Integrated Migratory Bird Planning in a Corps of Engineers' Irrigation Project, Bayou Meto, Arkansas

Abstract

The Bayou Meto Agricultural Irrigation Project, in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, is currently being studied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in eastern Arkansas. As part of the planning process the Arkansas Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wrote a migratory bird management plan for the Bayou Meto project area. This plan addressed the needs of four bird groups: forest breeding birds, shorebirds, waterfowl, and wading and marsh birds. For the first three bird groups the plan applies the recommendations of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley Migratory Bird Initiative to the project area. The Mississippi Alluvial Valley Migratory Bird Initiative made quantified, landscape level recommendations for the habitat needs for these three bird groups. These habitat recommendations were "stepped down" to the Bayou Meto area. To conserve forest-breeding birds, we recommended reforestation of key tracts in the Big Ditch Forest Bird Conservation Area. This reforestation would also create habitat for wintering waterfowl. We recommended increasing shorebird habitat through a landowner incentive program to create mud flat habitat in dewatered aquiculture ponds during fall shorebird migration. Because the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan had not yet produced habitat recommendations useful for this area, we recommended surveys for wading and marsh birds. We need to know what species of secretive marsh birds are currently using the area before we can proceed to conservation recommendations. We also need to know the locations of wading bird breeding colonies to properly protect and manage them. This project shows how regional goals for priority bird species from various plans can be integrated during implementation at the local level.

Parent Publication

• Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference. 2002 March 20-24; Asilomar, California, Volume 1 and 2

Citation

Mueller, Allan J.; Dikeman, Hayley M.; Edwards, Thomas L.; Holbrook, Robert S.; Rowe, Karen L. 2005. Integrated Migratory Bird Planning in a Corps of Engineers'' Irrigation Project, Bayou Meto, Arkansas. In: Ralph, C. John; Rich, Terrell D., editors 2005. Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference. 2002 March 20-24; Asilomar, California, Volume 1 Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-191. Albany, CA: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: p. 86-92