Treesearch

The Breeding Bird Survey shows that certain Neotropical migrant songbird populations have been declining over the past 26 years. Among them are forest birds that require extensive forest on the breeding grounds and also forested habitats on tropical wintering grounds. Other species have shown significant declines only since the early 1980's. Birds with broader habitat tolerance, such as those that winter commonly in agricultural and early-successional habitats as well as primary forest, show fewer consistent declines. Several grassland species have also been declining for more than two...

Faced with major financial and manpower restrictions, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Nongame-Endangered Wildlife Program (NGEWP) is aggressively encouraging the private sector to participate in a broad spectrum of innovative neotropical bird-related research, survey, fund raising, management and educational activities. A key element in this initiative was the passage of landmark legislation that permits the purchase of low cost liability insurance for volunteers.

Merriam's turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) were introduced into South Dakota in the late 1940's and have since expanded to occupy the entire Black Hills. Because little is known of their habitat requirements and the effects of forest management practices on this important game species, macrohabitat selections patterns of Merriam's turkeys in the Black Hills, SD were studied. Habitat units of 3-32 ha were delineated and described with methods used by the Forest Service for assessing impacts of management activities on wildlife. Winter habitats of turkeys were ponderosa pine (Pinus...

Information about packstock use in wilderness in summarized. The results of a survey of managers of all wilderness areas are presented. Sections describe: the amount and composition of packstock use in wilderness, impacts associated with packstock use, methods for monitoring impacts caused by packstock, techniques for managing packstock in wilderness, examples of packstock management programs, and research needs.

Livestock grazing is a widespread and important influence on neotropical migratory birds in four major ecosystems in western North America: grasslands of the Great Plains and Southwest, riparian woodlands, Intermountain shrubsteppe, and open coniferous forests. We have reviewed available literature on avian responses to grazing in these habitats. Among 35 plains species for which data are available, 9 responded positively to grazing, 8 responded negatively, 8 showed a graded response, from generally negative in shorter grasslands to generally positive in taller grasslands, while 8 were...

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) currently participating in Partners in Flight have been monitoring bird populations in North America for decades. These regional organization have strong grass roots and private sector support and are able to conduct truly long term studies by using nontraditional funding sources and staffing with dedicated volunteers and personnel. NGOs are well positioned to provide the expertise needed to implement and maintain long term monitoring programs that are required to document normal and anthropogenic fluctuations in neotropical bird populations. An...

The ecology of Neotropical migrant landbirds in temperate farmland is reviewed to develop management recommendations for the conservation of migrants. Migrants constitute about 71% of bird species using farmland and 86% of bird species nesting there. The number and abundances of Neotropical migrants using farmland are greatest in uncultivated edges with trees and shrubless in uncultivated, grassed areas (grassed fencerows, waterways, terrace berms, road verges, and land set aside in the Conservation Reserve Program); and least in rowcrops. Causes of recent declines in abundance of farmland...

The USDA Forest Service (USFS) developed goals, objectives, and guidelines for monitoring neotropical migratory birds (NTMB) on National Forest System lands in response to the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Program Partners in Flight. A USFS task group developed a hierarchical monitoring framework designed to define priorities for type of monitoring data. Three levels of monitoring were defined to provide options because funding levels typically vary from Forest to Forest, and monitoring standards were defined for each level of monitoring. In addition, responsibilities for each...

The U.S. Army is responsible for managing 5.0 million ha (12.4 million acres) of land on 186 major installations world-wide. The Land Condition Trend Analysis (LCTA) Program is the Army's integrated monitoring and data collection program designed to fulfill the Army's natural resource information and management needs. implementation of this program was initiated in 1987, and over 50 installations nationwide have begun or plan to implement LCTA. This paper describes the LCTA approach to natural resource monitoring and provides examples of LCTA applications for monitoring neotropical...

In 1991, the Bureau of Land Management wrote its Nongame Migratory Bird Habitat Conservation Plan to guide implementation of Partners In Flight objectives on 270 million acres of public land in the U.S. Inventory and monitoring of neotropical migrants are the most important program goals because few bird data are available over large expanses of sparsely populated western lands. Nongame bird activities will mesh nicely with ongoing initiatives such as the Riparian-Wetlands, Watchable Wildlife, and Ecosystem Management. Impediments to success are the remoteness of many important habitats...