2009 Vascular Plant Surveys in the Central Niobrara River Valley, Nebraska

Authors

Mary Ann Feist
Paul B. Marcum
Loy R. Philippe
Brenda Molano-Flores
Valerie Sivicek

Date of this Version

4-30-2010

Document Type

Technical Report

Citation

Feist, Mary Ann, Paul B. Marcum, Loy R. Philippe, Brenda Molano-Flores, and Valerie Sivicek. 2010. 2009 Vascular Plant Surveys in the Central Niobrara River Valley, Nebraska. Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, Illinois Natural History Survey. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. 48pp.

Abstract

The Niobrara River Valley in northern Nebraska is an important floristic area. It harbours a number of bryophyte, vascular plant, and animal species that are rarely found in close proximity to one another. Many of these species are more typical farther to the north, east, or west, but over time as climates have changed, have come to settle together in this valley (Kaul et al. 1988). The central Niobrara River Valley may be the most botanically diverse region of Nebraska. Approximately 580 of Nebraska’s roughly 2,000 vascular plant species have been documented for the Niobrara Valley Preserve (Schneider et al. 2005). This diversity results from the valley’s unique geology and geographic location which supports a variety of native communities ranging from western mixedgrass prairie to eastern deciduous woodlands.

Although the composition of the flora of the central Niobrara River Valley is relatively well known, knowledge of the distribution and abundance of species continues to be refined. Information on rare species and new locations for species can be especially valuable to resource managers and can be utilized to map rare species distributions and model habitat suitability. For these reasons, vascular plant surveys were conducted at three sites on the central Niobrara River Valley in Cherry, Brown, and Keya Paha counties, Nebraska in 2009. The sites visited were the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge (FNNWR), The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve (NVP), and the property of Martin Vanderploeg known as the Vanderploeg Tract (VT). The Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1912, is located in Cherry County approximately 5.5 miles northeast of Valentine. The Vanderploeg Tract, also in Cherry County, is under private ownership and is located approximately 3.5 miles south of Valentine. The Niobrara Valley Preserve, acquired by The Nature Conservancy in 1980, is located 8 miles south of Norden in Brown, Cherry, and Keya Paha counties. The purpose of this study was to: (1) document the vascular plant species present; (2) collect data on rare plant species occurrences; and (3) provide management recommendations for rare plants and plant communities.