Effectiveness of North Texas Nature Reserves
Context
This report will assess the impact of human activity on local plant growth in nature reserves.
What impact does human activity and usage within a local North Texas nature reserve have on plant and animal life as the distance from trails are increased? According to the IBO, conservation is the sustainable usage of natural resources and preservation is the exclusion of human activity in places not yet infiltrated. One way to ensure the conservation of biodiversity is through habitat conservation. Designing protected areas allows the natural fauna and flora to flourish. However, questions such as these should be asked when creating a protected area: What’s the ideal shape for the reserve? Should the entire reserve be one or should there be separate areas? How close to human society should this reserve be? Conservation efforts dependent on the actions of organizations, citizens, and the
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The National Park Service assists with the creation of community parks. It also encourages outdoor recreation in open conservation spaces. The local North Texas nature reserve where this experiment was conducted is the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve, a 200-acre park. There are three ecoregions within this reserve: Blackland Prairie, Riparian Forest, and Upland Forest. The experiment will be conducted in the area of the park that is classified as Blackland Prairie. The prairie areas are currently in restoration by methods of seeding, mowing, and controlled burning. This is the same ecoregion familiar to the early settlers of the area.
According to the local government of Plano, Texas, wildlife can be affected up to 200 feet away of any side of a trail used by humans. Trails are where human activity is at its highest within the park, although people are allowed to go on off-road bike trails and natural unpaved
Committee on Senate Energy and National Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. 3 June 2003: ESBCO. Mission Viejo Library., Mission Viejo, CA. 31 July 2005. http://web31.epnet.com/citation.
Cavendish, M. (2011). North American Wildlife. (p. 109). New York: Marshall Cavendish Reference. DOI: www.marshallcavendish.us
Once the gray wolf population had declined in the National Park, many ecological impacts were observed. Without a sustainable wolf population in the park, the elk population began to take over and increase in size. Due to this increase in elk, many of the deciduous woody species began to become overgrazed. With the e...
The area has been turned into a wildlife preserve to help maintain those ecosystems. The
Time and time again it has been seen that human interaction with his/her environment and it’s ecosystems has shown to be increasingly arrogant and self-serving. These endless accounts are proven by the amount of important biological diversity that is being lost to the surrounding environment due to these threats of human development and population growth. There are two forms of these losses of diversity by human hand: direct and indirect. Direct losses would be the destruction of an area needed for human requirements be it social or economical. Examples of these losses would be housing, agriculture, and others. Indirect losses would be those caused by the destruction of an area also needed for the same requirements but the area’s commodities which are valued, water, food, land in general, is needed elsewhere. These losses are few in number compared with those of direct losses yet they are of the greatest importance. They are important because they involve the removal of resources of an area in which other inhabitants are dependent upon. A great example of this regrettable indirect expansion is the loss of the rich habitat of the area known as Owens Valley.
Since its creation in 1916, the National Park Service (NPS) has had to balance between its two goals, which are to preserve wilderness and nature and to provide the public with access to these wonders in a monitored environment. These two goals tend to create a conflict for the NPS because as soon as one goal is given more priority than the other, the administration of national parks is harshly criticized by the public. The accusation that by allowing people to experience the wilderness, the NPS is corrupting the natural environment is very common, as well, as the criticism towards the lack of government funding to preserve nature and history. However, regardless of arguable criticism and a certain need for improvement, after one hundred years,
The communities of various native plants have been significantly minimized as a result of ...
Even though perspectives of wilderness have changed and will continue to change Yellowstone was established with the purpo...
Landscape fragmentation contributes to loss of migratory corridors, loss of connectivity and natural communities, which all lead to a loss of biodiversity for a region. Conservation of biodiversity must include all levels of diversity: genetic, species, community, and landscape (CNHP 1995). Each complex level is dependent upon and linked to the other levels. In addition, humans are linked to all levels of this hierarchy. A healthy natural and human environment go hand in hand (CNHP 1995). An important step in conservation planning, in order to guarantee both a healthy natural environment as well as a healthy human environment, is recognizing the most endangered elements.
While one might encounter a few people on the trail, you can be certain to encounter many different types of wildlife. The Appalachian Trail is a plethora for numerous types of vegetation and animals. Bears, wildcats, and eagles are just the beginning, “The Smokies harbor an astonishing range of plant life – over 1,500 types of wildflower, a thousand varieties of shrub, 530 mosses and lichen, 2,000 types of fungi,”
In the last decade, from the Rockies to New England and the Deep South, rural and suburban areas have been beset by white-tailed deer gnawing shrubbery and crops, spreading disease and causing hundreds of thousands of auto wrecks. But the deer problem has proved even more profound, biologists say. Fast-multiplying herds are altering the ecology of forests, stripping them of native vegetation and eliminating niches for other wildlife. ' 'I don 't want to paint deer as Eastern devils, ' ' said Dr. McShea, a wildlife biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, ' 'but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack. ' ' The damage is worse than anyone expected, he and other scientists say. Higher deer densities have affected growth, survival, and reproduction of many plant species which have aesthetic, economic or ecological value. In some cases, many species of trees have also been shown to have reduced growth as a result of high deer density (Environmental Benefits of Hunting, 1). Deer prefer certain plant species over others and frequently feed on economically valuable tree species. For example, they prefer oak and sugar maple seedlings, as well as acorns, over less palatable species like American Beech and striped maple. Thus, less marketable species are more likely to survive to maturity,
America’s wilderness areas are vitally important for our nation's health and well-being. Preserving America’s Wilderness areas is necessary for conservation of resources, it is necessary for the survival of Human, and necessary in maintaining biodiversity.
As tourists wander the trails of Mesa Verde National Park they might see wild horse and elk competing for the same water source. Wild horses from the nearby Ute Mountain Ute Reserve wander into Mesa Verde on a daily basis. The horses have been around since the opening of the park in 1906, but with recent water shortages from drought, there is not enough water to fulfill the needs of all the animals in the park. Since the horses are considered trespassing, the National Park Service and The Bureau of Land Management are trying to find a way to keep the horses away from the park. The wild horses of Mesa Verde National Park deserve to live in the park even though the horses have caused some complications within Mesa Verde, and the National Park Service needs to provide better management services for the horses.
The Western forests are drastically different from what they were like before the European settlement. In pre-European time, the forests were open and park-like with only 25-35 trees per acre surrounded by areas of open grasslands. One could easily ride a horse through the spacious forest. This, however, is not possible in today's forests. Today, for example the Ponderosa pine forests, have over 500 trees per acre, creating thick dense areas of trees, brush, and bushes (President Bush, 4). The pre-European forests were subject to frequent low inte...
Loss of biodiversity is an environmental issue that is causing a lot of global concern. Some of the main causes for loss in biodiversity are alteration of habitats, increasing levels of pollution and human population growth. There are measures that are being taken worldwide to prevent loss of biodiversity. Many wildlife sanctuaries have been built worldwide to preserve the lives of various endangered species. However, it is important to remember that every individual has a role in the protection of wildlife and biodiversity. Every human being should play his part of the role by following simple rules such as stopping others from the hunting of endangered species, preventing deforestation, encouraging reforestation and creating awareness among fellow human beings.