Restoration of Prairie Hydrology at the Watershed Scale: Two Decades of Progress at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa

Keith E. Schilling; Pauline Drobney

doi:10.3390/land3010206

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Restoration of Prairie Hydrology at the Watershed Scale: Two Decades of Progress at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa

Journal article

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Restoration of Prairie Hydrology at the Watershed Scale: Two Decades of Progress at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa

Keith E. Schilling and Pauline Drobney

Land (Basel), Vol.3(1), pp.206-238

03/01/2014

DOI: 10.3390/land3010206

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Abstract

Tallgrass prairie once occupied 67.6 million hectares in the North American Midwest but less than 0.1% remains today. Consisting of more than 2200 ha, Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (NSNWR) was established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the 5217 ha Walnut Creek watershed in Jasper County, Iowa. Large tracts of land are being converted from row crop agriculture to native prairie and savanna with the goal to restore the landscape to a semblance of the condition that existed prior to Euro-American settlement. Understanding hydrologic processes at the watershed scale has been a focus of research at NSNWR for nearly two decades and the purpose of this paper is to integrate research results from monitoring projects to assess the progress made towards restoring five key hydrologic components: the water balance, stream network, streamflow hydrograph, groundwater levels and water quality. Restoration of hydrology is severely challenged by the history of hydrologic changes that occurred in the basin during a century of intensive agricultural activity. We document measurable progress in restoring key hydrologic processes in some areas, particularly in upland catchments compared to the larger watershed scale and discuss the timeframe needed to observe changes at short-and long-term scales.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Environmental Studies

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Science & Technology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Restoration of Prairie Hydrology at the Watershed Scale: Two Decades of Progress at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa
Creators: Keith E. Schilling - Univ Iowa, Iowa Geol Survey, 109 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
Pauline Drobney - US Fish & Wildlife Serv, Neal Smith Natl Wildlife Refuge, Prairie City, IA 50228 USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Land (Basel), Vol.3(1), pp.206-238
DOI: 10.3390/land3010206
ISSN: 2073-445X
eISSN: 2073-445X
Publisher: Mdpi
Number of pages: 33
Grant note: Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge US Fish and Wildlife Service; US Fish & Wildlife Service
Language: English
Date published: 03/01/2014
Academic Unit: Earth and Environmental Sciences; IIHR--Hydroscience and Engineering
Record Identifier: 9984383901602771

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