Wetland State-and-Transition Model Project
The Wetland STM project is creating a state-and-transition model to inform management of semi-permanently flooded wetlands in the Intermountain West and western Prairie Pothole Region, as well as designing a monitoring scheme to allow determination of current wetland condition.
Wetland State-and-Transition Model Project
State-and-transition models (STMs) distill current ecological knowledge of a system into a conceptual model that describes, graphically and in a narrative, the potential stable states and associated vegetation community phases. This tool provides a ‘road map’ for management that describes current status (i.e., current wetland condition) in order to determine potential management actions to perpetuate the current condition, or move toward a more preferred condition. The Wetland STM project is creating a state-and-transition model to inform management of semi-permanently flooded wetlands in the Intermountain West and western Prairie Pothole Region, as well as designing a monitoring scheme to allow determination of current wetland condition.
Products to date include:
- Draft STM for semi-permanently flooded wetlands
- Sampling of 49 wetlands within 12 National Wildlife Refuges in Regions 1, 6 and 8 to acquire data necessary to define and describe wetland vegetation community phases within states of the STM
- Database for managing project data
- Field sampling methods and protocols
- Annual reports, which include wetland unit-level summaries that provide baseline data
The Wetland STM project is creating a state-and-transition model to inform management of semi-permanently flooded wetlands in the Intermountain West and western Prairie Pothole Region, as well as designing a monitoring scheme to allow determination of current wetland condition.
Wetland State-and-Transition Model Project
State-and-transition models (STMs) distill current ecological knowledge of a system into a conceptual model that describes, graphically and in a narrative, the potential stable states and associated vegetation community phases. This tool provides a ‘road map’ for management that describes current status (i.e., current wetland condition) in order to determine potential management actions to perpetuate the current condition, or move toward a more preferred condition. The Wetland STM project is creating a state-and-transition model to inform management of semi-permanently flooded wetlands in the Intermountain West and western Prairie Pothole Region, as well as designing a monitoring scheme to allow determination of current wetland condition.
Products to date include:
- Draft STM for semi-permanently flooded wetlands
- Sampling of 49 wetlands within 12 National Wildlife Refuges in Regions 1, 6 and 8 to acquire data necessary to define and describe wetland vegetation community phases within states of the STM
- Database for managing project data
- Field sampling methods and protocols
- Annual reports, which include wetland unit-level summaries that provide baseline data