Recipient Organization
LITTLE BIG HORN COLLEGE
1 FOREST LANE
CROW AGENCY,MT 59022
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
We propose to establish plots along the Little Bighorn River to capture species percent cover within each plot, relative to cottonwoods, willows, buffaloberry and chokecherry (ritual, medicinal, and traditional food sources) compared to Russian olive in the riparian corridor along the Little Big Horn River on the Crow Indian Reservation. We plan to utilize these data in order to determine areas dominated by Russian olive relative to culturally significant native woody species utilized by members of the Crow Indian Nation. We then will link the occurrence of Russian olive to historic and current land use, which is presently agroecosystems, and then uses the latter relationship to test the hypothesis that expansion of Russian olive has been at the expense of native woody species. We plan to link land ownership and use (loss of Trust or Tribally controlled land through either sale or lease) to historical American Indian land policy. Remote sensing of three time periods
using aerial photographs (1940's, 1970's and 1990's) will be used to demonstrate how land policy within Crow Country has resulted in significant vegetation change along the Little Bighorn River. Particularly, we focus on how land use change has resulted in a significant loss of culturally important woody species, and the spread of the invasive Russian olive.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this research is to identify whether the invasive Russian olive is currently replacing culturally sensitive native woody species along the Little Bighorn River. These data will also be incorporated into a GIS in order to determine vegetation change overtime since the onset of the reservation to present. We then identify American Indian land tenure policies, including those specific to the Crow reservation (i.e. 1920 Crow Act) and correlate these with land ownership and land use changes. Land use and vegetation types will be examined as to their role in promoting the expansion of Russian olive at the expense of native cottonwoods. These funds will provide leave time for PD to complete her dissertation research on the Crow Indian reservation. Funds will be used for materials and supplies to conduct vegetation surveys using randomly selected plots along the Little Bighorn River, including upper and lower terraces. Computer hardware and software will be
purchased in order to record and analyze project results. Ethnographic surveys will be conducted to obtain the tribal voice as to the importance, both historically and contemporaneously as to the cultural importance and use of native woody riparian species, with particular focus on cottonwoods. A survey of American Indian Land Tenure polices will be obtained through archives within the BIA, local and regional offices, as well as previously published literature from legal law reviews. Student interns will learn the process of conducting research in terms of formulating questions, conducting field studies, analyzing results and writing for peer reviewed journals. Students will likewise accompany PD to local and regional scientific meetings, and present a poster at the AIHEC and AISES annual meetings. Research objectives include (1) documentation of historic and current land use patterns to determine their association with, and effects on Russian olive, distribution, density and
abundance (rate of spread); (2) Determine the current density and cover of native and exotic woody riparian plant communities using a micro-and macro spatial scale approach, along the Little Bighorn River floodplain; (3) Identify key environmental factors that may have influenced the spread of the invasive species (Elaeagnus angustifolia) in relation to land use; (4) Identify federal American Indian land policies that have driven the current land use and ownership patterns, and describe the trust responsibility and role of Federal agencies in managing land use along the Little Bighorn River; (5) Identify key areas where coordination of federal land management agencies American Indian policy changes must be made in order to address the invasion process of E. angustifolia; (6) Reflect on how biological integrity within a landscape influences and ultimately affects the cultural integrity of the Crow Tribe to engage in key spiritual practices that enables them to express their unique
cultural identity. Final products include publications in peer reviewed jounarls, oral presentations at scientific meetings, and land management plans for the Tribe to restore and/or improve the loss of this important natural resource.
Project Methods
Current and historical land use will be determined using color infrared digitized orthophotos along the Little Big Horn River. Remote sensing of digitized aerial photographs will be used to create a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ArcView 3.2 (ESRI 1999) along a longitudinal transect of the river valley. Established vegetation plots within each land use type will consist of an 18 m radius circular plot totaling 1018m2 with three transects radiating from the center. Placement of a 50 cm X 200 cm quadrat along each transect with the 50 cm edge adjacent to each transect will be determined before sampling. Latitude, longitude, and elevation of each plot will be recorded with a Trimble GeoExplorer II GPS when satellite reception allows or estimated from topographical maps when satellite reception is not adequate. Percent foliar cover, and frequency of invasive and native woody vegetation will be determined for each of the subplots on designated land use associations
using an ordinal scale of (0-4) (Lundgren, et. al., 2004). An index of invasiveness will be calculated by summing the distance of Russian-olive spread from the plot. These values will be grouped according to classes ranging from zero to seven; a rating of zero indicates no invasive species, while a seven indicates multiple occurrences of Russian-olive spread of distances greater than 100 m (Stohlgren, et. al. 1999). Polygons on a GIS map of the project area will be coded by their index of invasiveness rating, which will create a spatial invasiveness ranking system to be used in determining effective management strategies for control. Climatic data will be obtained from the nearest weather station for this region. Variables measured will include mean minimum and maximum annual temperature and precipitation. Historical and present-day streamflow measures from the Little Big Horn River will be obtained from gauging stations and the National Climatic and Western Regional Climate Center.
Water development histories and mean monthly streamflows will be obtained from water data reports. Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests will be used to test for significant differences in percent cover of invasive and native woody species within each of the land use categories. Significant levels will be adjusted using post-hoc Bonferroni corrections. Least squares multiple regression analysis will be used to determine which factors most strongly influence the occurrence of the invasive species, Russian-olive. Land use, current and past land use, environmental variables, soil, and hydrology (mean annual streamflow) characteristics will be used as independent variables in calculating multiple regression models. All statistical analyses will be performed using SYSTAT (version 6.0, SPSS, Chicago, Illinois, USA), and P < 0.05 is used to determine the significance level in all tests.