the original forests were left largely 

intact. The patterns of the tree-age distributions and of the locations of trees with 

particular fire scars suggests that the fires 

were relatively small in area with no single 

fire burning the entire tombolo. 

A somewhat different management 

approach is required for the upland areas 

of Stockton Island that are adjacent to the 

tombolo. Compared to the tombola. these 

upland areas have heavier soils of glacial 

drift rather than beach sands, were dominated by hemlock, white pineand northern 

hardwood species, and weresubjectto relatively fewer fires (f-3 fires) during the 

past 250years. Both the pollen record from 

Brander Bog and the abundance of cut 

stumps on the island demonstrated that 

the dominance of hemlock and white pine 

was greatly reduced as a result of logging. 

Restoring white pine and hemlock into the 

present hardwood-dominated forest may 

involve either direct planbng or natural 

seeding from the few remaining remnant 

stands of hemlock and white pine. Natural 

seeding may be a very long-term process, 

but further research on the islands is 

needed to establish if natural seeding is 

occurring and at what rate. Compared to 

the tombolo, fire protection may be 

required on these upland sites of Stockton 

Island in order to restore the presettlement 

forests. 

Swain is a professor of climatology at 

the Center for Climatic Research, hstitute 

for Environmental Studies, University of 

Wisconsin at Madison. Wmkler is a specialist for the same organization. 

Wilderness Campsite SelectionWhat Should Users Be Told? 

By Dave Cole and Jim Benedict 

Recreational use of National Forest wilderness in 1981 exceeded 10millionvisitor 

days (a 12.hour stay by one person). an 

increase of more than 25 per cent over 

1960. Backcountry use in the national 

parks for the last several years has 

remained fairly constant at between Eand 

3 million overnight stays per year. 

While these measures are not comparable, together they clearly indicate increasing numbers of people crowding Into 

America’s wilderness areas, threatening 

wilderness values and leading some to 

suggest that we are loving wilderness to 

death. 

The resource damage resulting from this 

use is particularly pronounced on campsites, where visitors spend most of therr 

time. Managers have responded in a variety of ways, ranging from encouragmg 

adoption of minimum impact campmg 

techniques to strict regulation of both 

numbers of users and permitted practices. 

The only real means of avoiding both 

resource damage and irksome restrictions 

is to increase public awareness of the 

nature and importance of campsrte 

impacts and the means for minimizing 

damage. Recognition is thefirststep. Most 

visitors don’t even notice wilderness 

camosite damaqe. let alone recognize its 

undesirability. 

Initial imoacts on a campsite include ._._-. 

trampling of vegetation, movement and 

blackening of rocks used to build firerings, 

removal of firewood from the vicinity, 

deposition of charcoal and ash in the firering, and addition of nutrients from human 

wastes and other pollutants. Useof horses 

intensifies these impacts. 

On substantially impacted sites, vegetation disappears from large portions of the 

campsite and the kinds of plants that survive are very different from those that 

grow under undisturbed conditions. Trampling compacts soil, restricts movement of 

air and water and the growth of plant 

roots. Thus, less moisture can percolate 

into the soil, surface runoff increases, and 

the soil erodes. The organic horizons of 

soil (decomposing leaves, needles, cones, 

twigs, duff, humus) disintegrate and 

erode, exposing bare mineral soil. 

On the most heavily damaged campsites, such impacts reach alarming levels. 

In the Eagle Cap Wilderness in northeastern Oregon, we found over 90 percent of the 

tree seedlings and a similar percentage of 

the ground vegetation had been destroyed 

by trampling. More than 95 percent of the 

overstory trees had been damaged, either 

5 

from collecting firewood or from malicious 

or thoughtless acts. Particularly disturbing was the discovery that one-third of the 

trees had actually been cut down. Most of 

these sites will remain forested only until 

the present generation of trees dies. 

Soil organic horizons on these campsites were only one-third as thick as normal. bare mineral soil was 30 times that of 

undisturbed sites. Compaction and erosion of soil were prominent; roots had been 

exposed on over one-third of the trees. 

Size of the campsites was large; some 

sites were coalescing to form huge disturbed areas. 

Camosites can deteriorate to this point 

very rapidly. Dr. Lawrence Merriam and 

associates at the University of Minnesota 

found on newly opened campsites in the 

Boundary Waters Canoe Area that most 

site deterioration occurred in the first few 

years. Once pronounced deterioration 

occurs, recovery takes a very long time. 

Estimated recovery periods for disturbed 

alpine sites in Rocky Mountain NP are as 

high as 1000 years! This is why it is SO 

important either to avoid campsite 

imoacts entirelv. or to be very selective 

about where they occur. 

Freouencv of use is onlv a partial expta- --~ 

nation for why some campsites are more 

seriously damaged than others. Many frequently used sites are in better condition 

than sites used less often. A mght or two of 

use every year is often insufficient to do 

considerable damage. In subalpine forests 

in both Oregon and Montana, additional 

use of sites already being used about 10 

nights per year is unlikely, by itself, to lead 

to further deterioration. 

This suggests that the most useful 

options for minimizing campsite damage 

are either never to allow sites to be visibly 

impacted by spreading people so widely 

that no site is used more than one or two 

nights per year, or to convince peoplethey 

should camp over and over again on the 

same small number of sites -recognizing 

that these sites will be significantly 

impacted, but confining impact to a very 

small part of the wilderness. A moderate 

number of lightly impacted sites actually 

is not a realisticoption. becausesuch sites 

are vulnerable to extremely rapid deterioration with only minor increases in use. 

The condition of campsites is more a 

result of the characteristics and campmg 

practices of users and of local site conditions than of amount of use. Large parties 

and parties with packstock do the most 

damage and special efforts should, be 

made to encourage them to select sttes 

that already have been substantially 
Wilderness Campsite - Continued 

altered and are large enough to accommodate their party size. 

Most wilderness visitors travel on foot 

and in small groups. About 90 percent of 

wilderness users are hikers; parties of less 

than five persons are two to three times as 

common as parties of five or more. For this 

vast majority of users, campsite damage 

can be reduced by following minimum 

impact camping procedures. 

1. Go without acampfire. This eliminates 

the need to scour the areaforfirewood and 

leaves behind no charcoal, ash, and blackened rocks. 

2. If you must have a fire, try to select a 

site with an existing firering. If no ring 

exists, choose a fire site with no vegetation cover and, if possible, no humus or 

litter. Dig a shallow pit, away from stones 

that might be blackened. Burn only dead 

and down wood that you can break by 

hand. Larger pieces do not burn readily to 

ash. They are critical as habitat for many 

plant and animal species and in maintaining the water relations and nutrient balance of the campsite. When through: burn 

all wood to ash, make sure the fire IS out, 

fill in the pit, and camouflage the disturbance with appropriate materials. 

3. Minimize site pollution by packing out 

all garbage and by using only biodegradable soaps, in small quantities and away 

from water sources. 

4. Never flatten a site, trench a tent, or 

build rock walls as windbreaks. Engineering is not appropriate in wilderness and 

should not be necessary if sites are carefullv selected. 

5. Leave the campsite at least as clean and 

attractive as you found it. In established 

sites, pay particular attention to the campfire area. Remember you want to encourage others to use your site rather than 

damage a new area. In pristine areas, try 

to leave no trace at all of your visit. Try to 

make it unlikely that the site will be used 

again until the effects of your stay have 

been cancelled out. 

When using pristine sites it is critical to 

allow yourself sufficient time and energy 

at the end of the day to find an impact 

resistant site. Take an early break -stash 

your packs -explore a little. Ecosystems 

are extremely complex and our knowledge 

of site resistance and fragility needs to be 

greatly improved, but most wilderness 

hikers are knowledgeable enough to make 

good choices if they stop in time to survey 

their options and use their best judgment. 

A general rule for site selection that applies anywhere is to obey existing regulations about where NOT to camp. Usually 

this involves a reasonable distance from 

water, trails, and other camps, It is meant 

not so much to keep you offfragilesitesas 

to keep you from invading the~solitude of 

other grouts. 

In developing the accompanying table 

and figures, we have slightly modified the conditions and recommends appropriate 

campsite rating system developed by Or. user responses. Some responses require 

Sidney Frissell at the University of Mon- an evaluation of how much use the area 

tana. The table describes six camosite receives and how proficient your party is 

. 

Table: Camoslte Condition and Recommended User Resoonses 

CONOITION CLASS 

1. PRISTINE 

2. SEMIPRISTINE 

3. LIGHTLY 

IMPACTEO 

4. MOOERATELY 

IMPACTED 

5. HIGHLY 

IMPACTED 

6. SEVERELY 

IMPACTED 

6 

YISIBLE INOICATORS 

The site appears “ever to 

have bee” used before. 

Sites are barely recog. 

oizable as campsites. 

Vegetation has bee” flattened. but bare areas 

have not bee” created. 

Ground vegetati”” worn 

away around the fireplace 

or center of activity. 

Ground vegetation wr” 

away on most of the site. 

but humus, litter decomposing leaves and needles 

are “s”a,,y present on 

much of the site. 

Ground vegetation. humus 

and litter has bee” worn 

away on most of the s,,e 

exposing gritty. dusty. or 

muddy bare mneral soil. 

Tree roots may be exposed if stock have bee” 

tied to trees but so!, 

erosm” is not obvious. 

Firewood is usually 

scarce in the wlnity of 

the campsite. Some overlapping of campsites may 

(Iccur. 

Soil erosion is obvious. 

Exposure of tree roots 

and rocks is pronounced 

and widespread. Trees 

may be reduced in vigor 

or dead. ,“d~vid”alcampsites may coalesce lo 

create large disturbed 

areas with multIpIe ,,re 

rings. Firewood ~sscarce 

for a considerable distance around the campsite. 

RECOMMENOED USER RESPONSES 

“SE W,TH CA”T,ON IN CERTAIN 

SITUATIONS 

The keys t” pr”per “se of these 

sites are minimum impact, selectie” of resisfant sites away from 

attractions, and no repeat use. 

These are idea, sites in lightly 

used areas if you ate careful 10 

minimize impacts. I” high use 

areas, it is preferable to select a 

moderately impacted we unless 

your party is small. has no 

packstock. uses a stove. is highly 

experienced in low impact camping. and chooses a resistant we 

away from more popular 

locations. 

DO NOT USE 

These sites will rapidly deterimate 

if used repeatedly. I” lowuseareas 

select a pristine site: I” high use 

areas, select a moderately m~pacted $,te. 

Unless these sites are particularly 

resistant (e.g., sandy beaches, 

rocky “u1crops. dry meadows. or 

grasslands), they will deteriorate 

rapidly if use ~“creases. Moderately impacted sites are always 

preferable and in low use areas. 

pristine sdes are preferable. 

USE WHERE POSSIBLE 

These sites are not highly susceptible 10 further damage. They retain 

most of their dewable attributes 

and site impact is not irreversible. 

If possible. choose screened. forested sites, outofs!ghta”dsou”dol 

other parties. 00 not damage overstory frees. For campfires. collect 

only dead and down wood that you 

can break by hand. Avoid trampling seedlings. 

USE ONLY IF NECESSARY 

Where possible. these sites should 

be avoided lo encourage sate recovery. I” I~~useareasthesesites 

sho”ld “ever be used. Managers 

should be encouraged lo cl”% and 

rehabilitate them. I” high useareas. 

this level ofdeterioratlo” may have 

to be accepted as the norm. However, select moderately impacted 

sitesiltheyexist. Whenwngthese 

sees. avoid spreading out or any 

other practice thafmightcantribute 

to site enlargement. Minimize the 

use of wood fores. 

DO NOT USE 

Unless managing agencies require 

the use of such sites, they should 

“ever be used. Oamaae is already almosf irreversible. 

Managers should be enc”uraged 

fo permanently close these 

s,tes to use. 
at minimum impact camping. 

The table and figures could be used by 

managers as camper handouts. 

