BRD Conservation the USGS Way

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), specifically the BRD - Biological Resources Discipline -a scientific bureau within the Department of Interior, have participated in Partners in Flight (PIF) bird conservation planning from the very beginning. However, of equal importance to PIF is the contribution of scientific information and technical support USGS provides to resource managers to assist in conserving birds and their habitats. An example of this support is a USGS research project investigating the habitat preferences of wintering grassland birds.

As a group, grassland birds have shown steeper, more consistent and widespread declines than any other guild of North American species. Research on vegetative structure and composition associated with select breeding grassland birds is limited, and virtually nothing is known about habitat use by wintering populations. In the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, where many grassland birds winter, a major management issue is the effect of grazing regimes on bird habitat.

Dr. Janet Ruth, a research ecologist with the USGS Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) in Fort Collins, Colorado, leads a multi-year project targeting priority species that winter in southeastern Arizona, including Baird's, Grasshopper, and Cassin's Sparrows, Sprague's Pipit, and Chestnut-collared longspur. The objectives are to describe habitat preferences of wintering grassland birds by measuring various habitat characteristics and plant community composition and relating them to bird abundance; and study the effects of cattle grazing on wintering grassland birds by comparing bird communities on grazed and ungrazed sites.

The research project, being conducted in southeastern Arizona grasslands in the Sonora, San Rafael, and Altar Valleys, provides a great example of the partnerships promoted by PIF. Study sites include grass lands on FWS, Bureau of land Management (BLM) , and U .S. Forest Service lands, and the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch administered by the National Audubon Society. In addition, partnerships were established with several private ranchers who granted permission for scientists and volunteers to work on their property. The first year of data was collected from January - March 1999 with financial and in-kind support from USGS, BLM, and FWS, and was a collaborative effort between Ruth (USGS) and Caleb Gordon, a graduate student at the University of Arizona. The project will link habitat data with Gordon's dissertation research data on winter site fidelity in grassland birds, and will provide a growing picture of longer-term population fluctuations and trends.

Two approaches to bird surveys are being employed to address the special needs associated with surveying wintering grassland birds.

1) Transect surveys, involving teams of three walking a marked line and recording flushed birds, are employed for easily identifiable species such as Sprague's Pipit, Horned Lark, and Chestnut-collared Longspur.

2) Flush-netting, involving groups of 20-30 people flushing birds into mistnets for identification and banding, is used for species not readily identified when flushed such as Grasshopper, Baird's, and Savannah Sparrows. Measurements of grass structure and plant community composition are taken on both transects and mistnet plots to associate vegetation characteristics with bird presence and abundance.

The project has forged additional partnerships with local groups by involving volunteers in the actual collection of data. In the course of the four years of Gordon's dissertation research, more than 600 people have participated as volunteer sparrow flushers. Volunteers include primarily amateur birdwatchers and university students, as well as various groups with educational and/or conservation missions (e.g., college classes, Girl Scours of America, The Cactus Rangers [National Park Service], the Arizona League of Conservation Voters, and class groups from Tucson public schools). In the first year of the habitat use project by USGS, four volunteers (college graduates from Montana, Oregon, and Colorado, and a graduate student from India) were employed, trained, and supervised to assist with bird transect surveys, vegetation measurement, and mistnetting protocols.

The outreach and educational component of this project, in the form of public participation in the sparrow flushing project, provides a substantial educational benefit to the local community, and increases public awareness of priority bird species and their habitat needs. The scientific results of this project will provide valuable information to public and private land managers interested in conserving grassland birds and their habitats.