Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 51.92
Liaison Casey Romero
Submission Date May 15, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Oklahoma State University
OP-10: Biodiversity

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Ilda Hershey
Sustainability Coordinator
OSU Physical Plant
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution own or manage land that includes or is adjacent to legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity, and/or regions of conservation importance?:
No

A brief description of the legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity, and/or regions of conservation importance:
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Has the institution conducted an assessment or assessments to identify endangered and vulnerable species (including migratory species) with habitats on institution-owned or –managed land?:
Yes

Has the institution conducted an assessment or assessments to identify environmentally sensitive areas on institution-owned or –managed land?:
No

The methodologies used to identify endangered and vulnerable species and/or environmentally sensitive areas (including most recent year assessed) and any ongoing assessment and monitoring mechanisms:

Presence/ absence surveys for Nicrophorus americanus, the federally endangered American burying beetle, are conducted according to US Fish and Wildlife Service protocols. A five gallon bucket is suspended from a tree or fence post approximately 2 feet off the ground. The bucket contains about 3 inches of moist peat moss and is baited with a previously frozen, rotted laboratory rat. Traps are checked each morning by 10:00 AM and all beetles are identified prior to release. Any captured American burying beetles are measured, the gender is identified, and the beetles are marked with a brand made by a cauterizer prior to their release


A brief description of identified species, habitats and/or environmentally sensitive areas:

Sampling occurred at the Cross timbers research station in 2016 and at the OSU Cimarron Valley Research Station, Idabel Research Station, and Haskell Research Stations. We detected no American burying beetles on OSU research properties. Near the Haskel Research station we did find American burying beetles and it is possible that these beetles will get onto lands at Haskell, especially if the lands are used for grazing.


A brief description of plans or programs in place to protect or positively affect identified species, habitats and/or environmentally sensitive areas:

Station managers were made aware of our field results. If American burying beetles are detected, land use should remain similar to what has been done for the past year.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

OSU may own or manage land that includes or is adjacent to legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity, and/or regions of conservation importance but not within the boundaries we identified as our reporting parameters for the OSU Stillwater campus.

Wyatt Hoback, Entomology & Plant Pathology (American Burying Beetle)


OSU may own or manage land that includes or is adjacent to legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity, and/or regions of conservation importance but not within the boundaries we identified as our reporting parameters for the OSU Stillwater campus.

Wyatt Hoback, Entomology & Plant Pathology (American Burying Beetle)

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.