Integrating Birds in Range Management across the Sagebrush Steppe

Integrating Birds in Range Management across the Sagebrush Steppe

Summary

The development of the “Integrating Bird Conservation into Sagebrush Ecosystem Management” manual is in process. Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) has subcontracted for this purpose. A draft will be going out to reviewers early 2014. Four one-day ‘train-the-trainer’ workshops are scheduled for the end of March and April. Flyers for the workshops have been shared and we currently have many resource professionals signed up for attendance. With partner leveraging (USDA-NRCS-Conservation Innovation Grant*) we have been making progress in the development of the Decision Support Tool (DST) that will provide landowners and resource professionals with information about how land management treatments will affect sagebrush dependent bird species. In addition, we have purchased and begun hanging fence markers in a study to determine the cost effectiveness of three different types of markers in Sublette County, Wyoming.

* CIG funding was not awarded according to their original dispersal timeline, which postponed all project efforts.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Activities – Describe and quantify the primary activities conducted under this grant.

• The bird occupancy- and density- habitat models are completed. This information will help determine how land management actions can influence the vegetation structure of different sagebrush communities and in turn affect available habitat. These models will be incorporated into the DST.

• Significant headway in the development of the DST. The design has been created. We are discussing specific transition probability values between different states (of State and Transition Models) with partners.

• We are in discussion with partners about putting the DST model into a usable, on-line interface.

• Scott Gillihan (former author of “Integrating Bird Conservation into Range Management” a 2004 Western SARE product) has been subcontracted to develop the “Integrating Bird Conservation into Sagebrush Ecosystem Management.” A draft has been dispersed internally. The second draft will go out to reviewers in early 2014.

• We are working with Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology to create an auditory CD: Songs and Calls of Sagebrush Birds for us to hand out to workshop participants.

• Four workshops have been finalized and scheduled to hold place in Craig, CO; Rawlins, WY; Gillette, WY; and Lewistown, MT. The flyer has been sent out via several list-serves (Attachment 1) and there has already been significant interest.

• The fence marker study has been designed and sites chosen. We have been reaching out to private landowners to gain land access permission to mark fences in areas that have high to moderate risk of sage-grouse collisions. Half of the sites have been marked. We have hired two technicians to survey fence lines for signs of collisions this coming lek season.

• Due to the inability to converge data RMBO is not able to use data from the Great Basin Bird Observatory. This data was to be incorporated into the occupancy and density models.

• The Executive Director, Stewardship Director, and Biometrician have all attended meetings and had conversations to build and maintain partnerships with various agencies and organizations for this project. Meetings attended:

• Northern Great Plains Joint Venture meeting

• Integrating Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) steering committee and planning meetings

• Pavlacky, D.C., Jr., J.A. Blakesley, and D.J. Hanni. August 2013. Hierarchical occupancy estimation to predict bird species distributions. American Ornithologists’ Union/ Cooper Ornithological Society: 2013, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

• North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference – Sage Grouse Executive Committee meeting in Washington, DC.

• North American Bird Conservation Initiative bi-annual meeting at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies meeting (August 2013)

• Gallagher, S.W., D. Pavlacky, L. Quattrini, T. VerCauteren. RMBO Conservation Efforts in the Sagebrush Steppe, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Summer meeting 2013, Omaha, NE (July 2013)

• 5^th International Partners in Flight Conference and Conservation Workshop at Snowbird, UT (August 2013)

• Flyer for upcoming workshops

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Outputs – Describe and quantify progress towards achieving the project outcomes and provide any further information (such as unexpected outcomes) important for understanding project activities and outcome results.

• We have gone through a first round of mailing out landowner outreach cards (see Attachment 2) to 38 landowners to gain permission to mark fences along or within their property. We have received several “no’s” and four “yes’s” so far.

• We continuously get requests for the Pocket Guide to Sagebrush Birds. This year we’ve distributed roughly 1,000 guides throughout the west.

• The flyer for the workshops has been distributed to partners (see Attachment 1)

• Landowner Permission Form

Collaborators: