A Preliminary Biological Assessment of Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge Complex North Dakota

The impetus for this report was passage of the 1997 NWRSIA that requires each NWR in the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) to develop a CCP that includes goals and objectives that are based on the best available science. To accomplish this mandate, Region 6 of the USFWS contracted with the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to inspect wetland habitats and synthesize available information pertinent to the management of Long Lake, Slade, and Florence Lake NWRs as part of a pre-planning phase to guide development of a CCP. This report represents the initial synthesis. The brevity of the site visit did not allow for detailed discussions between USGS and USFWS personnel, but it did provide the opportunity to exchange thoughts regarding the information needed to evaluate the biological program. Thus, the ideas contained within this report are of a general nature and should be viewed as a collaborative effort that involved the Complex staff. Additional work will be required to objectively evaluate the biological program, and this report should be viewed as an initial effort to start this process. In addition, there are alternative ways of approaching an evaluation that would require different levels and types of information. Therefore, the responsibility of the USFWS is to review the report and other relevant materials, discuss available options with appropriate personnel, and determine if the identified information needs and recommendations outlined in this report are acceptable and represent the preferred manner of proceeding. General descriptive information on NWR establishment, topography, climate, geology, soils, vegetation, and wildlife is intended to provide a brief background of these three NWRs with regard to functions, processes, and values. The scientific names of plants and animals used in the text are provided in Appendix A. This information is important as a baseline for understanding the impact of past land alterations and for developing guidelines for future management. In contrast, the section on wildlife conservation is intended to provide perspective regarding potential NWR contributions to natural resources based on conservation plans that have been developed for application at larger geographic scales that encompass the NWR. The section on evaluation of the wetland community discusses in more detail the processes impacting current wetland conditions. Included in this discussion are terrestrial habitats within the catchment because many biological features of importance in wetlands (e.g., plants, invertebrates) are impacted by processes (e.g., surface runoff, water quality, erosion and deposition of sediment) that originate in the uplands. The intent is to provide thoughts regarding potential information that will assist the USFWS in developing achievable biological objectives during CCP development.