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

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The over-arching goal of this aspect of the project was to provide recommendations for maintaining native communities and rare species at FLMR, and enhancing them wherever possible. Resource managers and other personnel may then use this information as guidance to preserve and enhance native biodiversity at FLMR. Although the scope of this project focuses on native biodiversity, other base activities—such as landscaping programs, golf course maintenance, recreation (hunting, fishing, hiking, birding), and infrastructure development—may impinge upon native communities and should be at some point integrated into the planning process. 1.3. STUDY AREA Freeman et al. (1997) provide a detailed description of the physical setting, history, environment, and biota of FLMR and surrounding areas. The history of the post is not discussed here, but information about the physical setting, environment, and biota is summarized from Freeman et al. (1997) to provide context for the chapters that follow. The 2,399-ha (5,927-ac) Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation is located in northeast Kansas in eastern Leavenworth County (Figure 1.1). Situated on the north side of the city of Leavenworth, FLMR is roughly 40 km (25 mi) northwest of downtown Kansas City, Kansas. It is the oldest continuously-active Army post west of the Mississippi River. Ft. Leavenworth today is the home of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College within the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (Edgerton 1995). It is considered to be among the finest senior tactical schools in the world for advanced military education. The Ft. Leavenworth Military Reservation lies completely within the Glaciated Region physiographic province of Kansas (Schoewe 1949, Zavesky and Boatright 1977). It encompasses two distinct landscape features: rolling hills and uplands above the Missouri River, and an area of nearly level river floodplain. Elevations range from 232 m msl (760 ft) along the Missouri River at the southeast corner to 329 m msl (1080 ft) at Hancock Hill near the northwest corner. Slightly more than half of FLMR is situated on rolling hills above the Missouri River. Most upland areas south and east of a line extending from a point where Quarry Creek empties onto the Missouri River floodplain (in the center of the installation) southwest through the National Cemetery and then along Hancock Avenue to its junction with US 73 and KS 7 (at the fort’s southwest entrance) has been developed. This area, which lies mostly between 244–274 m msl (800–900 ft), supports much of the fort’s infrastructure. North and west of this line are a series of forested ridges and valleys. Most of Sheridan Drive (Figure 1.2) sits atop a prominent, sinuous ridge on the west side of FLMR that is part of the Oread Escarpment (Brumwell 1951). This ridge, which rises to an elevation of 323–329 m msl (1060–1080 ft) and extends from Government Hill in the south to Hancock Hill in the north, separates the major drainage basins of the fort. West of the ridge, streams flow west to Salt Creek, which flows north-northeast and joins Plum Creek 0.8 km (0.5 mi) northwest of the northwest corner of FLMR. Roughly 0.6 km (0.4 mi) northeast of the confluence of these two streams, they join the Missouri River. East of the ridge, streams flow NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAVENWORTH II 4
east toward the Missouri River. Two intermittent streams drain most of the uplands. Corral Creek drains the southern quarter while Quarry Creek and its tributaries drain interior sections. Between these two creeks is One Mile Creek, an intermittent stream that was dammed to form Merritt and Smith Lakes. Uplands in the northwest corner are drained by a series of short, highgrade, intermittent streams that drop quickly from the bluffs to the Missouri River floodplain. The remainder of FLMR lies on the broad, flat to gently undulating floodplain of the Missouri River. At FLMR, the floodplain is 4.3 km (2.5 mi) wide and lies on the inside of a large, tight meander. This meander begins on the west side of the floodplain at the northwest corner of the installation. From there, the river arcs eastward to the east side of the floodplain, creating a loop called Weston Bend, and then it swings back to the southwest to the west side of the floodplain near the site of the old Fort Bridge. The southwest third of the floodplain is surrounded by artificial levees and dominated by open, grassy fields and former crop land around the Sherman Army Airfield. Outside the levees is a mix of floodplain forest and marshy, backwater areas. Most historical drainage patterns in the floodplain were obscured long ago due to human activities. Brumwell’s (1951) description of the floodplain vegetation in 1939 and 1940 is very similar to the way it appears today. The eastern half of the floodplain supported oak-hickory-pecan forest surrounded by a fringe of cottonwood-sycamore forest. The southwest section of the floodplain was cleared of its forest in the late 1800s. In the north part of the floodplain were numerous oxbow lakes and marshes that filled with water during floods and periods of heavy precipitation. A railroad right-of-way runs the length of the fort at the base of the river bluff. Uplands on FLMR, which lie along the Oread Escarpment (Brumwell 1951), consist of a mixture of rolling hills and inconspicuous limestone bluffs protruding from thick accumulations of loess or eroded slopes above the Missouri River. The oldest exposed bedrock is limestone and shale of the Douglas, Shawnee, and Lansing Groups of the Pennsylvanian system (Ross 1991). Most upland areas are overlain by unconsolidated till and windblown loess of Pleistocene age. The broad, fan-shaped area of floodplain along the Missouri River is covered by Recent alluvium (Brumwell 1951, Zavesky and Boatright 1977). Three main soil associations are represented on FLMR (Zavesky and Boatright 1977). The Onawa-Haynie-Eudora association comprises nearly level soils formed in alluvium on floodplains and terraces. These soils are deep, well drained to somewhat poorly drained, nearly level, and have a loamy to clayey surface layer. Soils of this association cover an extensive area of floodplain along the Missouri River near Sherman Army Airfield. The Gosport-Sogn association includes soils on moderate to steep slopes on uplands. They formed in silty to loamy loess and in material weathered from shale and limestone. These soils are moderately deep, moderately well drained, and have a silty clay subsoil. They cover a fairly narrow area along the ridge extending along the west side of the installation roughly from Hancock Hill south to Wagner Point and Government Hill. NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAVENWORTH II 5
Page 1 and 2: A NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF THE FT
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS List Of Figures .
