Quantifying the Environmental Benefits of Conserving Grassland

Abstract

The Missouri River Basin (MRB) functions as the "life zone" for the larger Mississippi River Basin, providing grassland habitat that infiltrates precipitation and recharges groundwater, reduces sediment erosion, filters nutrients, stores carbon, and provides critical habitat for wildlife. The role of this region as a producer of food and fuel, both nationally and internationally, creates unique challenges for conservation. To support conservation efforts and sustainable management of this invaluable resource, a large-scale, screening-level evaluation of the water quantity and quality benefits of land conservation efforts in the MRB was performed. This paper describes the development and application of a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to the MRB study area to provide estimates of water quantity and quality (sediment, total phosphorus, total nitrogen) benefits from the avoided conversion of intact grassland to cultivated cropland. The results of this study indicate that the avoided conversion of grassland to cropland could potentially prevent more than 1.7 trillion gallons of surface runoff as well as prevent the export of approximately 46 million tons of sediment, 87 million pounds of total phosphorus, and 427 million pounds of total nitrogen from the MRB study area landscape every year.

Evaluation of Displaced Medial Epicondyle Fracture in Children Treated Operatively with K Wire

“…During the elbow dislocation ulnar collateral ligament provides the avulsion force for the fracture. 5 The fall on the outstretched hand with elbow in extension and hand and wrist in hyperextension provides additional tension over medial epicondyle through flexor group of muscles of the forearm which results into avulsion of the medial epicondylar apophysis. 7 The assessment of valgus stability is of paramount importance in medial epicondyle fracture.…”

“…[2][3][4] The three etiological theories postulated to describe the mechanism of the injury are: a direct blow, avulsion mechanisms, and associated elbow dislocation. 5 The increasing consensus for operative management of medial epicondyle fracture may be due to better understanding of importance of ulnar collateral ligament and degree of displacement of fracture;improved surgical techniques and never the least availability of better implants for fracture fixation. 6 The non-operative method of treatment using simple immobilization to cast immobilization with early motion remains a common practice for the treatment of undisplaced to minimally displaced fractures less than two millimeters.…”

“…The criterion for absolute indication is incarceration of the fragment into the joint while for relative indication the criteria are the valgus instability, displacement more than five millimeters and ulnar nerve dysfunction. 5 The radiographic nonunion has been found in patients who had undergone conservative form of treatment with good to excellent results. This nonunion later leads to valgus instability.…”

Assessing the Impacts of Recent Crop Expansion on Water Quality in the Missouri River Basin Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool

“…The temperature in Montana can drop to −51°C in winter, while it can reach to 49°C in Missouri in summer (Zhang and Wu, 2013). Soil types within the basin include well drained, moderately well drained, and poorly drained soils, from northwest to southeast (Flynn et al, 2017). The geographic extent of the basin includes parts of Montana (MT), Wyoming (WY), Colorado (CO), North Dakota (ND), South Dakota (SD), Nebraska (NE), Kansas (KS), Iowa (IA), and Missouri (MO) (Figure 1b).…”

Seventy questions of importance to the conservation of the North Central grasslands of the United States in a changing climate

“…Characterized by the dominance of grasses and other herbaceous species (see Allen et al, 2011), grasslands provide habitat for species endemic to grassland systems (Benedict et al, 1996; Mengel, 1970; White et al, 2000), are crucial to global food security (O'Mara, 2012), and support the economies of ranching communities and pastoralists around the globe (Herrero et al, 2013). Grasslands also provide many other ecosystem services including stormwater management (Flynn et al, 2017), aquifer recharge, soil water conservation during drought, improved soil properties, and soil conservation (Gibson & Newman, 2019, pp. 3–4).…”