A Natural Areas Inventory of the - Kansas Natural Heritage Inventory ...

While FLMR supports a diverse flora and fauna, the long-term maintenance of many of its
ecosystems depends on a host of factors and influences outside the control of the resource
managers at FLMR. Native species that inhabit FLMR year-round or seasonally face growing
threats from degradation, fragmentation, isolation, and destruction of natural areas both on site
and off-site. Many species depend on air, land, and water corridors to rest, feed, and breed, and
as avenues for their movement. Human activities have disrupted and altered many of these
corridors, jeopardizing the survival of some species. Riparian forests on FLMR are especially
significant in this regard, providing routes for the movement of wildlife, helping to maintain
water quality, and contributing to the aesthetics of FLMR. Efforts to maintain the ecological
health of FLMR must begin by recognizing the importance of natural habitats on FLMR and the
role they play in the local and regional movement of species. Degraded prairies, forests, and
wetlands can serve as buffer areas and connectors between high-quality sites, and many areas
have restoration potential.
Animal surveys revealed few changes from the findings reported by Freeman et al. (1997). As
before, one federally protected species, the bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus), is a
regular migrant and winter resident on FLMR. Four species of federally protected birds may
migrate through the area, but nesting and/or foraging habitat for these species is limited or
absent. They include the Eskimo curlew, Numenius borealis (Forster); least tern, Sterna
antillarum (Lesson); piping plover, Charadrius melodus Ord; and whooping crane, Grus
americana (Linnaeus). Due to the recent delisting of the peregrine falcon, Falco peregrinus
Tunstall, there is one less federally protected bird species on FLMR than was reported earlier.
The federally endangered pallid sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus (Forbes & Richardson), was
documented in the Missouri River at FLMR in 2003. Surveys for two other federally endangered
species, Indiana bat, Myotis sodalis Miller and G.M. Allen, and American burying beetle,
Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, were conducted but neither species was found.
No state-listed threatened and endangered species were documented. The white-faced ibis,
Plegadis chihi (Vieillot), a state-threatened bird, may make infrequent, brief stops at FLMR
during migration. Five Kansas SINCs were documented in 2003. Two SINC mammals, eastern
chipmunk, Tamias striatus (Linnaeus) and southern flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans
(Linnaeus), are resident on FLMR. Three SINC neotropical migrant birds breed on the
installation: cerulean warbler, Dendroica cerulea (Wilson); yellow-throated warbler, Dendroica
dominica (Linnaeus); and whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus vociferus Wilson. A fourth SINC bird,
the red-shouldered hawk, Buteo lineatus Gmelin, probably breeds on or near FLMR. One
additional Kansas SINC bird, the black tern Chlidonias niger (Linnaeus), infrequently may use
habitat on the installation.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not designated any habitat on FLMR as critical for any
protected species. However, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has designated the
mainstem of the Missouri River as critical habitat for the bald eagle and seven fish species:
chestnut lamprey, Ichthyomyzon castaneus (Girard); pallid sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus
(Forbes & Richardson); flathead chub, Platygobio gracilis (Richardson); sicklefin chub,
Macrhybopsis meeki (Jordan & Evermann); sturgeon chub, Macrhybopsis gelida (Girard);
NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAVENWORTH II 121