Visit the Western Region of the WLFW
Return to Wildland Fire
Return to Northern Bobwhite site
Return to Working Lands for Wildlife site
Return to Working Lands for Wildlife site
Return to SE Firemap
Return to the Landscape Partnership Literature Gateway Website
RETURN TO LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP SITE
return to main site

Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Sections

Personal tools

You are here: Home / Expertise Search / Harris, Morgan

Search results

RSS Subscribe to an always-updated RSS feed.

25 items matching your search terms.
Filter the results.
Item type
























New items since



Sort by relevance · date (newest first) · alphabetically
File Stream Habitat Improvement and Management - CPS 395
by Morgan Harris — published Jul 12, 2019 — last modified Jul 17, 2023 11:29 AM — filed under: , , , ,
Maintain, improve or restore physical, chemical and biological functions of a stream, and its associated riparian zone, necessary for meeting the life history requirements of desired aquatic species.
Located in Information Materials / NRCS Conservation Practices & Materials / Conservation Practices
File Streambank and Shoreline Protection - CPS 580
by Morgan Harris — published Jul 12, 2019 — last modified Jul 17, 2023 11:35 AM — filed under: , , , ,
Treatment(s) used to stabilize and protect banks of streams or constructed channels, and shorelines of lakes, reservoirs, or estuaries.
Located in Information Materials / NRCS Conservation Practices & Materials / Conservation Practices
File Octet Stream The use of nest boxes by the hellbender salamander in Western North Carolina
by Morgan Harris — published Aug 10, 2020 — last modified Jul 26, 2023 01:32 PM — filed under: , , , , ,
The hellbender salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is a unique, large-bodied amphibian that serves as an excellent water quality indicator species in Western North Carolina. This animal has suffered substantial population declines over the past four decades throughout its range. Increased stream siltation largely attributed to human development fills the concave undersides of large rocks, consequently destroying hellbender breeding habitat. Habitat degradation has contributed to reductions in North Carolinian populations to such a degree that the species is now considered of Special Concern in the state. In order to restore hellbender population sizes under current land use conditions, researchers have recently begun developing artificial nest boxes that exclude sediment and promote increased reproduction. To identify the short-term efficacy of these shelters as substitutes for natural hellbender habitat in Western North Carolina, I constructed and placed 54 boxes across five river sites throughout the region. Following summer nest box installment, I examined each shelter through the breeding season for hellbender in habitation and to determine the quality of water passing through the structures. Additionally, I created a maximum entropy species distribution model and conducted a spatial connectivity analysis for the hellbenders of Western North Carolina to identify ideal locations for nest boxes installation in the future. Although no hellbenders have yet been detected in the artificial shelters, additional structural improvements and time may reveal nest boxes to be useful conservation tools for this iconic species of Special Concern.
Located in Information Materials / Research / Artificial Nest Box Research
File Troff document Theory and practice of the hydrodynamic redesign of artifical hellbender habitat
by Morgan Harris — published Aug 10, 2020 — last modified Jul 26, 2023 01:34 PM — filed under: , , , , ,
The success of nest boxes in Missouri led researchers to test whether similar management tools could increase C. a. alleganiensis populations in the streams of western North Carolina, where these salamanders are listed as a Species of Special Concern (Messerman 2014). Fifty-four nest boxes were constructed following the boot-shaped design of Briggler and Ackerson (2012) in May 2013, and were installed across five known C. alleganiensis stream sites between late June and early August 2013. Messerman (2014) then monitored each nest box every three to four weeks through November 2013, and the boxes were revisited in August 2014 and July 2015 to observe structural condition and occupancy (Messerman, pers. obs.). Of the 54 nest boxes, only two structures at a single site were confirmed as inhabited in 2014 and 2015, and no breeding events were detected (Messerman, pers. obs.). Moreover, many of these ~50 lb concrete boxes moved in flood events or accumulated sediment at the downstream tunnel entrance (Messerman 2014). The low success of the boot-shaped nest box design in North Carolina may be attributed to the sites generally being narrower and shallower than those in Missouri, with much of the substrate consisting of bedrock slabs covered by relatively thin layers of rock, gravel and silt. Here we address the observed shortcomings of the original North Carolina design through the lens of engineering, and present a new and easily implemented nest box model for use in streams like those found in western North Carolina.
Located in Information Materials / Research / Artificial Nest Box Research
File Watering Facility - CPS 614
by Morgan Harris — published Jul 12, 2019 — last modified Jul 17, 2023 11:36 AM — filed under: , , , ,
A watering facility is a means of providing drinking water to livestock or wildlife.
Located in Information Materials / NRCS Conservation Practices & Materials / Conservation Practices