Improving Conservation of Wetland and Riparian Habitat Through Enhanced NWI Updates, Aquatic Weed Mapping, and Reed Canary Grass Control Demonstration Project

The purpose of this award is for the grantee to develop promising conservation technologies, practices, systems and procedures that will aid in the identification, mapping and demonstration of effective Reed canary grass control and native plant re-establishment.Conservation of wealth and riparian Habitat on the Flathead Indian Restoration (FIR) of western Montana is complicated by ‘checkerboard’ land ownership. Lands containing wetland and riparian lands are owned, managed, or regulated by numerous tribal, Federal, State, or local government, or private stockholders. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSK) and other agency stakeholders often share common conservation goals and objectives that can not be effectively achieved independently. The resources conservation and management community on the Reservation is in need of accurate, up-to-date mapping of wetland and riparian resources for effective planning and coordination. In addition to land-use and development pressures, invasion and spread of invasive aquatic species pose a major threat to the health of aquatic ecosystems on grazing and forest lands within the Reservation. This project will improve conservation of wetland and riparian Habitat through:

1) enhanced National Wetland Inventory (NWI) and riparian mapping;

2) identification and mapping of aquatic weed infestations from 1m CIR and NAIP imagery;

3) implementation of demonstration projects for RCG control in representative wetland and riparian areas, and

4) development of technical guidance, and improved planning and management tools.