The Population and habitat objectives for landbirds in prairie, oak, and riparian habitats of western Oregon and Washington plan are intended to complement the goals, objectives, and strategies in several other planning and conservation processes and initiatives by filling a niche that is usually absent in those efforts: quantitative, prescriptive recommendations for habitat conditions most suitable for individual and suites of landbird species at several geographic scales (e.g., regional, subregional, site). The use and implementation of these recommendations can be done independently for landbird-specific conservation, or complementarily within the context of broader conservation goals to support and strengthen other plans.

Examples of other efforts that apply to multiple ecoregions within this document include:

• Partners in Flight North American Landbird Conservation Plan (Rich et al. 2004) and the updated Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan (Rosenberg et al. 2016).
• PIF landbird conservation plans for Washington and Oregon that use focal species to emphasize conservation of important components of the habitat type (e.g., Altman 2000).
• The Nature Conservancy’s Willamette Valley, Puget Trough, and Georgia Basin Ecoregional Assessment (Floberg et al. 2004) and Klamath Mountains Ecoregional Conservation Assessment (Vander Schaaf et al. 2004), which established biological objectives for imperiled species, communities, and ecological systems. It also provides a portfolio of finer-scaled, spatially explicit priority conservation areas, although for broader conservation goals than landbirds alone.
• Species prioritization in various plans and strategies of partners in bird conservation including USFWS Birds of Conservation Concern (USFWS 2021), and state wildlife agencies’ Species of Greatest Conservation Need (WDFW 2015, ODFW 2016).
  • Oregon Conservation Strategy
  • Washington Conservation Strategy
• A more spatially explicit aspect of landbird conservation has been partially addressed by the Important Bird Areas program of State Audubon chapters
  • Washington: audubon.org/conservation/important-bird-areas
• The Land Manager’s Guide to Bird Habitat and Populations in Oak Ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest (Altman and Stephens 2012) is intended to provide land managers with information on oak-associated bird species’ population status, distribution, density, habitat needs, and potential responses to restoration actions, in order to facilitate sound decisions to support oak bird conservation.
• OakBirdPop serves as an interactive supplement to the above guide (Altman et al. 2017b). It is an online tool to inform the planning and implementation of oak habitat management and restoration actions and to help assess the projected population response of 31 oak-associated bird species to oak habitat changes.
• Prairie, Oaks, and People: a conservation business plan to revitalize the prairie-oak habitats of the Pacific Northwest (Altman et al. 2017a) seeks to create the economic, social, and political climate to fund and support the interventions necessary to preserve and enhance prairie-oak habitat and the species that rely on it throughout the Pacific Northwest for the use and enjoyment of future generations. With this overarching strategic framework, the business plan presents the case for a 10- to 15-year investment strategy for prairie-oak conservation.
• S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s draft Recovery Plan for the Streaked Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata) includes specific goals, objectives, and criteria that should be met to remove the species from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (USFWS 2019).

Puget Lowlands Ecoregion Specific:

• Habitat and population objectives for landbirds in priority upland and riparian habitats in the Puget Lowlands ecoregion (Altman 2010) provide quantitative habitat and population objectives for this geography.

Willamette Valley Ecoregion Specific:

• The Willamette Valley Conservation Study: Strategic Habitat Conservation in Oregon’s Willamette Valley (USFWS 2017), in which the USFWS under the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative is identifying spatially explicit Priority Conservation Areas using data from birds and other taxa to meet regional population objectives for imperiled wildlife.
• The Willamette Valley Oak and Prairie Cooperative Strategic Action Plan (WVOPC 2020) describes steps to achieve a long-term vision to conserve and maintain prairie and oak habitats within the Willamette Valley ecoregion through a regionally-focused, collaborative, and sustainable program.
• The Intertwine Alliance Oak and Prairie Working Group Strategic Action Plan (Intertwine Alliance 2018) serves as a guide to address the need for better science, stewardship, restoration, and education to improve the ecological future of oak and prairie habitats in the greater Portland-Vancouver, WA, region.

Klamath Mountain Ecoregion:

• Restoring Oak Habitats in Southern Oregon and Northern California: A Guide for Private Landowners aims to provide easily digestible guidelines for landowners to apply best conservation practices for oak habitats on their private lands, and to direct conservation-minded landowners to supplemental resources (KBO and LRP 2020).
• The Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network Strategic Conservation Action Plan serves as a road map for achieving continued and accelerated oak woodland conservation on private and public lands in southern Oregon and northern California for the benefit of all native species associated with deciduous oak ecosystems (Alexander et al. 2020). There is a companion summary available that introduces the fundamentals of the plan and describes and summarizes the major components, identifying how the plan can be used to implement oak woodland conservation strategies in an adaptive management framework.
• The Riparian Bird Conservation Plan: A strategy for reversing the decline of riparian-associated birds in California is focused on California, but many elements are also applicable to the Klamath Mountains ecoregion (RHJV 2004).

