Bird Monitoring as an Aid to Meadow Restoration is based on a meadow restoration project implemented on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and describes how bird monitoring can produce findings that will inform future restoration and contribute to the ecosystem conservation vision outlined by conservation policies in the United States. Click here to download a printable version of this DST.
Bird Monitoring as an Aid to Riparian Restoration: Findings from the Trinity River in Northwestern California provides an overview of the Trinity River Restoration Program, summarizes bird monitoring findings (2002-2011), and provides information for land managers with respect to bird-habitat associations and riparian restoration. Click here to download a printable version of this DST.
The Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) was formed in 2000 to recover severely degraded salmon and steelhead fisheries along a 40-mile stretch of the Trinity River in northern California. The TRRP is actively restoring in-stream features of a healthy river system while maintaining and enhancing habitat along the river’s banks. Restored streamside habitat in the program area is being adaptively managed to increase plant species diversity and structural complexity, and to provide benefits for wildlife. Birds serve as ecological indicators to evaluate the success of restoration projects and inform plans for future restoration.
Chaparral provides important habitat for birds and other wildlife in oak woodland ecosystems, yet land managers concerned about the risk of severe wildfire often reduce shrubs to protect oak woodlands. To provide guidance on how to best reduce chaparral in oak restoration projects so that it still provides key habitat for shrub-associated species, we developed a decision support tool for land managers based on the results from three studies. The Oak Woodlands and Chaparral: Aligning chaparral-associated bird habitat needs with oak woodland restoration and fuel reduction in southwest Oregon and northern California DST informs management decisions regarding how different fuel-reduction methods (i.e., mechanical or manual treatments) influence bird communities and how the size and arrangement of the remaining chaparral patches influences whether shrub-associated birds will use them.
Birds in Mixed-Conifer Hardwood Forests: Managing Fire-Adapted Ecosystems in Southwestern Oregon synthesizes Klamath Bird Observatory’s research and monitoring results and links these results to the Partners in Flight coniferous forest bird conservation plans. This Decision Support Tool shows that management for certain habitat attributes that is informed by bird conservation plans and results from related research and monitoring efforts can benefit Partners in Flight focal species and many other species and elements of biodiversity in these forests. Click here to download a printable version of this DST.
To commemorate the Centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty in 2016, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative U.S. Subcommittee teamed up with NABCI partners in Mexico and Canada to produce the first State of North America’s Birds Report focused on full life-cycle bird conservation, migratory connections, and international cooperation to ensure the health of the continent’s birds.
The 2017 State of the Birds reports links future reports to specific policy initiatives that influence bird conservation. This report focuses on Farm Bill conservation programs.