Page 5 and 6: LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1.1. Locatio
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2.1. Summary o
Page 9 and 10: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was carri
Page 11 and 12: 1.1. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1. BACKGR
Page 13: intentionally or accidentally from
Page 17 and 18: Agriculture figures (1874), there w
Page 19 and 20: examined the status and ecological
Page 21 and 22: NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAV
Page 23 and 24: CHAPTER 2. NATURAL COMMUNITIES 2.1.
Page 25 and 26: TABLE 2.1. Summary of natural commu
Page 27 and 28: TABLE 2.3. Locations of vegetation
Page 29 and 30: green ash seedlings, and silver map
Page 31 and 32: Genus Species Common Name 1995-‘9
Page 33 and 34: ounding. Genus Species Common Name
Page 43 and 44: Phryma leptostachya American lopsee
Page 45 and 46: 1 2 3 4 5 Family Scientific name Co
Page 47 and 48: 1 2 3 4 5 Family Scientific name Co
Page 49 and 50: annuals initially. Eventually, herb
Page 55 and 56: TABLE 3.1. Animal species protected
Page 57 and 58: September. On 8 September, four tra
Page 59 and 60: warbler, ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapi
Page 61 and 62: TABLE 3.4. Carrion beetles (Coleopt
Page 63 and 64: Potential for Occurrence on FLMR. B
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Recommendations. The lack of suitab
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suggests that practices that degrad
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1996, Freeman et al. 1997). Availab
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Potential for Occurrence on FLMR. R
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FLMR is the only site in northeast
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A Broad-winged hawk, Buteo platypte
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Species Old-growth Mid- Early- Succ
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(68%) have been confirmed since 199
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NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAV
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4.1. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 4. PLANTS
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Date Location Time Notes 39.3611°N
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plants (including all infraspecific
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TABLE 4.3. Number and cumulative pe
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limestone derivation. After the 200
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ock outcrops; it is often found wit
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hickory Forest on FLMR. Observation
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Scientific Name Carex crus-corvi Sh
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epresenting 5 families, 13 genera,
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with other considerations, includin
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existing natural areas information.
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these areas would enhance the prair
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Other trails and paths on the insta
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FIGURE 5.1. One of the small remnan
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While FLMR supports a diverse flora
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Sorghum halepense, previously repor
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Brumwell, M. J. 1951. An ecological
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Kansas State Board of Agriculture.
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Schwartz, C. W. and E. R. Schwartz.
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APPENDIX A. Directions to vegetatio
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The GPS reading is the SE corner of
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APPENDIX B. Checklist of vertebrate
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ORDER Species Common Name Presence
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Equisetum ×ferrissii Clute (Equise
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Daucus pusillus Michx. southwestern
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Aster oolentangiensis Riddell var.
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[Solidago nemoralis Ait. var. longi
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Thlaspi arvense L. field pennycress
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Commelina communis L. Asiatic dayfl
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Carex vulpinoidea Michx. fox sedge
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Dalea candida Michx. ex Willd. var.
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56. Hydrophyllaceae, the waterleaf
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Nothoscordum bivalve (L.) Britton y
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Spiranthes lacera (Raf.) Raf. slend
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Echinochloa muricata (P. Beauv.) Fe
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misidentified specimen of Sporobolu
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91. Rhamnaceae, the buckthorn famil
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99. Scrophulariaceae, the figwort f
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Phryma leptostachya L. American lop
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Net sets 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11
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However, Anabat recordings indicate
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APPENDIX E. Report on a 2003 field
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TABLE E.1. Reptiles and amphibians
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APPENDIX F. Exotic and Invasive Pla
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TABLE F.2. Life forms (habit) of ex
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are in bloom. Fire has not been pro
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Euonymus fortunei (Celastraceae; Ch
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disperse their seeds. They are foun
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Reed canary grass can become highly
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References Information on exotic an
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