California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Habitat: Oak-Chaparral
Habitat Attribute: dense shrub cover with herbaceous openings

Habitat Objectives (Sites)
Mature or young savannah in oak-chaparral in the following conditions:

• canopy cover <30%
• canopy and subcanopy conifer cover <10%
• shrub cover 40-70%
• interspersion of shrub and herbaceous cover with each >30%
• patch size >2-5+ ha (5-12+ ac)

Population Objectives (Sites)
Target Densities in Suitable Habitat:
Klamath Mountains:
– Umpqua: >0.02 birds/ha
– Rogue: >0.21 birds/ha

Citied Plans

Rockwell, S. M., J. L. Stephens, and B. Altman. 2022. Population and habitat objectives for landbirds in prairie, oak, and riparian habitats of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Prepared for Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service. Klamath Bird Observatory, Ashland, OR, and American Bird Conservancy, Corvallis, OR.

Cassin’s Vireo (Vireo cassinii)
Habitat: Oak-Pine
Habitat Attribute: moderate to high canopy and subcanopy cover

Habitat Objectives (Sites)
Oak-Pine forest in the following conditions:
– canopy cover >65%
– subcanopy cover >20%
– shrub cover 30-70%
– mean tree dbh >23 cm (9 in)

Population Objectives (Sites)
Target Densities in Suitable Habitat:
Puget Lowlands:
– North: >0.01 birds/ha
– South: >0.09 birds/ha
Willamette Valley:
– North: >0.02 birds/ha
– South: >0.14 birds/ha)
Klamath Mountains:
– Umpqua: >0.07 birds/ha
– Rogue: >0.17 birds/ha

Citied Plans

Rockwell, S. M., J. L. Stephens, and B. Altman. 2022. Population and habitat objectives for landbirds in prairie, oak, and riparian habitats of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Prepared for Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service. Klamath Bird Observatory, Ashland, OR, and American Bird Conservancy, Corvallis, OR.

Hammond’s Flycatcher
Forest Stage: Mature/Young Forest
Habitat Attribute: Open mid-Story

Habitat Objectives
Landscapes: Within small landscapes (e.g., watershed, township, section), provide ≥6 blocks of late-successional and young forest >20 ha (50 ac) or one block >120 ha (300 ac) per square mile with site-level habitat conditions as described below.
Landscapes: Within large landscapes (i.e., >1,000 ha [2,500 ac]) maintain large core areas of unfragmented coniferous forest including
– 80–90% of the area in high canopy cover (i.e., >80%) of coniferous forest
– 10–20% of the area in early successional habitat
– <1% cover of deciduous forest habitat in drier upland habitats (i.e., with low stream density).
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate in forests >40 years old provide
– forest patches >15 ha (42 ac)
– canopy closure >50%
– a relative stem density of 0.2 to 0.3 to maintain an open mid-story (Relative stem density is the ratio of actual stem density to the maximum density available).
Sites: Riparian buffer zones within harvest units should be >70 m (230 ft) wide to provide suitable habitat, and should meet site-level habitat conditions described above.

Habitat Conservation Strategies
– Conduct light to moderate single-layered thinning from below to reduce the density of trees and open-up the area below canopy foliage, but do not encourage layered understory development characteristics of variable-spaced and variable-layered thinning.
– Conduct habitat management in areas without an extensive riparian or deciduous tree component.

Cited Plan

Altman, B. and J.D. Alexander. 2012. Habitat conservation for landbirds in coniferous forests of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight and American Bird Conservancy and Klamath Bird Observatory.

Hermit Thrush
Forest Type: Klamath mountain mixed conifer and mixed hardwood-conifer forests
Habitat Attribute: Shrub-herbaceous interspersion understory

Habitat Objectives
Landscapes: Within 1,000 ha (2,500 ac) blocks, provide patch sizes according to the following forest cover amounts for high suitability habitat:
– >90% forest cover = >8 ha (20 ac) patch size
– >80% forest cover = >26 ha (64 ac) patch size
– >70% forest cover = >66 ha (163 ac) patch size –
– >60% forest cover = >156 ha (385 ac) patch size
– >50% forest cover = >353 ha (873 ac) patch size
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate, maintain an understory ratio of shrub-herbaceous (includes bare ground) cover within a range of 30–70% for each parameter.

Habitat Conservation Strategies
– Remove or explicitly control the timing and intensity of grazing to develop and promote the long-term persistence and balance of shrub and herbaceous communities.
– Promote understory growth through natural disturbance or management that breaks up the forest canopy yet still maintains the dominance of a mid- or late-successional forest.
– Where ecologically appropriate in drier mixed conifer forests, maintain large forest tracts (i.e., minimize fragmentation) for highly suitable habitat.