The basic rationale behind all the suggestions is to direct use either to pristine 

sites or to moderatly impacted sites that 

are unlikely to deteriorate further. Semipristine and lightly impacted sites should 

be avoided. They deteriorate rapidly with 

use, and left unused, usually recover fairly 

quickly. Severely and highly impacted 

sites should be avoided because thev are 

either poorly located or have suffered as a tally if properly used. Avoid unnecessary 

result of poor camping practices. If possi- damage,keep these sites clean and attracble, they should be closed permanently tive and they will continue to offer desiraand allowed to recover. ble camping opportunities for generations 

Pristine sites, with few exceptions, to come. 

should be used only in light use areas with 

a large number of potential campsites. 

Benedict, until recent/y, was a research 

This is where selecting resistant sites is 

biologist at Yosemite NP; Co/e is a 

important and leaving no trace of your 

research ecologist with the USDA Foresf 

visit is essential. Camping on moderately 

Service Intermountain Forest and Range 

impacted sites is appropriate everywhere. 

Experiment Station at Missoola. MT. 

Such sites should not deteriorate dramati- Drawings by Wa/tq,Sydoriak. 

research techmoan, Yosemite NP 

Semi-Pristine Site 

7 
Wild Fish Conference Takes Wide-Measure Of Olympic Research 

More than 250 people -mostly fishery 

scientists but including sportsmen, Indian 

tribal representatives. commercial fishermen, and representatives of state and federal agencies involved with Olympic 

fisheries -attended the first Olympic Wild 

Fish Conference at Peninsula College in 

Port Angeles, Wash.. on March 24-26. 

Jointly sponsored by Olympic National 

Park and the College’s fisheries technology program, the meeting consisted of 

ninesessions. rangingfromdiscussionsof 

genetic differentiation among wild fish 

stocks to strategies for managing the various stocks and the major habitats. Thirtyerght scientific papers were presented, in 

addition to which key agency officials, 

authors, and other interested parties were 

heard from. Doug Houston and John Aho of 

the ONP staff and Jim Walton of Peninsula 

College were in charge of the conference 

arrangements. 

The conference was a top-level slice of 

the research and management processes 

that will determine the fate of native wild 

stocks of fish on the Peninsula. Many 

questions were, of necessity, left unanswered, underlining the need for additional 

research. But a number of areas of consensus also emerged. 

No. 1: The native stocksthat onceprovided truly fabulous runs of salmon and 

trout up into the interior of the Olympic 

Peninusula are greatly reduced. 

No. 2: Hatchery fish are a poor substitute for the richness that is gone. 

No. 3: The whole idea of hatchery 

“enhancement” needs careful study and 

evaluation. Conferees refused to reject the 

hatchery concept out of hand, but insisted 

that the uses of hatchery fish be stringently assessed, with an eye to the effect on 

remaining native stocks. 

Some Conference quotes: 

Bill Wilkerson. director of Washington 

Dept. of Fisheries: Conserving fish resources is the Washington Department of 

Fisheries’ main goal; providing harvestable fish for the sports angler and commercial fisherman is the second priority. 

John 8. McIntyre. National Marine Fisheries Service: A stock is a process. The species 

is the means by which a stock maintains 

its genetic diversity. We’re talking here 

about taking a slice out of a dynamic, 

changing situation. Change a well-defined 

stock to another habitat, and by our own 

definition of a species, it should be 

maladapted. 

Jim Johnston, Washington Department of 

Game: We must address the concept of 

labeling certain wild stocks as “nonviable.” The long term implications of this 

concept should lead to its abandonment. If 

I have one criticism of my own profession 

it’s that we tend to think in timeframes no 

longer than our own lifetimes, and that 

isn’t long enough. 

C.J. Cederholm. Washington Department 

of Natural Resources: We have to get back 

to regulating the runs and guaranteeing 

adequate escapement. The best enhancement is regulation of the harvest. 

Doug Houston, National Park Service 

research biologist: Escapement of fish 

beyond the numbers required to produce 

the future maximum sustained yield, tend 

to be viewed as “wasted” -i.e. it does not 

pass through either (a) the humar digestive tract, or (b) the human pocketbook. 

This view is entirely Inappropriate within a 

National Park. 

Ernest Sale. University of Washington (in 

answer to an audience question “How do 

you get rid of pork barrel projects?“): You 

go in with a bulldozer early on a Sunday 

morning when everyone in town is down 

with a hangover, level the hatchery, and 

get out of town.” 

Dick Goin. Olympic Outdoor Sportsmen’s 

Club: The rivers, all of them, literally came 

to a roiling, madly energetic life when the 

runs were on. Huge steelheads, chinooks, 

chums - honest 20pounders, skunks, 

bears, gulls, eagles -incredible numbers 

of fish of unbelievable size. The Elwha 

once was the greatest river on the Peninsula. Its geoloqy and components dictated 

that it would have the greatest fish runs 

because it was the river that most severely 

tested those runs. Now the whole process 

is on its last legs because of two dams - 

constructed without fish passage facilities. These fish have waited 70 years to 

come home. Isn’t it time? 

From a National Park Service perspective, an important objective of this conference was to force various people to pull 

together and interpret information that 

had been accumulating in agency files - 

information on the ecology and management of the populations of wild fish that 

occur in this unique corner of the world. 

The need was to see what it was, how good 

it was, whether it supported the interpretations that had been made of it. From this 

perspective, the conference was rated by 

NPS personnel in attendance as a “considerable success,” 

Sponsors, in addition to Olympic NPand 

Peninsula College, were Olympic Outdoor 

Sports Association, Peninsula Plywood, 

Peninsula Fly Fishers, Crown Zellerbach. 

ITT Rayonier. Inc., American Fisheries 

Society (Pacific Northwest chapter), and 

the PNW National Parks and Monuments 

Association. 

Publication of the papers, in a Proceedings, is underway. 

Contor Gives ‘Super’s’ View 

Of ONP Native Fish Picture 

The level of aquatic biomass in Olympic 

NP is “unnaturally low,“according to Park 

Supt. Roger Contor. “What we are experiencing is a literal silent spring. With the 

introduction of exotic stocks of fish to the 

park streams and rivers, we no longer 

represent ‘a primitive vignette.’ Hatchery 

fish indirectly cause extermination of 

some wild stocks. and when wild fish don’t 

go upstream then everything else that 

depended on those fish simply fades out of 

the picture.” 

Contor described “the whole vibrant 

tapestry that once buzzed with life” -the 

Dolly varden. whitefish, cutthroat trout, 

and steelhead that ate salmon eggs; the 

black bear, wolvesskunk, bobcat,eagles. 

ospreys, even the ravens and seagulls. All 

these life forms once were present in teeming numbers around the salmon runs. Now 

they are much less abundant.” 

Olympic is the only national park in the 

contiguous 48 states with major anadromy. yet “we have no built-in understanding or concern for salmon and the sea-run 

trout,” he sard. “We have been asleep at 

the switch at Olympic. We have had no 

fishery biologist, no involvement in court 

8 

disputes, no close role in setting the 

seasons.” 

Whereas other parks of major natural 

significance have taken leading roles in 

shaping public policy that affects these 

parks, Olympic NP has not. This is so, Contor said, “despite the fact that our policies 

are clear enough. Fisheries management 

shall be specifically aimed toward preservation or restoration of the full spectrum of 

native species, including fish; and regulated for native species so that mortality is 

compensated by natural production. Artificial stocking may be employed only to 

reestablish native species.” 

That isourmajor-ouronly -mandate, 

Contor said. And it allows us to establish 

gene pools of wild stocks, allows much 

more rapid changes in sport fishing regulations than is possible outside the park, 

and makes possible more experimental 

kinds of regulations which would be diffrcult for State fish commissions to approve. 

“To get our heads out of the sand,” Contor told the conferees, “we have promulgated new special fishery regulations for 

Olympic NP, contracted for research, cooperated with Washington State Game and 
State Fisheries departments and the local 

sportsmen’s clubs,, and gotten acquainted 

with mostof thetrlbalfishery biologistson 

the Peninsula.” 

With some glee he added, “And now 

we’re going to hire afulltime fishery biologist at the park and work him to death.” 

A three-pronged approach to solution of 

the problem was proposed by Contor. “It 

has become clear to me,” he said, “that the 

1974 Boldt decision created a role for the 

National Park Service and that role will be 

exercised either by action or by default. 

“Until the present, the so-called ‘escapement’ of fish has been a matter decided by 

two parties - the Indians and the State 

-and refereed by the judge. The solicitor 

who represented the Indians is now going 

to represent the National Park Service 

100.” 

Whenever the State and the Indians disagree on what the fishing seasons should 

be, they have to go to the court for decision. The court, said Contor. “has a lot of 

advisors, and the decision is made on the 

basis of all the advice.” 

In effect, what the judge has said is this: 

“You people cooperate, and set your seasons, or I will set them, and neither one of 

you will like it.” 

Faced with this reality, Contor devised 

his own holistic approach to what is essentially a holistic problem: “The problem is 

biological, legal, and political,” he said, 

“and only an approach that matches the 

problem will make headwav toward solving it.” 

In the biological area, the park isgetting 

into contracted research with the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service. and hirino its own 

full-time fish biologist. ” 

“We’re getting involved in the legal court 

decisions concerning fisheries, and we’re 

making a heroic effort to communicate 

with all the user groups who have a stake 

in the fisheries. 

“The facts are forcing us into all three 

areas,” Contor went on. “With the exception of the Queets, we don’t have control 

over the full length of a single river. We 

can’t have our way alone. We have to cooperate with others who have what (to them) 

seem equally valid claims.” 

Northwest Assn. of Interpretive Naturalists 

will hold a Sday workshop Oct. 57in Moscow, ID, focusing on interpretation, the 

future, and you. Contact is Sam Ham, (208) 

8857911. 

Ruffed Grouse Comeback 

At Buffalo National Forest 

By Steve W. Chaney 

The Arkansas Ozarks that surround Buffalo National River once echoed each 

spring with the drumming sound that is 

part of the mating ritual of the ruffed 

grouse (Bonasa Umbellus). Occurrence of 

ruffed grouse in Arkansas was zoted by 

the earliest travelers of the region, mainly 

along streams and river bot!oms which 

created edges or ecotones between disturbed areas and the climax forests. 

The land-use practices of the earliest 

settlers of the Ozarks -clearing followed 

by desertion of small patches of land - 

created ideal habitat for the ruffed grouse, 

which prefers a habitat niche made up of 

forest species in the 5 to 40 year successional stage. During this time period, the 

species flourished in the Ozarks. 

Around the turn of the century, the 

area’s human population had substantially increased, and land-use practices 

changed drastically. Hills were denuded of 

their timber, cattle and hogs werestocked 

far beyond the capacity of the land, and 

extensive burning was done to remove logging debris and to try to improve grazing 

and eliminate vermin. This sealed the fate 

of the ruffed grouse in the Arkansas 

Ozarks, and the last drummer drummed 

around the turn of the century. 

Trends began to reverse around the 

period of World War I. As rural populations 

migrated to urban areas and as large 

tracts of land were converted to federal 

ownership, the abused Ozark lands started 

to revert to habitat once again favorable to 

the grouse. Wildlife biologists recognizing 

this, attempted restoration projects in Missouri (where a small remnant population 

remained) and in Arkansas in the 1940’s 

and 1950’s. These attempts were disappointing. The pen-reared grouse obtained 

from Sand Hill Game Farm in Wisconsin 

lingered for several years but demonstrated poor reproductive and survival 

capabilities. The last birds in Arkansas 

from these stockings were observed in 

1959. 

The curtain for Ozarks grouse had not 

completely closed, however. Persistent 

biologists, convinced that habitat suitability was not the limiting factor of a reintroduction program, further researched the 

ruffed grouse’s needs and habits and 

refined trapping techniques. The effort 

eventually paid off, and an approach of 

using wild grouse for restocking proved 

successful for the Missouri Department of 

Conservation. Ruffed grouse populations 

in Missouri have multiplied from these 

reintroductions to the point that in some 

areas a limited hunting season may be 

allowed in 1983. This success, along with 

that of other states, rekindled interest in 

9 

Keith Whisenant introduces a Shenandoah 

grouse 10 his new Arkansas home. 

restoring ruffed grouse in Arkansas. 

Although the state of Arkansas attempted in 1981 to negotiate agreements with 

other states to barter turkey, fish or similar wildlife commodities for grouse, the 

states either were not interested, were 

already obligated to other states for 

grouse trades, or felt that wild trapping 

ruffed grouse in quantity was not feasible 

in their state. These circumstances led to a 

plan formulated by National Park Service 

staff at Buffalo National River and funded 

by the Southwest Region Office of Natural 

Resources to wild-trap ruffed grouse from 

another NPS area and reintroduce them at 

Buffalo River. 

The program was started rolling by 

initiating contacts with other NPS areas 

that might be potential grouse donors. 

Both state and federal wildlife biologists 

agreed that grouse from areas of similar 

habitat and climatological conditions 

would adjust and fare better to relocation 

The author picks up a shipment of erghf ruffed 

grouse debwed by Arkansas Game and Fish 

Comm,ssmn aircraft. The grouse were transported in ccntamers desrgned for shipment of 

I,ve poultry. 
Ruffed Grouse Comeback - Continued 

than those races or subspecies that might 

have developed some sort of interrelationship with specific foods, habitats or physical conditions that might not be present in 

the Ozarks. These conditions limited the 

search to the southern edge of the ruffed 

grouse’s range. At the same time, the 

grouse biologist for the Missouri Oepartment of Conservation was invited to Buffalo National River to help identify and 

prioritize potential stocking sites. 

In August, 1981. an agreement was made 

between Buffalo National River and Cumberland Gap National Historic Park to 

allow Buffalo National River staff, with the 

support of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission personnel, to trap wild ruffed 

grouse from the rugged backcountryofthe 

historic area located on the boundary of 

Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Outstanding cooperation, without which the 

entire program would have failed, was 

exhibited among numerous areas and 

agencies throughout the entire operation 

that followed. Thirty specialized grouse 

traps constructed of net and wire were 

loaned to Buffalo National River by the 

Missouri Department of Conservation. 

Arrangements were made with the Indiana 

Department of Natural Resources, which 

was engaged in a grouse tradeagreement 

with the state of Missouri, to allow Buffalo 

National River and Arkansas Game and 

Fish Commission staff to accompany the 

Department’s grouse trappers to learn specific trapping, holding and shipping 

procedures. 

After this on-the-job training was completed and formal clearance was received 

from the Virginia Department of Game and 

Inland Fisheries, the trappers traveled to 

Cumberland Gap and began organizing a 

trapping program. With the assistance of 

Cumberland Gap personnel, potential trapping sites were identified and holding and 

shipping logistics were worked out. 

The first four days of trapping were 

damp, overcast and rainy and proved 

totally unsuccessful. Morale and confidence in newly learned trapping skills 

began to wane, and the discouraging 

accounts and pessimistic predictions of 

researchers and state agencies that had 

been consulted regarding the potential for 

trapping ruffed grouse in the Appalacian 

Mountains were recalled all too clearly. On 

the fifth day of trapping the weather turned 

clear and sunny, grouse activity 

increased, and a large male ruffed grouse, 

destined to be the first of his species to be 

wild-trapped and relocated to Arkansas, 

was captured. This was the beginning of a 

trapping program that resulted in the relocation of 50 grouse to Buffalo National 

River. 

After capture, each bird was sexed, 

aged, banded and weighed, then held in a 

specrally constructed pen for one to four 

days before being shipped via commercial 

airlines, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission aircraft and four-wheel drive vehicle to the release site. An optimum goal of 

80 to 100 birds per release site had been set 

during the formulation of the reintroduction project based upon research from the 

successful projects of other states. 

Trapper Mike Widner watches as Charles Chadweli of Cumberiand Gap iemove~ a grouse from 

the capWe pen Netting and /eaves used on top 

of fhe trap serve to mmimve avian predaoon. 

In order to attarn thus goal, anothertrapping program was conducted in 1982in the 

Virginia mountains of Shenandoah NP. 

With outstanding cooperation and help 

from the park’s staff and Arkansas Game 

and Fish Commission personnel, Buffalo 

National River resource management technician Mike Widner coordinated the trapping and relocation of another 43 birds 

resulting in a total of 93grouse released at 

the Buffalo National River site. 

Although the trapping programs were 

successful. the agencies have been even 

more pleased with the apparent survivorship and adaptive abilities of the birds 

since their release. Survival, dispersal and 

reproduction have been closely monitorer 

by way of snow track and flushing census 

spring drumming counts and brood sur 

veys. Initial indications show surviva 

rates better than expected, substantia 

reproduction, and dispersal at a rate slow 

enough not to cause breeding problems 

through species’ density levels. Additional 

intensive studies already are underway to 

attempt to more closely quantify reproductive rates. Habitat useage and dispersal 

research using telemetry equipment is 

also planned. 

Pending a firmer verification of success 

at this first reintroduction site, an 

expanded program is in the planning to 

carry out such projects at similar habitat 

sites at Buffalo National River. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission also has 

made progress, and in 1982 began a reintroduction program of its own in other 

parts of the Arkansas Ozarks. 

All this is extremely good news for the 

grouse, the National Park Service, the people of the Ozarks, and the entire state of 

Arkansas. We at Buffalo National River are 

optimistic that one day soon we may be 

able to revise our park brochure, telling 

visitors that the drumming of “ale ruffie” is 

once again a common sound in the hills ‘n 

hollers of the Arkansas Ozarks. 

*/f. 

Chancy is a Resource Mangagement 

;x$e//st Trainer at Buffalo National 

Capture Success / Moon Phase Comparison 

New Moon Periods 

September 27 - October 1 

October 24 - October 31 

Total 

Average 

First Quarter Periods 

October 2 October 9 

November 1 - November 7 

Total 

Average 

Full Moon Periods 

Days Captures 

E E 

13 5 

.38 Captures / Day 

Days Captures 

8 8 

7 10 

15 18 

1.2 Captures I Day 

October 10 - October 16 

November 8 November 18 

Total 

Average 

Last Quarter Periods 

Days Captures 

October 17 - October 23 7 15 

November 15 - November 18 4 3 

Total 11 18 

Average 1.64Captures I Day 

Higher trapping success level during one quarter to full moon phases seemed to indicate 

increased activity levels during these periods. 

IO 
Kudzu Eradication 

In Southeast Parks 

By Susan Power Bratton 

One of the most widespread resource 

management problems in theupland parks 

of the southeast is the invasion of exotic 

plant species, particularly exotic vines. 

Field surveys have shown,, for instance, 

that 90 percent of the exotrc woody plant 

cover at Cumberland Gap NHP is Japanese 

honeysuckle and kudzu, both vines 

introduced from Japan. Seventeen 

southeastern parks report difficulties with 

kudzu and 34have Japanese honeysuckle. 

These species also are present in parks 

outside the Southeast Region, including 

Rock Creek Parkway and Prince William 

Forest Park. 

Although Japanese honeysuckle has 

larger populations and more total acreage 

in most parks, kudzu has a greater impact 

on the surrounding vegetation. Once kudzu 

colonizes a road or disturbed site, native 

tree and shrub species are usually unable 

to reinvade the location and displace the 

kudzu. Kudzu climbs into the tops of 

nearby trees, eventually killing them by 

shading, and expanding the total area of 

its population. Due to the density of its 

thick mats of leaves and vines, very few 

native species can grow under kudzu. The 

species diversity and the potential for 

natural recovery of kudzu patches are 

both low. 

In the past, many of the efforts to control 

kudzu have failed or have proven 

extremely expensive or labor intenstve. 

Park staffs have experimented with both 

hand cutting and herbicide application. 

Frequently, however, the kudzu has 

reappeared season after season and 

remained a chronic management problem, 

requiring repeated attention. 

In effort to convert kudzu management in 

parks from parhal control to eradication, 

Aaron Rosen, a graduate student from the 

University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 

worked under the supervision of scientists 

from Uplands Field Research Laboratory 

on experimental removal of kudzu from 

large roadside populations in Cumberland 

Gap NHP and at ChickamaugaChattanooga NMP. The methods also have 

been used at Shiloh NMP and CowpenS 

National Gattlefield.Thestudywasdivided 

into two phases: 1) removal and control of 

kudzu. and 2) recovery of native 

vegetation on the sites. Working with 

student volunteers, Rosen established test 

plots on steep road cuts wrth very heavy 

kudzu cover, and divided the plots into 

smaller test blocks for both control and 

revegetation treatments. 

At Cumberland Gap, Jack Collier, the 

park resources manager supervised a 

controlled spring burn of one test plot, but 

fire did little other than remove old foliage, 

and may actually have stimulated kudzu 

growth, Kudzu is very difficult to burn 

during the summer, when it is in full leaf, 

so no further burns were attempted. Rosen 

then tested two different herbictdes: 

Roundup, a general plant toxin that 

operates through foliar-uptake and Velpar 

a selective toxin (conifers are not 

susceptible) that operates through rootuptake. Roundup is applied using a 

backpack sprayer and Velpar isapplied by 

placing gridballs dtrectly in the soil. Both 

herbicides are relatively safe if properly 

used, but Roundup has a much shorter 

half-life and breaks down into non-toxic 

substances a few days after application. 

Ve/e;;;spersists in the soil from one to SIX 

Four initial treatments were tested: 1) June 

application of Roundup, 2) August 

application of Roundup, 3) May 

application of Velpar. and 4) May 

application of Velpar followed by 

Roundup. researchers used cover 

estimates and counts of live kudzu crowns 

to determine treatment effectiveness. 

Roundup alone was much more effective 

than Velpar alone, and late season 

(August) application of Roundup was 

more effective then early season 

application. Perhaps because it was a dry 

year, initial placement of Velpar grrdballs 

in the soil had almost no effect on the 

kudzu. At Lookout Mountain, at 

Chattanooga, 93 percent of the kudzu 

survived the first Velpar treatment. June 

Roundup left 59 percent of the kudzu in 

test plots at Lookout Mountain and 25 

percent at Cumberland Gap. August 

Roundup left 7 percent of the kudzu at 

Lookout Mountain and 9 percent at 

Cumberland Gap. Velpar-Roundup was 

more effective than either Velpar or June 

Roundup alone.leaving Zpercentcoverat 

Lookout Mountain and 11 percent at 

Cumberland Gap. 

After all the test plots had received one 

additional Roundup treatment and had a 

spot treatment applied just to survrvrng 

crowns, Lookout Mountain had from 1010 

25 percent kudzu cover remaining and 

Cumberland Gap had from 1 to 8 percent. 

At the latter site, none of the surviving 

kudzu crowns were vigorous; continued 

spot treatment will probably eradicate the 

few remaining plants. 

Since the removal of the kudzu left the 

steep, erosion prone road cuts with little 

live vegetahve cover and it was thought 

quick establishment of native woody 

plants might inhibit regrowth of kudzu, 

Rosen tested several techniques for 

slowing erosion and speeding 

revegetation. With the help of a student 

volunteer, he planted three different 

species of native tree seedlings, with and 

without a straw mulch and with and 

without a seeded rye grass ground cover. 

In all, 12 different combinations of 

recovery treatment were tried. 

The presence of the straw mulch had a 

slightly positive effect on seedlrng 

survival and the rye grass (Lolium 

Park maintenence staller uses a backpack si~rayer 10 apply Roundup 10 kudzu. Control teams mUSt 

carefully determine how and when herbtcldvs are to be applied. 11 a control Program IS to be fUliY 

effective. 

11 
Kudzu Eradication - Continued 

mulfiflorum) had aslightlynegativeeffect. 

(Rye grass is an exotic, but it was decided 

it was safe to use because it is an annual 

and unlikely to spread or self seed). Of the 

three species of seedlings planted, short 

leaf pine (Pious echinataj had the best 

survivorship, followed by tulip poplar 

(liriodendron tulipifera). Black walnut 

(Juglans nigral had about IO percent 

greater mortality than the other two 

species, and showed visiblesigns of insect 

damage through the first season. Spot 

spraying with Roundup to remove 

remaining kudzu cro!.vns did result in some 

pesticide drift and in some seedling 

mortality. At Lookout Mountain seedling 

survival dropped from 90 percent to 75 

percent after further herbicide treatment 

and at Cumberland Gap it fell from 92to 86 

percent. The remaining seedlings should 

still produce more than enough saplingsto 

recover the plots, however. 

