Summary

Description

This protocol framework provides guidance for conducting invasive species surveys at multiple stations within a region. In 2007, invasive species were the top threat listed in the National Wildlife Refuge System Threats and Conflicts Database. Approximately 2.4 million acres of National Wildlife Refuge NWR lands were impacted by invasive plants. In 20092010, the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Biological Network began developing an invasive plant adaptive management project on six National Wildlife Refuges in southern Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri to assess the state of invasive species on their respective refuges. Additionally, several refuges began managing invasive species using a suite of management techniques that were selected prior to the 2010 field season. This project developed a structured, iterative framework for managing invasive plants in forested habitats that targets our primary area of uncertainty, effectiveness of management actions, and reduces uncertainty over time and has become known as Forest Invasives Adaptive Management FIAM. We addressed this problem at two scales, the refuge scale and a management grid scale e.g., a square grid of 1 ha overlaid on each refuge, and formalized a stepbystep process for prioritizing actions at the refuge scale and applying management actions at the grid scale. We developed an objectives hierarchy with clearly stated objectives to help us link our data collection with those objectives. More details on this project are available from the FIAM project sharepoint website: https:connect.doi.govfwsPortalfipSitePagesHome.aspx