In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012. For more information, please refer to the NBII Program Termination page.
Electric towers at sunset [Photo: Warren Gretz, National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Photographic Information eXchange Collection]
The U.S. Department of Energy, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Defense prepared a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to evaluate issues associated with the designation of energy corridors on federal lands in eleven Western states. The Draft PEIS was issued in Fall 2007 and the Final West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS was made available in Fall 2008.
These ecosystems are all affected to some degree by these ecological topics:
Carbon Sequestration The recapture and storage of carbon dioxide could help mitigate climate change.
Climate Climate is a driving force behind many ecological processes, and a changing climate could significantly affect species and ecosystems of this region.
Fire Wildland fire plays an important role in shaping the ecosystems of the Mountain Prairie region.
Invasive Species Invasive species can displace native plants and animals, often with devastating effects.
Water and Drought Water is an essential resource that supports plant, animal, and human communities across the region.
Wildlife Disease Diseases such as brucellosis and whirling disease have regionally-important effects on both ecosystems and economies.
Mountain Prairie Regional Ecosystems
Regional Ecosystems [Image: Aaron Jones, Big Sky Institute]
The Mountain Prairie region is made up of four major ecosystems, but Bailey describes eight ecoregions in the six Mountain Prairie states. Learn more about these regional ecosystems.
The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Program of the U.S. Geological Survey