Tway National Wildlife Area Management Plan, 2016: chapter 4

4 Goals and Objectives

4.1 Vision

The long-term vision for Tway NWA is wildlife conservation: the NWA provides relatively undisturbed wetland and upland migratory bird habitat in an intensively cultivated region and supports more than 140 bird species at some point during the year.

4.2 Goals and objectives

The dual goals of this management plan reflect the need to concurrently manage both upland and wetland habitats in Tway NWA. CWS will maintain and improve upland wildlife habitat through a variety of management activities such as grazing, invasive species management and prescribed burning. CWS will collaborate with DUC to determine future management of water levels and wetland habitats.

Goal 1: Maintain and enhance upland grassland vegetation at Tway NWA as nesting habitat for migratory birds.

Objectives:

1. Increase the structural and compositional heterogeneity of grasslands with natural disturbance tools such as fire and grazing (by 2020).
2. Reduce the distribution and abundance of alien invasive plants and noxious weeds (ongoing).
3. Reduce the distribution and abundance of native woody vegetation with natural disturbance tools such as fire and grazing (by 2020).

Goal 2: Maintain wetland habitats at Tway NWA to provide habitat for migratory birds and manage wetlands in a manner compatible with DUC's future directions for the Tway Lakes Project.

Objectives:

1. Wetlands within the NWA will be managed to provide habitat for migratory birds including waterfowl, shorebirds and other migratory species in ways that adapt to future changes in moisture regimes and infrastructure (ongoing).
2. Beaver and muskrat burrowing activities that interfere with operational water control structures will not increase over time (ongoing).

4.3 Evaluation

Annual monitoring will be performed within the limits imposed by the availability of financial and human resources. The management plan will be reviewed 5 years after its initial approval, and reviewed and updated every 10 years thereafter. The evaluation will take the form of an annual review of monitoring data obtained from the monitoring and research projects outlined below. This monitoring will be used to establish priorities for action and to allocate resources.