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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Research Needs
TITLE: Management
Practices for Grassland Nesting Birds, Grassland Birds--Species at Risk
SUBMITTING BUREAU: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Originating Office: Regional Office, Regions 3 and 6
DATE SUBMITTED: March 30, 1995
BIN NUMBER: FWS01CR98
BRD REGION: Central
DESCRIPTION OF NEED: Information on habitat fragmentation, predator ecology, and land use practices which will improve our ability to make land management decisions that benefit grassland-nesting migratory birds is needed. The information should be presented in the form of publications and technical guidelines which administrators and managers can use to restore and manage critical aspects of the grassland ecosystem and thereby enhance the status of Trust species within those habitats.
Conservation of biological diversity in North America must highlight native prairies, our most endangered ecosystem (Samson and Knopf 1994). Since European settlement, declines in area of tallgrass prairie exceed those reported for any other major ecosystem, including remnant old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. During the last quarter of a century, endemic bird species of the North American grasslands have shown steeper, more consistent, and more geographically widespread declines than any other behavioral or ecological group, including neotropical migrants (Droege and Sauer 1993, Knopf 1994). From 1966 through 1991, populations of 83 percent of native grassland species declined; 10 of these 32 grassland species had statistically significant declines averaging 3.5 percent per year. THIS PROJECT HAS SIGNIFICANCE THROUGHOUT THE GREAT PLAINS OF THE U.S. AND ENCOMPASSES REGIONS 1, 2, 3, AND 6, ALSO, BLM LAND AND MID-CONTINENT ECOREGION.
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM WITH NEED: Grassland nesting birds, especially songbirds and dabbling ducks, have experienced large declines in the Midwest and Great Plains. Habitat fragmentation and drastic reductions in native grassland communities have affected interactions between species and between plants and animals, but are poorly understood. Information is needed on these factors to institute a more holistic approach to land management at the ecosystem level.
Unlike forest species that winter in the neotropics, most birds that breed in North American grasslands also winter on the continent. Therefore, population declines in grassland species must be attributed almost entirely to changes in North American ecosystem processes. Great Plains grasslands have been dramatically altered by removing native grazers and introducing livestock, plowing sod, and draining wetlands. Such changes have resulted in the loss of suitable breeding habitats for several avian species. In addition, lack of knowledge concerning the wintering ecology further jeopardizes the future of birds endemic to grasslands, especially those currently experiencing widespread declines across breeding locales. These needs transcend tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass prairie in Regions 1, 2, 3, and 6. These problems also apply to BLM lands.
BUREAU CONTACT: Steve Wilds (612)-725-3313 Wayne King (303)-236-8155 ext 56}}
BRD PRIMARY CENTER: NPWRC (MESC, NWRC)
BRD CENTER CONTACT: Doug Johnson (Fritz Knopf , Wyle Barrow)
RESULTS OF BRD-INITIATED COMMUNICATION (FY99): BRD had already initiated contacts on this recurring information need following the FY96 BIN process. MESC hosted a multi-agency/multi-center workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado, in December of 1996. The participants produced a white paper for submission to the Central Region Chief Biologist. That paper synthesized and formatted the needs of the partner bureaus and outlined a long-term research strategy to address those needs. The white paper has received extensive circulation both inside Interior and around the professional community.
A number of additional ongoing BRD projects were discussed in that workshop. These included long-term population studies, prairie fragmentation issues, and grassland bird response to the Conservation Reserve Program.
1998 addition:
Contacts were made with Steve Wilds and Steve Lewis of FWS Region 3 on 31 December. Both were pleased with actions of Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center on grassland bird issues. Specific mention was made of the Bird Conservation Area evaluation. The literature syntheses on grassland birds were called excellent, and the Center's Web site was termed great. They expressed appreciation of the Center's responsiveness to their needs. In addition to ongoing efforts, they were interested in restoration and rejuvenation of prairie, incorporating grassland birds in the refuge system's comprehensive conservation planning process, the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Habitat Preservation Area, and the value of reclaimed strip mines for grassland birds. Region 3 uses the Species at Risk and Quick Response programs to encourage further work on grassland birds. Both representatives did wonder why new BRD funding for grassland birds was directed to centers that lack expertise or are looking at issues deemed low priority by FWS. Both Region 3 and Region 6 expressed concern that funds allotted to grassland birds be used for the highest-priority issues, and not diverted to other issues or expended on low-priority concerns.
