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Title: Native Grass Community Management Plan for the Oak Ridge Reservation

Abstract

Land managers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in East Tennessee are restoring native warm-season grasses and wildflowers to various sites across the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). Some of the numerous benefits to planting native grasses and forbs include improved habitat quality for wildlife, improved aesthetic values, lower long-term maintenance costs, and compliance with Executive Order 13112 (Clinton 1999). Challenges to restoring native plants on the ORR include the need to gain experience in establishing and maintaining these communities and the potentially greater up-front costs of getting native grasses established. The goals of the native grass program are generally outlined on a fiscal-year basis. An overview of some of the issues associated with the successful and cost-effective establishment and maintenance of native grass and wildflower stands on the ORR is presented in this report.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. ORNL
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park
Sponsoring Org.:
ORNL other overhead
OSTI Identifier:
930916
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-2007/038
ORNL/TM-2006/149; TRN: US200813%%290
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; GRAMINEAE; HABITAT; RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; OAK RIDGE RESERVATION; LAND RESOURCES; LAND RECLAMATION

Citation Formats

Ryon, Michael G, Parr, Patricia Dreyer, and Cohen, Kari. Native Grass Community Management Plan for the Oak Ridge Reservation. United States: N. p., 2007. Web. doi:10.2172/930916.
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Ryon, Michael G, Parr, Patricia Dreyer, & Cohen, Kari. Native Grass Community Management Plan for the Oak Ridge Reservation. United States. doi:10.2172/930916.
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Ryon, Michael G, Parr, Patricia Dreyer, and Cohen, Kari. Fri . "Native Grass Community Management Plan for the Oak Ridge Reservation". United States. doi:10.2172/930916. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/930916.
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@article{osti_930916,
title = {Native Grass Community Management Plan for the Oak Ridge Reservation},
author = {Ryon, Michael G and Parr, Patricia Dreyer and Cohen, Kari},
abstractNote = {Land managers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in East Tennessee are restoring native warm-season grasses and wildflowers to various sites across the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). Some of the numerous benefits to planting native grasses and forbs include improved habitat quality for wildlife, improved aesthetic values, lower long-term maintenance costs, and compliance with Executive Order 13112 (Clinton 1999). Challenges to restoring native plants on the ORR include the need to gain experience in establishing and maintaining these communities and the potentially greater up-front costs of getting native grasses established. The goals of the native grass program are generally outlined on a fiscal-year basis. An overview of some of the issues associated with the successful and cost-effective establishment and maintenance of native grass and wildflower stands on the ORR is presented in this report.},
doi = {10.2172/930916},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007},
month = {Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007}
}
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Technical Report:
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DOI:  10.2172/930916
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  • ; ;
    Areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) that contain rare plant or animal species or are special habitats are protected through National Environmental Research Park Natural Area (NA) or Reference Area (RA) designations. The US Department of Energy`s Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park program is responsible for identifying species of vascular plants that are endangered, threatened, or rare and, as much as possible, for conserving those areas in which such species grow. This report includes a listing of Research Park NAs and RAs with general habitat descriptions and a computer-generated map with the areas identified. These are the locationsmore » of rare plant or animal species or special habitats that are known at this time. As the Reservation continues to be surveyed, it is expected that additional sites will be designated as Research Park NAs or RAs. This document is a component of a larger effort to identify environmentally sensitive areas on ORR. This report identifies the currently known locations of rare plant species, rare animal species, and special biological communities. Floodplains, wetlands (except those in RAs or NAs), and cultural resources are not included in this report.« less

  • This Water Conservation Plan covers facilities within the ORR including the Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP), the Industrial Park, the Scarboro Facility, Rust Engineering, and the Clark Center Recreation Area. The water balance for the ORR is summarized and plans for optimizing water usage and protecting water quality are included. Temporary measures to curtail water usage in the event of a drought are also summarized.

  • ; ;
    This document is organized by soil groups with common properties and geologic parentage. Soil management for conservation and continued land use is accomplished at several levels depending on site specificity. Soil conservation and mangement planning at the ORR level starts with a broad overview of the entire area. When a specific tract of land is to be intensively used, soil maps made at a scale of 1:24,000 to 1:12,000 should be consulted. Soils information currently available on maps made at these scales is organized at the level of individual soil series and phases of soil series and with mostly agriculutralmore » uses in mind. The soils base map for this document was developed from the correlated field sheets of the Anderson County soil survey and the enlarged Roane County soil survey planimetric map that were overlain on an enlarged topographic base map (drawing scale 1:15,840). All interpretations in this report are based on the Anderson County soil survey and additional data from the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program.« less

  • ; ;
    Personal communications with groundwater investigators and results from a well information questionnaire show that approximately 1400 wells divided into 5 main functional locations can be accounted for. The data do not include all the wells on the ORR, for even a casual inspection of waste sites shows deteriorated corrugated iron well casings that were probably abandoned years ago. Information on groundwater levels, flowpaths, and spatial and temporal trends in water quality on an ORR-wide basis is fragmented among diverse reports, studies, projects, and databases. There is no comprehensive picture of ORR groundwater quality or of the geological and geochemical factorsmore » that determine groundwater movement and quality. This report identifies three levels of databases: (1) well inventory systems containing basic parameters such as well coordinates using the administrative grid, local coordinates, data of construction, general purpose, common label (name), and alternative labels; (2) well information systems containing static parameters such as construction parameters, geophysical and core logs, elevation, and (perhaps) nominal water quality data; and (3) advanced, centralized database systems containing dynamic parameters such as water quality measurements and water levels and special-purpose software for statistical analysis and report generation.« less

  • ;
    A survey of wetlands on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) was conducted in 1990. Wetlands occurring on ORR were identified using National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) maps and field surveys. More than 120 sites were visited and 90 wetlands were identified. Wetland types on ORR included emergent communities in shallow embayments on reservoirs, emergent and aquatic communities in ponds, forested wetland on low ground along major creeks, and wet meadows and marshes associated with streams and seeps. Vascular plant species occurring on sites visited were inventoried, and 57 species were added to the checklist of vascular plants on ORR. Three speciesmore » listed as rare in Tennessee were discovered on ORR during the wetlands survey. The survey provided an intensive ground truth of the wetlands identified by NWI and offered an indication of wetlands that the NWI remote sensing techniques did not detect.« less