The mulch and the rye grass did 

relatively little to suppress the kudzu. The 

only statistically significant effect was the 

difference between the mulched and 

unmulched plots at Cumberland Gap, 

where the former had 6 percent cover of 

kudzu and the latter 10 percent. The mulch 

and the rye grass did significantly 

suppress natural recovery of herbaceous 

vegetation on the test sites, particularly at 

Cumberland Gap. Plots without mulch or 

rye grass had between 50 and 60 percent 

herb cover the first season after treatment. 

This natural regeneration probably does 

little to retard kudzu growth, but appeared 

to inhibit surface soil erosion. (Note, 

however, that erosion was not quantified). 

In most cases, the addition of mulch or rye 

grass is probably not worth the extra 

expense and effort. 

The results of this study indicate that 80 

percent control or better can be achieved 

in a single growing season if repeat 

herbicide applications are used and timed 

far enough apart for foliage to resprout. 

Roundup proved to be much more effective 

than Velpar. especially in late season 

application. The resources manager 

should notethat some of the past problems 

with kudzu control through herbicidesare 

probably the result of once a year 

treatment without follow-up. If kudzu is 

given a chance to resprout and begin to 

A population of kudzu climbing mto Ihe trees at Cowpens Nalronal Batfieheid 

affempted fo remove the kudzu by hand-cultmg buf the vme returned. 

The park staff had 

12 

add much new foliage it will quickly 

reoccupy a site. Timing is very important 

in optimizing control strategies. Also,, if 

the control team applies too much follar 

herbicide, they will top kill the plant 

without killing the roots. If too little is 

applied the leaves will yellow but the plant 

will survive. 

The manager needs to consider the 

recovery of native vegetation. In the first 

two general applications of Roundup, 

almost all the vegetation in direct contact 

with the spray will die. Thus after the 

major portion of the kudzu is gone, it is 

important to switch to spot spraying to 

allow native species to recover. Some 

problems with drift are to be expected even 

if chemicals are carefully applied. A 

control team working on spot spraying 

needs to search thoroughly for all kudzu 

crowns and needs to be able to distinguish 

native from non-native plant species. 

Careful general application of herbicide at 

the beginning, repeated as soon as 

necessary and followed by spot spraying 

can greatly reduce the amount of herbicide 

used through time, because of the 

immediate and species specific nature of 

the control. 

Throughout the project, records were 

kept on the costs of material and the man 

hours necessary for each treatment. 

Roundup cost more per acre than Velpar 

for materials ($128per acre versus $83per 

acre, in 1980) and took twice as much time 

to apply (20 man hours per acre versus 10 

person hours per acre.) Estimating laborat 

$5 an hour, Roundup cost $228 per acre as 

opposed to $133 for Velpar. Mulch cost 

$360 per acre for materials and $50 for 

labor, totaling $419. and ryegrass cost $8 

per acre for materials and $15 for labor, 

totaling $23. The tree seedlings varied in 

price from $190 per acre for pine, to $220 

for tulip poplar, to $475 per acre for black 

walnut. Cost of planting was estimated at 

$1.050 per acre, although during the 

research project this was accomplished by 

volunteers. It is still too soon to see if the 

plantings have accelerated recovery 

enough to make the extra expense 

worthwhile. 

In order to make the results of this study 

generally available to interested park 

managers, the Office of the Chief Scientist, 

Southeast Region has had copies printed 

for distribution. These may be obtained 

from: Uplands Field Research Laboratory, 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 

Gatlinburg, TN 37738 by requesting: 

Feasibility Study: Eradication of Kudzu. 

Research/Resources Management Report 

SER-59. 

Bratton is a research scientist with the 

National Park Service Cooperative Unit, 

institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, 

Athens, GA 30602 
Regional Highlights 

Pacific Northwest Region 

Three impressive paintings by National 

Geographic illustrator Roy Anderson will 

comprise panels 4, 5, and 6 of a new trailside exhibit entitled “Island In Time Trail” 

at the Blue Basin Overlook of John Day 

Fossil Beds NM in Eastern Oregon. The fullcolor paintings depict oreodonts, tortoises, and stabbing cats m their natural 

habitat some 28 to 35 million years ago. 

Also part of the half-mile trail will be 

bubble-covered exhibits of the fossils 

themselves, replicated to look as though 

they were just emerging from the local soil. 

Panel No. 1 isthe trail head orientation; No. 

2 is “Island in Time” in a poetic mode; No. 3 

is the fossil record, and No. 4 is entitled 

“The Next Chapter.” All line illustrations 

were done by Daniel 0. Feaser. a retired 

Harpers Ferry illustrator. The exhibits will 

be mounted on basalt rock pedestals; the 

trip time is estimated at one hour. 

. t f 

A specimen of the rare Grylloblatta chirurgica -the Cave Basalt Grylloblattid - 

was found inearly April (1983)attheGrand 

Column of the Oregon Caves National Monument by Charles Davis. employee of the 

Caves concessionaire. The insect occurs in 

a single lava flow and its caves, and the 

type population may be extinct. The largest remaining population is threatened by 

the indirect effects of Mount St. Helens’ 

volcanic activity, according to an article in 

the March 1983 issue of The Speleograph 

(Vol. 19. No.3). The journal article quotes 

Rod Crawford’s contribution to The Invertebrate Red Data Book (a project initiated in 

1979 by the IUCN), whose purpose is to 

provide the best possible information on 

threatened species of organisms so that 

government and organizations can make 

informed judgments about land use and 

other activities. 

The Red Data book article describes several caves in which the insect occurs, all of 

them on National Forest lands. and all 

threatend by results of the 1980St. Helens 

eruption. 

t 1 . 

Brad Griffith of the University of Idaho 

NPSiCPSU is the author of a new CPSU 

publication, Ecological Characteristics 01 

Mule Deer: Craters of the Moon National MonuBen Ladd. Superintendent of John Day Fossil Beds NM, stands next to the John Day Mon,ument s Cant 

Ranch bunk house, now housing Fnsc,, and Focz,, H,,n+~rs Fxhih,, ,ns,de are h,stor,c ohoto- the, 111.. I..I. ___ 

graphs of the 1889 Princeton Expedition. Also leaLured aI ‘e Thomas Condon. pioneer ml&r and 

natliralist from The Dalles (who worked the area III 1862). Olhnlel Ma rsh of Yale, Edward Cope of .I._ 

PhllaLv., inlnhiz ,,,_ jl”. ihnth third _.._ in the IBSVs), William Scott of Princeton (1870’s). and JI lhn Merriam of 

U/Cal, Berkely. (1899). TI... ~0 F8rnnlP “.,,, *._, pffprt~vp I..__..._ r. nresentatlon __. captures much of the high drama of those 

early digs. sdme of which reached the front pages of the New York Times of that day. 

ment. Idaho. The document, CPSU/Ul8?.-2. is 

available from the University of Idaho 

CPSU. College of Forestry, Moscow, ID 

83843 

* * * 

Flash! A 2-day workshop on 

Microcomputer Applications 

for Environmental Interpretation will be held at Oregon 

State University Aug. 23-24.. 

covering use of software in 

administering, developing, 

and evaluating interpretive 

programs. Fee $220. contact 

Ed Starkey, NPS/CPSU, OSU, 

Corvallis, OR 97331. 

(503)754-2056. 

Western Region 

Sixteen NPS Rangers from the Western 

Region took part May 2-6 in a salt water 

diving workshop and underwater archeological assessment of the wreck site of the 

Winfield Scott, located in Channel Islands 

NP. Western Region Dive Officer Dave 

McLean and Western Regional Archeologist Roger Kelly set up the workshop, led 

by Dan Lenihan. Jerry Qvingston, and 

Larry Murphy of the NPS Submerged Cultural Resources Unit from Santa Fe, N.M. 

In addition to teaching Western Region 

divers how to undertake an underwater 

acheological survey using proper mapping 

techniques, magnetometers, metal detectors, video systems, and cameras in an 

open ocean environment, the workshop 

staff directed the gathering of data from 

the wreck site to prepare a nomination for 

the National Register of Historic Places. 

Map, slides, and summary data will be 

ready for submission by mid-July. 

Southwest Region 

Crews from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service and the Brownsville (TX) Zoo were 

in Mexico in June gathering Atlantic Ridley 

turtle eggs on the east coast for use in the 

1983reintroduction project at Padre Island 

NS. (See cover story, Park ScienceWinter 

1982). About 2,OOOeggs will be hatched in 

the Padre Island sands, imprmted in the 

surf there, and then recaptured to spend a 

year at a Galeveston hatchery before bemg 

reintroduced to the Gulf of Mexico and 

freedom at Padre Island. 

f f f 

For the first time in a number of years, a 

13 
Regional Highlights Continued 

pair of peregrine falcons has taken up residence m a previously occupied aerieat Big 

Midwest Region 

E lend NP. NPS oersonnel watching the nest The Research and Science Division met 

area feeI thrtihonsirm I. .111. .111 rY., 111 ay not produce this in April with five social scientists to disyear, t rut that they may be establishing a cuss potential roles sociology might play 

,~ ., . . home tar me ru~ure in short- and long-term planning for dealino with visitor-related oroblems in Midwesi Region park units. The discussion 

panel consisted of Don Field (PNR). David 

Lime (USFS, Minneapolis), Tom t+eberlein 

(Univ. of Wise.). Gordon Bultena (Iowa 

State Univ.), and Ken Chilman (Univ. of Ill., 

Carbondale.) 

C 

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: 

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so 

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the 

1 

ZPSU Unit Established At Clemson 

By Jim Wood 

Science Editor, SER 

2. Coordtnating the development of 

strategies and policies for dealing 

with encroachments to Southeast 

A new Cooperative Park Studies Unit 

Regron parks. A series of workshops 

IS been established within the College of 

will be held throughout the region to 

Irest and Recreation Resources, Departaccomplish thus. 

ent of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at 3. Developing a Leadership Trarning Proemson Unrversity, Clemson, S.C. Dr., gram for park managers in the Sourminic Dottavio was named Director of theast Region. This program is being 

e unit, according to G. Jay Gogue, Sou- establrshed to assist leaders to think 

east Regional Chief Scientrst. comprehensively and to apply their 

communication skills in the resolution 

Dottavio brings impressive credentials, of problems and the identification of 

perience, and background to the Clem- future economic, envrronmental. and 

n CPSU. For two years prior to undertak- social issues that will affect the Park 

1 his new responsibilities, “Dam” was Service. 

rector of the Center for Natural Areas in 

ashington. D.C. This Center was formerly 4. Coordinating a regional effort to 

Iart of the ecology program o! the Smith- assess the impacts of travel and 

nian Instrtution. Dom also served as sil- tourism-related activities and develxlture instructor at Purdue Umversity, opments on the parks. 

:st Lafayette, Ind.from 1974to 1979,and 5. Conducting research studies as apart 

1s graduated with a B.S. in Natural of the Southeast Region Social 

source Management from Ohro State Scrence Center. Three research pronversity. He also holds an M.S. in Fore- jects are currently underway: (a) a 

.y from Yale University and a Ph.D. rn 

restry from Purdue. 

study of visitation patterns on Playalmda Beach at Canaveral National 

Seashore; (b) an assessment of visitor 

At Clemson, Dom will be conducting sev- impacts, use patterns, and characterII high-priority projects for the Sou- istics at Big South Fork National River 

:ast Regron. These involve: and Recreation Area; and (c) a study 

‘. Assisting the Region in the developon the reaction of visitors to reduced 

ment of microcomputer capabilitres, 

roadside maintenance levels at Blue 

including training and development of 

Ridge Parkway. 

software programs. These computer 

programs relate to park resource 

management plans, general informaPersons interested in Dr. Dottavio’s 

tion on park facilities and services, 

work can contact him at: 

time and attendance sheets, cost National Park Service CPSU 

tracking, and the computerrzation of Park/Recreation Management 

the TAP System (Track, Analyze, and 263 Lehotsky Hall 

Program) at Great Smoky Mountains Clemson University 

NP. Clemson, South Carolina 29631 

14 

Mid-Atlantic Region 

Shenandoah NY, in May, hosted its 7th 

Research Symposium, featuring papers on 

research and resource monitoring projects 

in the park. The meeting was attended by 

academicians, scientists, and resource 

managers. Park Supt. Robert R. Jacobsen 

noted that the symposiums always prove 

“of great value in providing a forum for 

everyone involved III park studies to 

become informed about current study 

results and to exchange up-to-date information and ideas.” 

f (I f 

With the full support of the superintendent, Gateway NRA natural resource management personnel are proceeding toward 

establishment of the Gateway Institute for 

Natural Resource Sciences -a cooperative project with other institutions in the 

New York metropolitan area, dedicated to 

comprehensive research, maintenance, 

and monitoring of the park’s natural and 

cultural resources. 