Wayne King of FWS Region 6 was contacted. He appreciated efforts like Rick Schroeder's (MESC) work with Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuge, as well as NPWRC's technical assistance with refuges. He views on-site consultation as very valuable to improving FWS's management. He thinks it important to gain an understanding of the effects that FWS lands have at a broader, Great Plains, scale. In a meeting with BRD Central Region on 23 December 1998, FWS Region 6 restated that grassland birds remain a priority and should be considered in that light for the FY 2001 budget. He wondered if the Department of the Interior white paper on grassland birds should be revisited to see what has been accomplished thus far, what needs to be done, and whether projects are on track.
Ongoing Research:
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, with support from the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, North American Waterfowl Management Plan, is preparing literature syntheses on the effects of management practices on grassland birds. Cooperators include a number of authorities from the United States and Canada. Accounts for more than 30 grassland species will be produced and made available in hard copy and on the World-Wide Web.
A Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center study of bird use of Conservation Reserve Program habitats in nine counties in four states in the northern Great Plains continued for its ninth year. Results from the study were instrumental in demonstrating wildlife benefits of the Program, which led to its renewal, and in designating most of the Prairie Pothole Region as a priority conservation area for the Program. Recent topics addressed with the study include the effects of haying on grassland birds and the role of patch size in the use by breeding birds. With partial support from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Center initiated a new study specifically addressing how CRP fields could be sited to enhance their values to breeding birds.
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center completed a study that explored relations between breeding bird communities, as assessed by a series of point counts similar to a mini Breeding Bird Survey route, and the condition of the landscape. The objective was to develop an Index of Biotic Integrity, analogous to those constructed for streams. Data were collected on 44 routes in both 1995 and 1996. This study, conducted cooperatively with the Environmental Protection Agency and BRD's Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, is in the writing stage.
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center continues to conducts studies on the effects of prescribing burning on breeding bird populations at the Woodworth Field Station, North Dakota. The study, begin in 1972, is the only long-term evaluation of the responses of birds to burning in the mixed-grass prairie.
With several cooperators and funding support from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center began its evaluation of the Bird Conservation Area concept in the northern tallgrass prairie. The hypothesis underlying BCA's is that large core areas of quality habitat (such as native prairie), surrounded by neutral habitats (such as small-grain fields), and isolated from hostile habitats (such as woody vegetation) will result in reproductive rates sufficient to at least maintain population levels of breeding birds. The Center is determining population density, productivity, and effects of predation and brood parasitism in grasslands of various size and landscape configurations. The study began in northwestern Minnesota in 1998, and will be expanded to include southeastern North Dakota in 1999.
Abby Powell, NPWRC Arkansas Field Station, is conducting baseline inventories of breeding grassland birds at national parks in the Great Plains. In 1998 she completed surveys at Pipestone National Monument, MN; Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, MO; Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, KS; and Homestead National Monument, NE. She will be conducting surveys at Scotts Bluff National Monument, NE; Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE; Badlands National Park, SD; and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND in 1999. In addition, Dr. Powell is developing a monitoring protocol for grassland birds at these parks. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a new addition to lands managed by the National Park Service. The preserve consists of 11,000 acres of tallgrass prairie that is currently burned and grazed annually. Dr. Powell is conducting baseline surveys of birds at this site throughout the year.
The Fort Collins Science Center reports that it is conducting the following studies: 1) The Influence of Habitat Structure and Fragmentation on Birds of the Central Shortgrass Prairie; 2) Declines of Shortgrass Prairie Birds: the Roles of Small Mammal Predation and Land Use Changes; 3) Relationships between Landscape Heterogeneity and Bird Abundance in a Grassland Open Space; and 4) Prairie Dogs as Keystone Species
DATE SUBMITTED TO REGIONAL OFFICE: January 8, 1999
PREPARED BY: Douglas H. Johnson, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND (701-253-5539); Email: Douglas_H_Johnson@usgs.gov
RESULTS OF BRD-INITIATED COMMUNICATION (FY98): BRD had already initiated contacts on this recurring information need following the FY96 BIN process. MESC hosted a multi-agency/multi-center workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado, in December of 1996. The participants produced a white paper for submission to the Central Region Chief Biologist. That paper synthesized and formatted the needs of the partner bureaus and outlined a long-term research strategy to address those needs. The white paper has received extensive circulation both inside Interior and around the professional community.
A number of additional ongoing BRD projects were discussed in that workshop. These included long-term population studies, prairie fragmentation issues, and grassland bird response to the Conservation Reserve Program.
DATE SUBMITTED TO REGIONAL OFFICE: October 31, 1997
PREPARED BY: Fritz L. Knopf, Office of Center Director, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, CO (970-226-9462); E-mail: fritz_knopf@usgs.gov
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://biology.usgs.gov/cro/98fws-1.htm
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