[APWG] New USDA NRCS Tool to Track Invasive Woody Species in the Southern Great Plains

[De Angelis, Patricia]

New Tool Helps Conservationists Tackle Threat of Invasive Woody Species
By Jocelyn Benjamin

A new interactive mapping tool evaluates the threats posed by invasive
woody plants that makes habitat unsuitable for the lesser prairie-chicken
and many other wildlife species in the Western U.S.

This new mapping technology, part of the Southern Great Plains Crucial
Habitat Assessment Tool, is the latest product from the Lesser
Prairie-Chicken Initiative (LPCI), an effort led by USDA’s Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help ranchers restore habitat for
the at-risk bird.

The first of its kind, this tool targets invasive plants, such as redcedar
and mesquite that degrade native grasslands by altering nutrient and energy
cycles, shifting hydrology conditions, reducing wildlife habitat and
forage, and water available to crops and wildlife.

Full article:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/newsroom/features/?cid=nrcseprd1318441

Overview and link to mapping tool:
http://lpcinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/LPCI-S2S-Mapping-012517.pdf
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