The effort involves and integrates the 

activities of funding agencies, scientific 

researchers, industry, concerned citizens, 

academia, and policymakers all in a 

manner destgned specifically to create 

sound decision making. 

The Institute is being shaped to coordinate the approaches of researchers into 

the study of significant resource management problems identified in the Park’s 

RMP. Social scientists at the Institute will 

be involved in historical, sociological, and 

planning aspects of Gateway, tying 

together many of the Institute’s studies 

into long term cost/benefit analysis and 

conducting cause/effect relationship analyses. 

Three different groups of researchers 

will be drawn on: (1) those participating 

group faculty members collaterally 

assigned to thelnstitute’sfacilrty; (2)those 

who come to study as visiting professors 

or on sabbaticals, and (3) those who have 

laboratories at other institutions participating in the Institute. An analysis of the 

socIaI. political, and economic implications of following the various policy 

optlons will be carried out concurrently 

with the experimental research. The Gateway NRA Natural Resource Management 

Specialist. toge!her with the research 

team, will be responsible for producmg a 

document integrating this Information into 

a comprehensive model. 
Southeast Region 

The Southeast Region is conducting five 

science/resource management conferences this Spring and Summer. On Aprrl 24 

30, the second annual Chattahoochee 

River Research/Resource Management 

Conference was held at the park’s island 

Ford Center; a Workshop on Biosphere 

Reserves and Other Protected Areas for 

Sustainable Development of Small Carobbean Islands took place May IO-12 at 

Caneel Bay. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands 

(Virgin Islands National Park); the Ninth 

Annual Scientific Research Meetingforthe 

upland parks of the Southeast Region convened at Great Smoky Mountains National 

Park on May 1420; the Northern Gulf of 

Mexico Estuaries and Barrier Islands 

Research Conference was held June 1514 

at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, 

Biloxi. Miss.; and ascienceiresource management symposium is planned for late 

summer or early fall at Cumberland Island 

National Seashore. The proceedingsforall 

five conferences will be published by the 

Science Division, Southeast Regional 

Office. 

f f f 

A “Sea Turtle Monitoring Handbook” 

has been published by the Southeast 

Region Science Division for in-house field 

use at Cape Lookout, Cumberland Island. 

and Canaveral National Seashores to 

serve as a guide for NPS personnel and 

volunteers who monitor the nesting activities of sea turtles there. The handbook outlines survey methods, data collection 

procedures, and equipment necessary to 

conduct the surveys. It is hoped the handbook will result in improved, uniform and 

standardized procedures for monitoring 

the sea turtles at the three seashores, and 

thus result in useful site comparisons. 

0 . I 

Ro Wauer, most recently chief of the 

WAS0 Division of Natural Resource Man. 

agement. moved on April 17 to Great Smoky Mountains NP and intoanewlycreated 

posltion - assistant superintendent for 

science and resource management. Wauer 

has been a ranger and/or naturalist al 

Crater Lake, Death Valley, Zion and Bit 

Bend NPs, and he served as chief scientis’ 

and chief of resource management for the 

Southwest Region when John Cook, thf 

new superintendent at Great Smokies, was 

Regional Director. 

Information Crossfile 

Editor’s Note: As part of an effort to 

over more journals around the country. 

ark Science IS seeking people who will 

olunteer to read and report on articles of 

lterest to our readership. The Pacific 

lorthwest Reaion has come up with the 

,Ilowing self-assignments: 

Don Field. American Oemooraohics. DemOraphy and leisure ScienceslGerry Wright, 

nvironmental Management and Journal of 

nvironmental Management Doug Houston 

cology and Journal 01 Applied Ecology: Daryll Johnston, Harvard Business Review and 

dministrative Science puarterly: Jim Agee, 

ournal of Forestry and Canadian Journal of 

orestry: Jim Larson, Science and BioSience: Ed Starkey, Journal of Wildlife Mangement; Gary Machlis, Journal of 

Iterpretation. 

*(I. 

The Summer of 1983 issue of Western 

fildlands, quarterly publication of the 

fontana Forest and Conservation Experilent Station, (University of Montana 

chool of Forestry, Missoula 59812) iS 

evoted to recreation management in the 

lest. Included are articles on “The 

lational Parks and Local Communities: A 

roblem Analysis,” “In Search of Balance: 

No-Rescue Wilderness Proposal,” “The 

iational Parks in Post-Industrial Amer- 

:a,” and “The Role of Regulations in 

lecreation Management.” 

This issue of the publication is avaIlable 

)r $2.50 from the Experiment Station. 

fff 

The Journal 01 Interpretation (official publi- 

:ation of the Association of Interpretive 

Naturalists) carries, in its Vol. 7 No. 1 

:1982) issue an articleon “The Roleof Interlretation in Managlng for Recreational 

Zarrying Capacity:‘The authors, Joseph W. 

qoggenbuck, William E. Hammitt. and 

Deborah L. Berrier, describes how interureters can assist in carrying capacity 

management by acquiring information 

about public preferences, helping visitors 

‘ind recreationareasthat meettheirneeds. 

‘ostering more realistic visitor expectations. and promoting low impact behavior 

31 recreation sites. Suggestions are 

ncluded as to how interpreters might best 

perform these tasks. 

If. 

Australian Ranger Bulletin. Spring 198: 

issue, is devoted to feral animals and how 

to deal with them. “Control Methods for 

Wild Pigs, ” “Feral Cat Control On Tasman 

Island. ” “Introduced Fishes of Victorian 

15 

Inland Waters, ” “Feral Goat Control - 

Danggali Conservation Park,” and “Management of Feral Buffalo in Kakadu 

National Park” are merely a few of the 

titles. 

Also contained in the Spring Bulletin is 

word from WWF/IUCN. World Conservation Centre. 1196 Gland Switzerland, to the 

effect that “the North American appetite 

for hamburgers is directly responsible for 

the destruction of large areas of Latin 

America’s rainforests.” Two thirds of Cenral America’s tropical forests already have 

been destroyed, “much of it due to large 

scale cattle ranching geared at providing 

low cost beef to the North American 

markets. This process turns forests Into 

hamburgers ” 

*.I) 

The final report on their work at Glacier 

NP has been published according to word 

from R. Gerald Wright, Kurt Jenkms. B. 

Butterfield, and C. Key. The 192-page document is entitled Aiparian habitat study. North 

Fork and Mainslem Flathead River. Montana. 

Final Report Flathead River Basin Environmental Impact Study. EPA. 

f.. 

The Oregon Department of Fish and 

Wildlife is compiling a massive amount of 

data on the bobcat - its population density, range, reproductive levels, population age structure, and behavior. 

Live-capture, ear-tagging, and radio transmltter collaring have been used, with monitoring done from aircraft. Volunteer 

houndsmen have contributed hundreds of 

hours to the study, which began in 1979 

and is continuing this year. 

.t* 

William Tucker, whose book Progress 

and Privilege equates environmentalism 

with elitism, has an article in the June 1983 

issue of Inquiry magazine in which he describes “the environmentalists’ new-found 

romance with the market.” He quotes 

Grant Thompson of the Conservation 

Foundation as follows: “There’s a whole 

logic that says that economics and environmental considerations are compatible. 

After all, a smoothly working economy IS 

simply getting the most bang for the buck. 

And that’s what resource conservation 

and environmental protection areall about 

as well. There’s no reason why we can’t 

make it all work together.” 

(I.. 

Environmental Management. Vol. 7. No. 2, 

carries an article by John T. Tanacredi on 
Information Crossfile - Continued 

“Coastal Zone Management Practices at 

an Urban National Park.” Tanacredi. who 

is Natural Resources Management Specialrst at Gateway NRA, describes the 

range of coastal experiences available to 

visitors at Gateway, the problems that 

these opportunities include, and the current management approach which is to 

permrt the evolution of the dominance of 

natural forces and the resulting landscapes and ecological scenes. To do this, 

Tanacredi suggests, the inter-relatedness 

of all natural events must be presented to 

visitors in a way that bridges “the gap 

between scientific research in parks and 

traditional interpretive skills.” 

.*t 

The April 1983issueofBioScience (Vol.33 

No. 4 pp 248254) contarns an article by 

Paul Ehrlich and Harold Mooney entitled 

“Extinction, Substitution, and Ecoysystem 

Services.” The article focuses on the loss 

of services to humanity following extmctions -the effects ranging from trivial to 

catastrophic - and recommends “a conservative approach to the maintenance of 

services through minimizing anthropogenie extinctions.” The authors contend 

that the degree to which genetic library 

functions can be replaced is hard to evaluate, but they cite wheat, maize, rice, 

horses and cattle, plus an array of other 

foods, medicines, industrial products and 

aesthetic treasures to back their statement 

that “humanity has already withdrawn 

from the library the very basis of civilization ” As for mankind’s new-found 

ability’to engineer genes and fabricate 

substitute organisms, their observation is 

that “if geneticists could fashion an organism precisely ‘to order,’ ecologists would 

not know what to ask them to make.” 

*lt. 

“Is Acid Rain Harming the Smokies?” is the 

title of an article by Jim Wood, SER 

Science Editor, in the February 1963 issue 

of Parks and Recreation magazine. The article describes, in lay terms, the problem, 

the vulnerability of the many parks situated in acid-sensitive regions, and the federal agencies (NPS among them) that have 

joined the National Atmospheric Deposition Program to monitor acid rain nationwide. Sixteen of the 93monitoring stations 

are located in National Parks. 

.f. 

A call for a new study of outdoor recreation in the United States was sounded by 

Rexford A. Resler executive vicepresident of the American Foresters, in an 

article in the April 1963 issue of American 

Forests. 

“Clearly,” Resler writes, “we are at an 

important crossroads of public policy. It is 

time for change - but what kind of 

change? How much? In what direction? On 

these questions there is no drscernible 

consensus. To help provide answers, it is 

time for another comprehensive, objective 

study of the scope and magnitude of the 

ORRRC (Outdoor Recreation Resource 

Review Commission) effort. ” 

Resler describes a prelrminary analysis 

of what such a study would entail, prepared by a group chaired by Henry L. Oiamond and including Emery N. Castle, 

president of Resources for the Future, Inc.; 

Sheldon Coleman, chairman of the Coleman Company; William Penn Mott, Jr., 

president of the California State Parks 

Foundatron; Patrick F. Noonan. president 

of Conservation Resources, Inc.; William 

K. Reilly, president of the Conservation 

Foundation; and Laurance S. Rockefeller, 

former chairman of the ORRRC. The report 

is available from Resources for the Future, 

1755 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.. Room 700. 

Washington, O.C. 20036. at a cost of $2. 

An outstanding paper describing plant 

adaptation in an ecosystem context 

appears in Ecology. Vol. 64 No. 2, 1963, pp. 

307-316. S.J. McNaughton and colleagues 

discuss their research on Kyllinga m a 

semi-arid location, Serengeti region, Tanzania. Doug Houston, who called the paper 

to our attention, terms it “asplendid example of using lab studies in support of extensave field work.” 

The principal objectives were (1) to evaluate the importance of interaction among 

environmental factors as regulators of 

plant growth and yield, and (2) to determine how adaptations of a native forage 

plant might regulate primary production 

and energy flow in a natural grassland 

ecosystem. (Nitrogen, water, and defoliation intensity were chosen as environmental varrables.) 

It was found that “(1) factor interaction, 

in the statrstrcal sense, was less important 

to the performance of Kyllinga than was 

the multifactoral nature of environmental 

regulation (2) principal adaptations of 

Kyllinga to the severe grazing that it experiences in nature and that characterized 

this experiment were an ability to sustain 

active leaf tissue by a proliferation of 

actrve meristems, more rapid rates of leaf 

growth in defoliated plants, and a reduced 

rate of leaf senescence in the defoliated 

plants. It was also capable of maintaining 

a constant allocation of biomass to various organs, largely independent of environmental control.” 

