Current Global Change Project

Project Title: Impact of Department of Interior Activities on Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Natural and Restored Wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region and the Lower Mississippi River Valley

Principal Investigator (Prairie Pothole Region Science Team): Robert Gleason, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Co-Principal Investigators: Ned Euliss, Jr., Prairie Pothole Science Team, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center; Bryant Browne, Prairie Pothole Science Team, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Principal Investigator (Lower Mississippi Valley Science Team): Stephen Faulkner, USGS National Wetlands Research Center

Co-Principal Investigators: Charles K. Baxter, LMVJV Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Carl C. Trettin, Project Leader, Center for Forested Wetlands Research, US Forest Service, Southern Research Station; Bobby Keeland, Research Ecologist, USGS National Wetlands Research Center

Introduction

An important Department of Interior (DOI) activity in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) and in the Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) is the restoration of wetlands and adjacent upland habitats. Sites restored generally are previously farmed areas where native habitats were converted to facilitate the production of agricultural crops. While the goal of DOI has traditionally been to provide habitats for fish and wildlife, these restoration projects have had an influence on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Greenhouse gas mitigation through terrestrial carbon sequestration is currently a national priority and DOI land managers need to identify specific restoration techniques that maximize greenhouse mitigation that also meet their traditional wildlife habitat and ecosystem objectives. The proposed research will evaluate DOI wetland restoration activities in the PPR and the LMV to quantify the influence of land-use change on greenhouse gas relationships, identify environmental factors controlling carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emission, and provide recommendations and decision support tools to maximize greenhouse gas benefits that are consistent with DOI goals for habitat restoration. The proposed research will help answer U.S. Climate Change Science Program Carbon Cycle Q1 (P2-P6) and Q4 (P1, P3-5) through an assessment of the magnitude of the carbon sinks and sources, and processes controlling them in the PPR and LMV. Further, the work will help achieve BRD’s 5-year Global Change Program Goal 5 by quantifying carbon sequestration in wetlands systems, factors regulating carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) flux, and by evaluating techniques that enhance carbon sequestration, reduce GHG emissions, and provide concurrent ecological benefits.

Contact Information

Principal Investigator:
Robert Gleason
Prairie Pothole Region Science Team, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Jamestown, North Dakota
Phone: 701-253-5546
E-mail: robert_gleason@usgs.gov

Co-Principal Investigators:
Ned Euliss, Jr.
Prairie Pothole Science Team, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Jamestown, North Dakota
Phone: 701-253-5564
E-mail: ned_euliss@usgs.gov

Bryant Browne
Prairie Pothole Science Team, University of Wisconsin
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Phone: 715-346-4190
E-mail: bbrowne@uwsp.edu

Principal Investigator:
Stephen Faulkner
Principal Investigator and Contact for Lower Mississippi Valley Science Team
USGS National Wetlands Research Center
Lafayette, Louisiana
Phone: 337-266-8648
E-mail: sfaulkner@usgs.gov

Co-Principal Investigators:
Charles K. Baxter
LMVJV Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
2524 S. Frontage Road
Vicksburg, MS 39180

Carl C. Trettin
Project Leader, Center for Forested Wetlands Research
U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station
2730 Savannah Hwy.
Charleston, SC 29414

Bobby Keeland
USGS National Wetlands Research Center
Lafayette, Louisiana
E-mail: bobby_keeland@usgs.gov