Washita Battlefield National Historic Site - Animals

Washita Battlefield NHS is in the process of compiling baseline inventories for the vertebrate animals and the aquatic macroinvertebrates found at the site. The goal is to document at least 90% of all the species in each category. Some of the inventories are complete (like the mammals, reptiles, and amphibians), one is nearly complete (the birds), and one (the fish/macroinvertebrates) is underway.

Washita Battlefield is located in the historically mixed-grass prairie and supports a faunal component typical of that ecosystem. Despite decades of agricultural impacts, so far no rare or endangered species have been documented, though some species (such as the bison) have been extirpated from the area. Only one truly non-native species (the house sparrow) has been found, and there is evidence that its numbers are decreasing gradually.

Park staff hope to obtain funding to perform a terrestrial invertebrate inventory, and to initiate monitoring of ecologically indicative animal species over the long term.