Is Management for Golden-winged Warblers and Cerulean Warblers Compatible?

Abstract

Conservation of species with high Partners in Flight concern scores may suggest management for apparently conflicting habitat needs on a given property or specific site, such as birds requiring early-successional vs. latersuccessional broadleaved forests. Two species of concern with distinctly different habitat needs provide a case study for consideration. Declining populations of Goldenwinged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera), which require early successional habitats, and Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea), a mature-forest breeder, each experience difficulties related to breeding habitats. Concern exists for Cerulean Warbler wintering habitat as well. Our responsibility for the conservation of both species includes resolving the dilemma of providing for their simultaneous occurrence in space or time. Approaches to this resolution are instructive for developing conservation strategies for these as well as other species. The questions (and their short answers) are: Are the habitat requirements of Cerulean and Golden-winged warblers compatible within the same property where their ranges overlap? (Yes) What role does disturbance play in the creation and maintenance of habitat for each species? (Its important role is better understood for Golden-winged Warbler.) Can we mimic beneficial forms of disturbance for these species through direct management? (Yes, and anthropogenic disturbance may substitute for "natural.") Is management of this sort compatible with commercial forestry and other ongoing forms of land use? (We believe it is.) Could events outside that region overwhelm conservation action within it? (Unfortunately, yes.).

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

Paul B. Hamel, Kenneth V. Rosenberg, David A. Buehler. 2005. Is Management for Golden-winged Warblers and Cerulean Warblers Compatible?. 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. 322-331