In summation, the authors state: “We 

believe the result of this experiment that is 

most important for understanding ecosystem organization in grasslands where herbivory is intense and involves a long 

coexistence wrth native plants and animals, is that the trophic web based on grazing may be sustamed with no net loss to 

the plant. That is, destroymg the animal 

fauna of the Serengeti would not result in 

16 

greater residual plant bromass in regions 

where plants like Kyllinga dominate the 

foliage layer. Rather, it would result in a 

net drminution of total energy and nutrient 

flow through the system. Plantscapableof 

compensating for herbage removal may 

support a dense and complex trophic web 

with no cost to themselves. In fact, such a 

web IS likely essentral to then existence.” 

ff. 

“Acid Rain: A Water issue for the 60s” is the 

title of an 64-page paperback book, 

edrted by Raymond Herrmann and A. Ivan 

Johnson for the American Water Resources Association. The 11 papers it contains 

are re-printed from Proceedings of the AWRA 

International Symposium on Hydrometeorology 

and published this year by AWRA. 5410 

Grosvenor Lane, Suite 220, Bethesda, MO 

20614. Cost is $5.95 per copy. The Foreword states: “These 11 papers, taken 

together, set the stage of ongoing U.S. 

activities within an arena of interdisciplinary relationships and also put in perspective the significance of the acid deposrtion 

problem as a national water, and related 

riparian, resource issue.” 

.*. 

The March 1963 issue of Science carries a 

summary of the history of fires entitled 

“Fire Mosaics in Southern California and 

Northern Baja Califorma.” by Richard A. 

Minnich. To compare areas wherefiresuppression has been practiced with uncontrolled areas, wildfires of southern 

California and adjacent northern Baja California are evaluated for the period 197210 

1960 from Landsat imagery. Suppression 

was found to have divergent effects on 

different plant communities depending on 

successional processes, growth rates, fuel 

accumulation, decomposition rates, and 

length offlammability cycles. Suppression 

has minimum impact on coastal sage 

scrub and grassland. Fire control in chaparrel reduces the number of fires, not the 

burned hectarage. The Baja California chaparrel fire regime, it IS suggested, may 

serve as a model for prescribed burning in 

southern California. 

..* 

“Assessing Air Quality with Lichens and 

Bryophytes” is the title of one symposium 

to be presented Aug. 8, 1983. at the annual 

meetings of the Amerrcan Institute of Biological Sciences. The meetings will take 

place at the University of North Oakota, 

Grand Forks, NO, Aug. 7-11. This symposlum is sponsored by NPS in cooperation 

with the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, and will address various methods of using lichens and 

bryophytes in air quality monitoring - 

summarizing techniques presently in use 

and evaluating their reliability and usefulness in assessing air polution damage. 

(If. 
A report titled Problems and Practices in 

Wilderness Management: A’Survey of Manag- 

?rs has been published by the USFS Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment 

Station, The authors are Randel F. Washburne. social scientists, and David N. Cole, 

research ecologist. They surveyed the 

managers of all units within the National 

Wilderness Preservation System - 269 

wilderness areas, and their report is a 

compendium of a broad range of topics 

including use characteristics, management techmques and nonconforming uses. 

Most information is organized by,managrng agency - the Forest Servrce. the 

National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, The report also is structured by 

status of the area (wilderness, proposed 

wilderness, or primitive area), and by 

region of the country. 

Single free copies are available from the 

Station, 207 25th St., Ogden, UT 84401. 

t** 

Three New Reserves Accepted by MAB 

Three new nominations for World Biosphere Reserves in the United States have 

been accepted by the Man and the BIOSphere Bureau, UNESCO Paris, according to 

Bill Gregg, Co-chairman of the U.S. Biosphere Reserve Directorate, Washington, 

DC. 

The new Reserves followed the multiple 

site approach, whereby ecologically and 

functionally complemetary sites are 

included within a biosphere reserve which 

bears the name of a biogeographic region. 

The sites and their components are: 

California Coast Ranges Biosphere Reserve 

(Oregonian Biogeographic Province!, comprised of Redwoods NP, three Cahfornra 

state parks (Jedediah Smith, Del Norte 

Coast, and Prairie Creek Redwoods), the 

U.S.F.S. Redwood Experimental Forest 

A Quarter Million Years 

Stands Still For Photo 

A five-column 15inch photograph in the 

May 1, 1983 Oregonian (page C-4) shows 

200 000 years of history in about 80feet Of 

sediment along the steep bank of the Ana 

river, northwest of Lakeview. Oregon. 

“The world is a giant sandbox to Rob 

Negrini and Jonathan Davis,” the story, by 

Richard Read, begins. Negrini isadoctoral 

candidate in geology at the University of 

California at Davis Davis is an associate 

research professor at the University of 

Nevada’s Desert Research Institute’s 

Social Science Center. 

The spectacular photo wastaken by Bob 

Ellis, Oregonian staff photographer, from 

across the river, and shows the two screntists at work -one at the top and the other 

at the bottom of the gash. Arrows point to 

various identified layers, beginning with 

the surface, which consists of Mount 

Mazama ash deposited by the eruption 

that formed Crater Lake, a mere 6,800 

years ago. 

Only inches below lies the Trego Hot 

Springs bed, formed 23,400 years ago by a 

Cascade volcano. Directly beneath, is the 

Wono bed, 24,800 years old - resulting 

from a blastfrom Mount Mazamaor Mount 

Shasta. 

A dramatic five-inch thick layer of white 

_ the Marble Bluff bed -is the result of a 

Mount St. Helens eruption 34,000 years 

ago. The blast was somewhere between IO 

and lOOtimes as powerful asthevolcano’s 

1980eruption. Ash from the 1980explosion 

left only I centimeter of residue at equivalent distances. 

At the photo’s bottom is Negrini, cleaning off the river bank to reveal the “salt and 

pepper beds,” a puzzling layer about 

210,000 years old, whose basalt and 

course white-grained composition teStifies to either the simultaneous eruption of 

two volcanoes, or else a single volcano 

that spewed more than one material. 

Refuge Packet Guide 

A pocket-sized guide to the 413 National 

Wildlife Refuges is available for $2.25, or 

$31 per 100 copies, from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 2042. The 

Visitor Guide to the National Wildllle Refuges. 

complete with map, includes a list of major 

public uses on each refuge, addresses, and 

other information. 

17 

and Western Slopes of Cone Peak, The 

Nature Conservancy’s Northern California 

Coast Range Preserve, the BLM Northern 

California Coast Range Preserve Research 

Natural Area, the BLM Elkhorn Ridge- 

/Brush Mountain area, and the University 

of California’s Landela-Hill Big Creek 

Preserve; 

South Atlantic Coastal Plain Biosphere 

Reserve (Austroriparian Biogeographic 

Province), comprised of Pinelands 

National Reserve in the New Jersey Pine 

Barrens and the Congaree Swamp 

National Monument; and 

Central Gull Coastal Plain Biosphere Reserve 

(Austroriparian Biogeographic Province), 

consisting ofthe Lower Apalachicola River 

Basin in Florida. 

Holden Keeps Snowing 

- We Get the Drift 

Out of the quagmire of scientific equations, like Aphrodite rising from the sea, 

comes a “bemused, bespectacled and 

bearded geologist - a dropout who 

headed for the hills of north central 

Washington in 1974.” poking fun at scientific stuffed shirts and getting paid to do it. 

John Holden of Winthrop, Wash., was 

written up recently by the Associated 

Press -an article accompanied by a photograph of Holden displaying one of his 

own desioner T-shirts. The shirt’s legend, 

under a formula that readslrR*, declares: 

“No! Pi are round. Cake are square.” 

A serious geologist, writer and illustrator, Holden frequently contributes to the 

Chicago-based Journal of lrreproducible 

Results -all, according to the AP, “in the 

lofty cause of needling.” He also produces 

such bumper stickers as “Stop Continental 

Drift” -a theme that inspired his cartoon 

of people aboard the North American continent screaming, in panic, “Look out - 

here comes Africa!” Holden has suggested 

bolting the continents in place to end the 

worry. He also has counter-theorized 

“continental drip” postulating that all 

continents “dribbled off the South Pole.” 

He is the founder of the International Stop 

Continental Drift Society, whose goal, he 

said, is “immediate cessation of sea-floor 

spreading, cooling of erogenic magma% 

quiescence of large volcanoes, damping of 

seisms greater than 4.0 on the Richter 

scale, and the ending of subduction and 

other crustal discriminations.” It costs $5 

to belong. 
Scientists at St. Helens Study 

Natural Systems Recovery 

Detailed measurements of Spirit Lake, in 

the Mount St. Helens “red zone!” indicate 

that deep water oxygen depletron still is 

occurring but at a decreasing rata according to Doug Larsen, limnologist with the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, 

the National Park Service, and various 

Universities in the Pacific Northwest have 

beenaccompanyinglthebi-weekly monitorIng teams on their helicopter flights into 

the Red Zone - taking advantage of the 

research opportunities offered by the May 

1980 cataclysm. 

On June 6. for instance, Bacteriologist 

Mike Glass of the Washington Department 

of Social and Health Services, found large 

numbers of tadpoles in various stages of 

development swimming in pools along a 

stream just below Spirit Lake. 

Larson and Steve Sumioka of the 

U.S.G.S.. in a day of monitoring out on the 

lake, observed numerous flies, beetles. 

butterflies, and other evidences of 

strongly returning life in and around the 

lake. 

The June 6 readings showed substantial 

heating of the upper 20feet of water - 11.8 

degrees C. on June 6 at the surface compared to 5.3degrees on April 25. (Temperature at the 132.foot level stayed 

approximately the same, at 4.2 to 4.4 

degrees C.). Dissolved oxygen readings for 

top and bottom of the lake on June 6 were 

8.8 mg per litre at the surface and 4.9at 125 

feet compared to 8.1 at 46 feet and 6.7 at 

the bottom on April 25. 

The deep water oxygen depletion is a 

result of the loads of organic material in 

suspension and in the bottom sediments, 

which are being consumed by bacteria - 

using up the oxygen in the process of 

assimilation. At the same time, thermal 

stratification caused by the heatrng of the 

upper layer of water is preventing full circulation and reoxygenation of the lake 

waters. 

“Over the next two or three years, we 

should see oxygen depletion become less 

and less severe,” Larson said. 

Regular measurements are being taken 

at Spirit Lake for temperature, dissolved 

oxygen, pH, conductivity, chlorophyl 

aphytoplankton, Secchi disk rearirngs, 

photometer readings, hydrogen sulphide. 

total orgamc carbon, alkalinity, and various metals such as lead, zinc, copper, and 

mercury. 

Larson, who did his doctoral thesis on 

the limnology of Crater Lake, will be 

spending his 10th year on the lakethis year 

as principal limnologist for the NPS. He 

will be establishing a limnological water 

quality monitoring program and coordinating research by other investigators. 

In collaboration with Dr. Cliff Dahm of 

Oregon State University, Larson will focus 

his specific research activities this 

summer on the effects of ultraviolet radiation on lake phytoplankton populations. 

Doug Larson. prinopal limnoiogisl for Crater 

Lake fh!s summer, dfrecls the transfer ofmonifonng gear from starion wagons to helicopteras 

~cfent~sfs prepare fo enter Sl. Helens' RedZone. 

Bleak landscape is offered by thenorlhsideolMount St Helens, rtss/ow/y 

bwidmg craterconeloommg overthedevestatediemainsoiSprrit Lake 

18 

Steve Sumioka. USGS, balances h!s combination 

temperature and dissolved oxygen probe and 

records informatron from the surface to the 732. 

foot deep bottom of Spirit Lake. 

MAB Workshop 

Precedes V.I. 

Reserve Dedication 

The Workshop on Biosphere Reserves 

and Other Protected Areas for Sustainable 

Development of Small Caribbean Islands 

was held May lo-12 at Caneel Bay, USVI. 

and climaxed with dedication of the Virgin 

Islands International Biosphere Reserve. 

