{ "culture": "en-US", "name": "", "guid": "", "catalogPath": "", "snippet": "The goat monitoring project was implemented to monitor the effects of controlled goat grazing on the abundance of chicory, a Class C noxious weed, and on the associated composition and condition of the grassland community on the Stengel I property in the Tall Grass West area. The project uses permanently marked plots and transects to monitor changes over a five-year period (2011 \u2013 2015).", "description": "

Data for the goat monitoring project are collected from both vegetation cover transects and chicory density plots, randomly located within a goat grazed area (grazed approximately every two years) and an area without goat grazing. The control and goat treatment subareas were subjectively chosen for their similar vegetation composition and land use history (including regular spring grazing by cattle). Within each sampling subarea, locations of six transect origins and 30 density plotcorners (southwest corners) were randomly selected using a simple random sampling tool implemented in ArcGIS. Monitoring for both chicory density and vegetation compositionoccurs each year prior to goat grazing in the 3rdand 4rth weeks of July. Details about the sampling design, monitoring objectives and field procedures can be found in the project protocol. <\/SPAN><\/P>

The twelve goat monitoring transects are used to evaluate the richness of native and nonnative plant species, the percent cover of plant species, and the percent cover of substrates (bare ground, rock, litter). The 50-meter transect end points are marked in the field using rebar topped with labeled aluminum caps. Each transect is sampled by identifying the species or substrate directly beneath the cross hairs of an optical scope arm extended 1 meter on both sides of the transect line at 1 m intervals. All species observed within a 2 m wide belt transect on both sides of the transect are also listed to derive species richness. Oblique photographs are taken along each transect looking from the transect origin towards the end point to qualitatively document the condition of the vegetation. <\/SPAN><\/P>

The 60 chicory density plots are used to monitor changes in chicory density within 2.0 m x 0.5 m plots. The southwest and northwest corners are marked in the field with aluminum washers secured with 6\u201d penny nails. During sampling, all green chicory rosettes and reproductive stems within a rectangular PVC sampling frame are tallied.<\/SPAN><\/P><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV>", "summary": "The goat monitoring project was implemented to monitor the effects of controlled goat grazing on the abundance of chicory, a Class C noxious weed, and on the associated composition and condition of the grassland community on the Stengel I property in the Tall Grass West area. The project uses permanently marked plots and transects to monitor changes over a five-year period (2011 \u2013 2015).", "title": "Goat Monitoring", "tags": [ "Boulder", "OSMP", "Open Space and Mountain Parks", "monitoring" ], "type": "", "typeKeywords": [], "thumbnail": "", "url": "", "minScale": 50000, "maxScale": 5000, "spatialReference": "", "accessInformation": "City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks", "licenseInfo": "

Limited Use: City of Boulder Staff <\/SPAN>\u2013 Due to the sensitive nature of this data, this dataset should not be shared outside the City of Boulder without prior consent and a completed Non-Disclosure Agreement. <\/SPAN><\/P><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV>" }