Utilizing GIS to Locate Endangered Gravel Hill Prairies of the Wabash River Valley.

The Gravel Hill Prairies of the Wabash River Valley are an endangered ecosystem in the state of Indiana and provide optimal growing conditions for a number of state endangered plants. Currently only four remnants are known to exist near Lafayette, IN, found by a previous study conducted in 1980 by Post, Bacone, and Aldrich (Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 1984, vol. 94: 457-464). These unique ecosystems have been found to occur almost exclusively on soils classified as Rodman Gravelly Loams and Strawn-Rodman complexes which occur predominantly along the outwash terraces of the Wabash River and its tributaries. Seven Indiana-state endangered plant species, more typical of western shortgrass prairies, are documented on these soils. This research effort aimed to develop GIS maps to scout for and discover areas of unknown GHP remnants. The end goal of the project is to assist conservation groups in the development of a strategy to acquire and preserve previously undiscovered remnants. This project relied on spatial analyses with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and numerous databases including the USDA’s gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO), which had not been used to attempt and locate additional GHP remnants, to develop maps and scouting plans. Analysis have located a total of 842 areas of interest, of which 32 have been visited and had preliminary plant lists put together.  These field scouting trips have found two gravel hill prairie remnants along the Wea Creek and the Wildcat Creek, one prairie remnant along Bee Run (tbd if gravel hill prairie plant community), and numerous high quality open-oak woodlands.