Co-sponsored by NPS. Man and the Biosphere, and the Caribbean Conservation 

Associatron. the workshop provided an 

opportunity to familiarize scientists, 

resource managers, and administrators 

from the region with the multiplefunctions 

of biosphere reserves in baseline monitoring, restoration, experimental research, 

demonstration, and training. 

Agreement was reached to set up a coordinating group to develop detailed recommendations for establishment of a 

multinational, multisite Lesser Antillean 

biosphere reserve. Working groups were 

named to identify and evaluate potential 

baseline study sites, assess regional 

trends, designate priority areas of 

research emphasis, and come up with 

areas where experimental research, restoration projects, and demonstration activities could most productively be 

established. Proceedings are being published by NPS. 

NPS Director Russell E. Dickenson 

addressed the May 12 dedication, as did 

Dr. Bernd von Droste of UNESCO, Parks, 

Senator Virdin C. Brown of the Virgin 

Islands. and William P. Gregg, Jr., cochairman of the U.S. Biosphere Reserve 

Directorate, Washington, D.C. 
Threatened Shorebirds Get Help 

From Volunteers At Gateway NRA 

By John Tanacredi 

In direct competition for use of open 

beach areas, some concerned people are 

throwing a punch on behalf of struggling 

shorebirds. 

its make good site selection important. A 

predator, or humans, stumbling into a colonv can easilv eliminate large numbers of 

nature lovers with good intentions -all 

are disrupting factors within the tern colonies and can lead to exposure death of the 

chicks or outright desertion by the adults. 

At Gateway National Recreatron Area, 

two species of colonial nesting shorebirds, 

both of which are on the New York State 

threatened and endangered species list, 

can be found nesting and breeding within 

the park boundaries. The Common and 

Least tern (Sterna hirundo and.9 albifrons, 

respectively) are determinedly building 

their nests there, within the shadow of the 

urban skyline. 

During the 1983spring. the park put out a 

call to the local community to lend a hand 

in increasing and protecting necessary 

habitat for these species by isolating areas 

within the park for their exclusive use. 

Some 25 volunteers from the New York 

City chapters of Audubon and Sierra Club 

aided in fencing off portions of the ocean 

beachfront to pedestrian and ORV access, 

thus expanding by approximately onethird the area previously available for 

these species. 

The problem at Gateway is only one slice 

of the larger situation that prevailsaround 

the ocean-lapped edges of the country. 

With 54 percent of the population living 

within 50 miles of our coastline, the colonial nesting shorebirds must compete for 

habitat with recreationists and 

developers. 

Adult terns return from their Latin American wintering areas in late April and early 

May. As with most Larids. common terns 

locate their colonies on islands and isolated beaches. Their colonial nesting habeggs and chicks. 

In addition to isolation, good tern habitat normally is characterized by some 

form of low vegetation. Older chicks, when 

not guarded by the parents, crouch under 

nearby plants for protection from predators and the sun’s heat. Another essential 

for a tern colony is adequate food supply 

within several miles. 

Tern nests vary in quality from wellconstructed groups of twigs and grasses 

to slight depressions in the sand lined with 

shell fragments. The eggs are really well 

camouflaged, their color light brown or 

grey-green with darker spots. 

About three weeks after the clutch is 

completed, the eggs hatch into small balls 

of down. The young chicksareabletowalk 

almost from birth and require up to 10 minnows a day. This parent-pooping diet 

boosts the chicks to adult size in only 24 

days, at which point they have shed their 

down and grown adult-like feathers. 

Adult terns continue to help their young 

learn to fish and will feed their young during migration and throughout their first 

winter in the warm, temperate, and tropical regions. 

The oreatest danaer to tern survival has 

been f;om human beings. Tern eggs once 

were collected for human consumption. 

These birds now are protected against 

such human predation by Federal legislation; however man still causes many problems to these struggling species. Dune 

buggies, scavenging gulls from nearby 

landfills, and repeated disturbance by 

Least lern is shown here. on her nesi in the sands of Breezy Poml. par1 of Gateway Nal. Ret Area. 

19 

Toxic chemicals in the environment 

have been linked directly to developmental 

problems and feather loss. An indirect 

pressure is the reduction in fish populations that limit shorebirds’ food sources. 

The Gateway effort to improve the terns’ 

survival chances is a heartening example 

of the accommodation that can occur 

when information about a situatron is 

made known to the public, when management acts to bring the public into the conservation effort, and when human beings 

elect to throw some of their topheavy 

advantage into the light side of the scale. 

The operative principle here is that good 

terns deserve a good turn. 

. * * 

Tanacredi is Natural Resource Management Specialist at Gateway NRA 

Feral Horses 

A feral horse population census and a 

preliminary study of habitat divrston 

between horses, marsh rabbits, and whrtetailed deer were conducted March 19to 27. 

1983, on Cumberland Island National Seashore by a team of graduate students 

under the leadership of Dr. Frank Galley 

and Dr. Susan Bratton. The students, all 

specializing in ecology or wildlife management worked on a volunteer basis and 

contributed over 1OOOperson hours offield 

and data analysis time to the projects. 

Supervised by the NPS Cooperative at 

the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, the horse census is part of a program 

designed to: 

1) monitor the size, structure, and condition of the feral animal populations On 

Cumberland Island; 

2) provide information on theecosystem 

impacts of feral animals, and 

3) quantify interactions between native 

and non-native animal species. 

The horse herd first was censused by 

Mark Lenarz in 1981. Lenarz located 144 

individual animals, largely in small family 

groups of one stallion and one or more 

mares with subadults and foals. He also 

described several bachelor troops. The 

1983 census located 154 horses, with an 

estimated error of plus IO to 20 animals. 

Since foaling was still in progress during 

the 1983 census, possible increases in the 

population were calculated by comparing 

the adult and subadult numbers to 

Lenarz’s figures. The 1983 census found 34 

more adult animals but a slight decrease in 

the subadult population. It was estimated 

the population had inceased by about 20 
feral horses Continued 

animals. Although thedifferences between 

the 1981 and 1983could be due to sampling 

error, similarities between the sex ratios 

and the herd locations for the two sampling periods strengthen the conclusion 

the Cumberland horse population has 

increased in numbers. 

Lenarz also studied food habits in 1981 

and made observations on habitat utilization. As was the case in Lenarz’s study, the 

1983 census team observed extensive 

horse use of spartina marsh, but unlike 

Lenarz’s study (which concentrated on 

horses on the south end of the island) also 

found horses using interior forests. 

The preliminary analysis of horse, deer, 

and rabbit habitat use, using scat counts, 

indicated the horses used inter-dune, saltmarsh and oak forests with open grassy 

understories but that they rarely used oak 

forests with dense palmetto understories. 

Little evidence of deer activity was found 

in the horses’ preferred salt marsh feeding 

areas, but concentrations of both deer and 

horses sign were found in the interdune 

grasslands. The majority of rabbit scat 

was found in the ecotonal areas between 

the forest and the dunes and the forest and 

the salt marsh. Observations madeduring 

the census and the habitat study indicate 

the feral horses use all types of upland 

habitats on the island at least 

occasionally. 

More studies presently are planned for 

Cumberland including an analysisof horse 

interactions with salt marsh ecosystems 

and a detailed analysis of large mammal 

impacts on interdune and live oak forest 

vegetation. 

Human Impact On Arctic Vegetation 

Gates Of The Arctic National Park 

By Ann Marie Odasz 

While collecting field data rn 1978 for a 

doctoral thesis, I observed impacted areas 

in the Arrigetch Creek Drainage, within the 

newly designated Gates of the Arctic 

National Park, Alaska. Similar impact also 

was observed on the shores of Circle Lake 

-the main float-plane access to the popular Arrigetch Peaks - and photographs 

were taken to record the conditions. 

In addition, vegetation cover and species composition were recorded. Areas 

outside of the impacted sites were monitored also, as a control for data base use in 

future measurements of representative 

pre-impacted vegetation. Detailed data 

and close-up photographs recorded the 

inside of both control and impacted vegetation areas. 

In 1981, I returned to investigate the 

many side-tributaries to the Alatna River. I 

revlsrted Arrigetch Creek and rephotographed all sates investigated in 1978. The 

area covered mcluded the shores of Circle 

Lake, the lichen knolls (a series of dissected terminal moraines at the mouth of 

the Arrigetch Creek), the main base-camps 

at the headwaters area of the Arrigetch 

Creek, and various campsites at the base 

of the Arrigetch Peaks themselves. Photographs 1 and 2 compare the impacted 

areas, 1978 and 1981. Close up photographs 3 and 4. taken outside of the 

impacted vegetation, contrast with photograph 5, and show the effect campers can 

exert on the extremely fragile vegetation 

of the arctic. Centuries old spruce trees 

were chopped down for evening campfires 

and lichens were trampled. In addition, 

such remnants of civilization as mole-skin 

wrappers, foil bits, twisties. old tin cans, 

and a stash of books and clothes were 

found scattered around the upper Arrigetch Creek Valley. 

With concerned foresight, Gates of the 

Arctic Supt. Richard Ring and Chief Park 

Ranger Bruce Collins, initiated a cooperative study conducted during the summer of 

1982. Monitoring of human impact was 

expanded to include other heavily used 

areas of the Park such as Summit Lake and 

20 

Environs. Ooonerak Mountain and Sombardment Creek, and other popular backpacking. boating, and camping areas. In 

subsequentfieldseasons,additronal heavily used areas will be monitored and added 
of impact. 

The Park Service can use these emprrtcal data for managerral decision making. 

Such studies can help avoid the “crisisstudy” approach, where solutions to problems are sought only after alteratrons 

already have occurred. 

Wise base-line inventory data collection 

at the early stages of park policy-making 

and management planning can provide a 

sound basis for mitigating the effect of 

human use. Human vrsitation to the area 

has increased since the establishment of 

the Natronal Park. Visitor influx Wift 

expand considerably in the coming years. 

Paradoxically,the very act of desrgnating a new wilderness or park area involves 

an announcement that threatens newly 

proclaimed wilderness. Such areas excite 

and attract the venturesome spirit in man. 

In fragile ecosystems, like the arctic. 

man’s rejuvenation of spirit and purpose is 

directly proportional to the destruction Of 

other species of life. Mathematically : 

without controls nature is playing a “Zerosum” game. 

This “Gem” of the National Parks System 

is probably our last true wilderness. Only 

by increasing visitor awareness and 

appreciation for the uniqueness andfragility of arctic vegetation can we hope that 

the visitors might respect the land -might 

want to preserve its wild integrity by 

“treading lightly.” 

If all else fails, controls and rationing 

might bethe reluctantly arrived-at answe,r. 

Planned controls -such as already are In 

effect on some wild areas in the lower 48 

states, can generate a “non zero-sum” 

game. 

Odasz worked on contract for the NPS in 

the summer of 1982. She is completing her 

doctoral dissertation at the University of 

Colorado, Boulder, on “Patterns in Vegetation at the Jreehmit Ecotone, Alatna River 

Drainage. ” 

Prairie Manaaement Perpetuates 

Historic Scene at Pipestone 

By Gary Willson 

National historic sates and monuments 

administered by the National Park Serv,ice 

in the Great Plains were established prtmarily to preserve cultural resources or to 

commemorate historical subjects or 

events. The historic scene of these parks 

- the landscape, the native plant and 

animal life, and the miscellaneous marks 

of human activity -constitutes an important resource. It is the policy of the 

National Park Service to perpetuate the 

historic scene in a manner appropriate to 

each of these historic places [Management 

Policies 1979). 

Native prairie is an important facet Of 

the historic scene at Pipestone National 

Monument (NM) where red-colored CfayStone known as pipestone or Cathit’S was 

quarried by American Indians to make 

ceremonial pipes since A.O. 900. Frontiersman George Catlin while approachmg the 

quarry in 1836. wrote: “There is not a tree 

or a bush from the highest summit of the 

ridge, though the eye may range.. over a 

surface covered with a short, short grass, 

that is green at ones feet, but changing 

to blue in the distance.” He continued wrth 

a description of the quarry: “On the top of 

the ridge, we found the quarry of the Red 

Pipe. The most striking feature is a perpendicular wall of close-grained. compact 

quartz, twenty-five and thirty-five feet m 

elevation, running nearly north and south 

with its face to the west, on a front nearly 

two miles in length. It then disappears at 

both ends by running under the prarrre. 

which probably covers it for many miles 

both north and south. The depression of 

the brow of the ridge has been caused by 

the wash of a little stream, produced by 

several springs on the top, a little back 

from the wall At the base of this wall 

to the existing data base. 