Cited Plan

Altman, B. and J.D. Alexander. 2012. Habitat conservation for landbirds in coniferous forests of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight (www.orwapif.org) and American Bird Conservancy and Klamath Bird Observatory.

Hermit Warbler
Forest condition: Mature/Young Forest (Multi-layered/understory reinitiating)
Habitat Attribute: Closed Canopy (of coniferous trees) forest patches >42 ha (101 ac) are necessary for their occurrence.

Habitat Objectives
Landscapes: At small landscape-levels (e.g., watersheds, townships, sections), provide >55% of the area as suitable nesting habitat (forest >40 years old with adequate canopy cover as described below), and >25% of the suitable habitat should be young forest. w
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate in forests >30 years old provide
– average tree dbh >30 cm (12 in)
– >90% canopy closure
– a dominance of Douglas-fir trees
Sites: Riparian buffer zones within harvest units should be >70 m (230 ft) wide to provide suitable habitat, and should meet site-level habitat conditions described above.

Habitat Conservation Strategies
– In forests managed for wood products, extend rotation ages to lengthen the period of time that the forest is available as suitable habitat.
– Conduct light to moderate thinning early in forest development (<30 years-old) to promote development of large crowns to increase habitat suitability later in forest development

Cited Plan

Altman, B. and J.D. Alexander. 2012. Habitat conservation for landbirds in coniferous forests of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight (www.orwapif.org) and American Bird Conservancy and Klamath Bird Observatory.

Hutton’s Vireo (Vireo huttoni)
Habitat: Oak-Hardwood
Habitat Attribute: moderate subcanopy or shrub cover

Habitat Objectives (Sites)
Oak-Hardwood in the following conditions:

• canopy cover >50%
• subcanopy and/or shrub cover combined >60%

Population Objectives (Sites)

Target Densities in Suitable Habitat:

Puget Lowlands:
-North: >0.07 birds/ha (>0.03 birds/ac)
-South: >0.02 birds/ha (>0.01 birds/ac)

Willamette Valley:
-North: >0.03 birds/ha (>0.01 birds/ac)
-South: >0.06 birds/ha(>0.02 birds/ac)

Klamath Mountains:
-Umpqua: >0.06 birds/ha (>o.02 birds/ac)
-Rogue: >0.09 birds/ha (>0.04 birds/ac)

Citied Plans

Rockwell, S. M., J. L. Stephens, and B. Altman. 2022. Population and habitat objectives for landbirds in prairie, oak, and riparian habitats of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Prepared for Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service. Klamath Bird Observatory, Ashland, OR, and American Bird Conservancy, Corvallis, OR.

Forest Type: Klamath Mountains Mixed Conifer and Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forests
Habitat Attribute: Post-Wildfire

Habitat Objectives:
Sites: Maintain post-wildfire vegetation, especially deciduous shrub/tree vegetation, where opportunities exist or can be managed for with <20% live tree cover and a shrub-herbaceous (includes bare ground) cover ratio that is within a range of 30-70% for each parameter.

Habitat Conservation Strategies:

• Discontinue use of herbicides for deciduous tree and shrub control for species associated with deciduous vegetation in post-fire habitat.
• Restore fire as a management tool where ecologically appropriate.
• Maintain areas of unaltered post-fire habitat where regeneration can occur naturally.
• Retain and encourage the development of shrubs within post-fire habitat
• Minimize the impact to shrubs during management activities in post-fire habitat

Cited Plan

Altman, B. and J.D. Alexander. 2012. Habitat conservation for landbirds in coniferous forests of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight (www.orwapif.org) and American Bird Conservancy and Klamath Bird Observatory.

Habitat: Oak Savannah or Open Woodland
Habitat Attribute: moderate and patchy shrub cover

Habitat Objectives (Sites):
Oak Savannah or Open Woodland in the following conditions:

• canopy cover <40%
• shrub cover 20-50% with an interspersion of herbaceous areas

Population Objectives (Sites):

Target Densities in Suitable Habitat:

Puget Lowlands:
South: >0.10 birds/ha (>0.04 birds/ac)

Willamette Valley:
North: >0.13 birds/ha (>0.05 birds/ac)
South: >0.22 birds/ha (>0.09 birds/ac)

Klamath Mountains:
Umpqua: >0.65 birds/ha (>0.26 birds/ac)
Rogue: >0.60 birds/ha (>0.24 birds/ac)

Cited Plan

Rockwell, S. M., J. L. Stephens, and B. Altman. 2022. Population and habitat objectives for landbirds in prairie, oak, and riparian habitats of western Oregon and Washington. Version 2.0. Prepared for Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service. Klamath Bird Observatory, Ashland, OR, and American Bird Conservancy, Corvallis, OR.