Park Service personnel participated in 

the 1982 data collection. Seasonal Park 

Rangers Cheryl Green, David Buchanan, 

Maggie Yurrck. Rob Hayden, and Geoff 

Smith received training in site locatron. 

vegetation mapping and analysis, and 

description of natural and disturbed habrtat conditions. They quickly became proflcient at identrfying the sensittve 

vegetation types and the specres occurrrng 

in areas that are most easily damaged. 

Permanent transects were established 

in impacted areas with additional transect 

series running perpendicular to the main 

transects. Vegetation samples were 

located and read at regular intervalsalong 

the transect lines. Vegetation composition, 

percent cover, trail formation, species 

change, and other site characterrstrcs 

were recorded following popular European 

methodologies. These transects could be 

monitored on a regular basis by the Park 

Service in order to detect changes in rates 

Shrub and tree COW increased dramatrcaliy berwcen 1889 (topi and 1983 (bottom) as these phqtqgraphs of the quartzrle ridge show 
Prairie Management - Continued 

there IS a level prairie half a mile in width 

and running parallel to it.” 

Catlin painted apanoramicpictureofthe 

quarry, including several Indians working 

to extract pipestone. Although Catlm did 

not mention the presence of shrubs and 

trees along the ridge of quartzite. they 

appear in his painting. His pencil sketch 

shows little woody growth and is believed 

to be a more accurate presentation of the 

landscape of the quarry and ridge as it 

appeared in the 183Vs. 

Although well over half of the 283-acre 

park consists of original prairie, one is 

impressed today not only by the prairie, 

but by the trees and shrubs along the 

quartzite ridge and Pipestone Creek. Treering evidence from a study in 1979 aged 

most trees sampled at around 1880. 

Records of land settlement in theareasuggest woody plants began to grow because 

of the cessation of prairie fires. An article 

in the Pipestone County Star of June 24, 1880, 

noted the beginning of tree growth near the 

creek and along the quartzite ridge and 

expressed the hope that prairie fire will 

“leave the place alone” for the next few 

years. Photographs of the quartzite ridge 

taken in 1889 and in 1983 show the dramatlc increase in shrub and tree cover. 

Since 1973, prescribed burning has been 

used annually in the park’s prairie management program, probably in response to 

the removal of woody vegetation and the 

enhancement of prairie grass by a wildfire 

which burned along Pipestone Creek in 

1971. Spring burning has been conducted 

in each of six management units on a 4. to 

5-year rotation. It has been successful in 

removing woody plants and restoring the 

dominance of native prairie species, such 

as big bluestem, in some areas of the monument. No attempt has been made to burn 

into the wooded areas along the quartzite 

ridge or to clear vegetation along Pipestone Creek. 

In 1982, a study was begun to assess 

objectively the effect of current vegetation 

management practices, including prescribed fire, on the vegetation at Pipestone. Permanent plots and fixed point 

photography will be used to document 

vegetation changes and successional 

trends in the six management units. The 

distribution, composition, vigor and seasonal periodicity of the vegetation will be 

determined over a 3-year period and historical factors which have impacted the 

vegetation will be identified and 

evaluated. 

Results will likely influence prairie management through recommended changes 

in the frequency, intensity and seasonality 

of future prescribed fires and may lead to a 

decision to remove woodland vegetation 

in certain areas of the monument so as 

more closely to approximate the historic 

scene. 

V/l//son is an ecologist with the NfS at 

Pipestone NM, 

Pencil sketch of the pipestone quarry made in 1836 by George Cat/in, courtesy of the National 

Archrves 

Dwarf Nightshade At Crater Lake NP 

Editor’s Note: The following article is taken 

from a report to Resource Management 

Specialist Mark Forbes, Crater Lake NP, by 

Ron and Joy Mastroaiuseooe. The full 

report, with literatorecitea’, ‘is available 

from the Park. 

On a recent autumn visit to the Crater 

Peak Burn of August 1978, Ron Mastrogiuseppe and John White confirmed the presence of colonies of dwarf nightshade, 

Chamaesaracha nana A. Gray in the portion of burn which crowned-out in Shasta 

red firs and exposed the volcanic substrate on the steep southwestern slope. A 

member of the nightshade family, Solonaceae, the plant is locally rare in the Crater 

Lake NP area. 

Dwarf nightshade is adapted to welldrained, dry, sandy, or gravelly volcanic 

substrates, and may be favored by certain 

kinds of disturbances. Its general geographic distribution ranges from south central 

Oregon southward into the Lake Tahoe 

Region of east central California. from 

approximately 5.000 to 8,500 feet 

elevation. 

Other notable members of the Solonaceae include potato, tomato, tobacco, and 

the pepper. 

Mastrogiuseppes’ report discusses at 

some length a revisionary study of the 

genus Chamaesaracha, recommending 

that dwarf nightshade be called Leucophysalis nana (Gray) Averett, making it a natural, closely related genus restricted to 

desert regions of the southwestern U.S. 

They also describe searches of herbaria 

within the Pacific Northwest to determine 

if anyvoucherspecimensexistfrom within 

or near Crater Lake NP. (A voucher specimen is one that has been verified and 

placed in a permanent collection as a 

standard against which new finds may be 

checked.) The park collection includes 

only one sheet displaying two small nonflowering plants, collected by Elmer Ivan 

Applegate on July 24. 1934. on a dry slope 

of Bald Crater in the northwestern portion 

22 

of the park. No other vouchers are known, 

except for a possible sighting within the 

old Greyback Burn (by Richard Brown in 

1982) and a specimen collected by Joy 

Mastrogiuseppe on Aug. 14, 1978 in the 

middle strip of the old fireroad along the 

southeastern flank of Crater Peak. 

The report describes other searches and 

the species’ general distribution and concludes that “disturbance may be the key in 

the general perpetuation of dwarf nightshade.” This is presented as a hypothesis 

only, with more evidence required for 

substantiation. 

The Mastrogiuseppes recommend that 

Leucophysalis nana be placed on the 

Watchlist of the Oregon Rare and Endangered Plant Project. 

I * * 

Ron Mastrogiuseppe is planf ecologist 

at Redwoods NP; Joy is with the Marion 

Ownbey Herbarium, Department of 

Botany, Washington State University. 
Guest Editorial Continued from paqe 2 

III. WAS0 Central Office Realignment Changes 

In mid-March, the Director announced formation of a WAS0 

Realignment Coordinating Committee and directed that WAS0 

functions be consolidated and streamlined to reduce overhead 

costs and improve organizational efficiency. The Director simultaneously advised each Associate Director to prepare and submit a realignment plan that would shift a minimum 12percent of 

WAS0 central office staff positions and dollar resources to park 

units or approved Field Units. 

Impacts of these management actions 

When fully implemented, these three management actions will 

result in a major restructuring of WAS0 natural resource functions. Consider, for example, the following: 

- Line vs. staff role. Effective immediately, the WAS0 Office 

of Natural Resources will function strictly in astaffsupport 

capacity, not in a line operating mode. Natural resource 

management responsibilities are reserved exclusively to 

the Director’s Office and to Region and park field units: 

WAS0 staff will not assume responsibility for natural 

resource management functions. To emphasize this point, 

the term “management” deliberately has been eliminated 

from WAS0 Office and the Division of titles. 

_ Natural Resource Management Plans. WAS0 no longer will 

review and comment on park Natural Resource Management Plans (RMP’s) unless requested to do so by the 

Regions. RMP’s exist to help field personnel set programmactic and budget priorities and make informed natural 

resource management decisions; as such, RMP’s properly 

are the joint responsibility of the Regions and the individual 

parks, not the Washington staff. The RMPGuidelines issued 

in December, 1980, will not be revised by WAS0 unless the 

Regional Directors determine that changes are necessary. 

- Cooperative Park Study Units. The Office of Natural Resources no longer will be involved in maintaining or funding any 

Cooperative Park Study Units, or any research projects at 

CPSu‘s, without the explicit concurrence of the area 

Regional Director. 

- Biological Resources Division. The Biological Resources 

Division will function primarily in a field liaison mode. 

Responsibility for ongoing technical assessment projects 

currently sponsored by WAS0 will be transferred together 

with appropriate funding resources to the Regional Offices, 

provided the Regions approve these shifts. No new research 

or special studies will be initiated by the Division except as 

may be needed for developing Service policies or guidelines 

for example, as relate to exotic or endangered species, 

special protection zones, collection permits, etc. Furthermore, WAS0 will look to the Regions to help design such 

research or special studies, and, where possible, to accept 

a management role in implementing these projects. 

_ Special Science Projects Division. The Special Science Projects Division has been assigned lead NPS responsibility in 

support of the Secretary’s Barrier Island legislative initiative. This activity will represent the principal work assignment for this Division for the next two years. Ongoing 

commitments to the MAB program will be continued. Any 

future social science activities that may be initiated by the 

Division will be coordinated fully with the Regions. 

- Air and Water Quality Division. The Air Duality staff will 

continue to function essentially as it has in the past. A new 

Water Resources Field Unit has been established at Fort 

Collins, comprised of staff from the Fo:t Collins Water 

Research Lab together with former Regional Office hydrology personnel transferred to Fort Collins under the Region’s 

realignment plans, The Fort Collins Field Unit will continue 

to provide water related technical support to park units as 

requested by the Regional Offices. 

_ Energy, Mining and Minerals Division. The EM&M Division 

represents a consolidation of energy, mining and minerals 

functions previously distributed among various WASOand 

Regional Offices and in the DSC. The majority of the Division 

staff, including the Division Chief, will be duty stationed at 

the Denver EM&M Freld Unit. The Division will be responsible for policy and legislative matters, for interagency coordination on regulatory and leasing activities, for 

development of training agendas, and for providing technical support to the Regions on such matters as mining and 

drilling operations plans, title certification of mineral 

ownership interests, examination and valuation of mining 

claims, and EIS support. 

_ Staff levels. It currently is anticipated that the transfer of 

responsibilities under the WAS0 reorganization, coupled 

with the reassignment of personnel to approved Field Units 

under the WAS0 realignment plan and the phaseout of 

non-essential temporary employees, will result in a 25 - 35 

percent reduction in staffing levels within the immediate 

WAS0 Office of Natural Resources. 

_ Field-WAS0 Task Forces. A major initiative has been implemented to expand and improve the working partnership 

between the Washington Office of Natural Resources and 

the Regional Office Resource Managers and Chief Scientists. A series of ad hoc working groups comprised of these 

senior Regional Office field personnel will be convened to 

address important natural resource issues of Servicewide 

interest for example: 

l pest management issues and procedures; 

. grazing policies; 

. elimination of non-essential Field reporting requirements; 

l Servicewide natural resources information management 

systems; 

. natural resources budget formulation procedures; 

l criteria for selecting and prioritizing Significant Resources Problems (SRP’s) for funding under the PRIP Natural 

Resources account; 

. training programs for both entry level and experienced 

natural resource specialists; and 

. career ladder and professional advancement opportunities for field natural resource personnel. 

Summary 

The future role of the WAS0 Office of Natural Resources will be 

limited to precisely those functions that have been prescribed 

for the Office bythe Director, i.e..formulating policies;establishing priorities; and providing coordination support. WAS0 personnel will serve in a staff support capacity and will not attempt 

to function as natural resource managers. Nor will WAS0 staff 

initiate research projects or study activities that can and properly should be the purview of field scientists and natural 

resource specialists. 

Every effort will be madeto eliminatethe sense of competition 

that sometimes has existed between the Washington Office and 

the field with respect to budgetary and project management 

issues. Particular attention will be given to building improved 

working relationships between the WAS0 Office of Natural 

Resources and the Regional Chief Resource Managers and Chief 

Scientists. 

It is hoped that these changes within the WASOcentral office 

will help assure a strengthened and more effective Servicewide 

natural resources program. 

..f 

23