BIRDCONSERVATION The Magazine of American Conservancy WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD’S EYE VIEW

Bird Conservation: ABC is dedicated to conserving and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on It's Time to Scale Up achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating write from row 31A of a flight In some cases, these habitat and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect from Washington, D.C. to improvements for birds carry Winter 2017-2018 I Seattle. As we head west, I minimal cost — and can even have habitats, eliminate threats, and build truly have a bird's eye view of the financial benefits for landowners. capacity for bird conservation. continent. What often strikes me Tree farmers, for example, can BIRDCONSERVATION on these flights is how the evidence manage land to benefit Golden- of human activity is so widespread winged Warblers by creating a A copy of the current financial statement and registration filed by the organization may be on the landscape below. It's strange more dynamic forest, and then obtained by contacting: ABC, P.O. Box 249, 12 What’s Troubling to feel so small as an individual, sell some of the timber to generate The Plains, VA 20198. 540-253-5780, or by contacting the following state agencies: while realizing how profoundly we income. The USDA’s Sage Grouse Greater Sage-Grouse? Florida: Division of Consumer Services, humans have changed the surface of Initiative, meanwhile, helps toll-free number within the state: the planet below across vast areas. We can turn around bird landowners in western states 800-435-7352. Maryland: For the cost of copies and postage: make their land more suitable for 18 Miners Target White-Bellied declines by bringing our Office of the Secretary of State, Statehouse, At this moment, the plane is pass- the Greater Sage-Grouse through Annapolis, MD 21401. Cinclodes' Ancient Turf ing over a lake obviously created by collective efforts to the management activities that also New Jersey: Attorney General, State a large dam; most everything else of New Jersey: 201-504-6259. improve forage for cattle. New York: Office of the Attorney General, is farmed, with irrigation circles challenge. Department of Law, Charities Bureau, How House Cats Took in the distance and what look like We know we need to do 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. 21 Pennsylvania: Department of State, two giant solar arrays close by. As more to reverse the declines toll-free number within the state: Over the World a conservationist, I can’t help but consider the im- in bird populations. ABC works throughout the 800-732-0999. pact these features on the landscape have on birds. hemisphere to achieve this goal, and this presents Virginia: State Division of Consumer Affairs, Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, us with both challenges and opportunities. The P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209. 24 Fire, Used Carefully, Can What if we harnessed our power to reshape the challenges are well-known: Countering habitat loss West Virginia: Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. Create Vital Habitat for Birds landscape through agriculture, energy development, and degradation, for example, and threats such as forestry, and ranching in a way designed to really Registration does not imply endorsement, pesticides, feral cats, and poorly sited wind turbines. approval, or recommendation by any state. scale up conservation for birds and wildlife? Bringing our collective efforts to the challenge Bird Conservation is the magazine of ABC and is published four times yearly for members. We certainly have the ability to do this. It is already — and providing incentives to scale up happening across significant acreage in parts of the conservation across the landscape — provides Senior Editor: Libby Sander VP of Communications: Clare Nielsen United States and Latin America, through work opportunities to turn around bird declines. And supported by Farm Bill programs such as the Sage Graphic Design: Gemma Radko it’s a process in which everyone can play a part. Contributors: Divya Abhat, Chris Grouse Initiative, Working Lands for Wildlife, and Farmer, Jane Fitzgerald, Brad Keitt, Larry DEPARTMENTS the Conservation Reserve Program, to name but a Heggemann, Rebecca Heisman, Jennifer few. These programs provide landowner incentives Howard, Steve Holmer, Michael Hutchins, Daniel Lebbin, Cheryl Mandich, Jack 2 Bird’s Eye View for conservation, and are showing there’s a sweet Morrison, Merrie Morrison, Hannah Nevins, spot that benefits both birds and land managers. Cynthia Palmer, Mike Parr, Grant Sizemore, Philip Tanimoto, Emily Jo Williams 4 On the Wire For more information contact: At ABC we refer to landscapes crucial for birds 30 Final Glimpse as BirdScapes. We work with land managers to Michael J. Parr, President American Bird Conservancy 4249 Loudoun Avenue, P.O. Box 249 determine what needs to be done to maximize habitat American Bird Conservancy Brad Keitt, Program Director for Oceans and Islands at ABC, The Plains, VA 20198 holding a Newell’s Shearwater that was moved to a predator-free value for birds, then we develop and implement 540-253-5780 • [email protected] enclosure in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge as part of an conservation programs using incentives to help effort to create a new, safe nesting colony. Photo by Nick Holmes Join us online! landowners put conservation plans into action.

TOP: Yellow-shouldered Blackbird. This endangered Puerto Rican ’ habitat was decimated by Hurricane Maria. Photo by Mike Morel, USFWS abcbirds.org BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 COVER: Greater Sage-Grouse by cjchiker, Shutterstock TOP: Greater Sage-Grouse by Pat Gaines 3

ON the WIRE Efforts in California and Congress Target Harmful Pesticides

Destructive Hurricane Season Affects Caribbean Birds n behalf of ABC, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mountain Plover by Jacob Spendelow environmental law banned neonic use on National Puerto Rican Parrot by Pablo Torres, USFWS urricanes Irma and Maria Oorganization Earthjustice Wildlife Refuge lands last year. tore across the Caribbean has petitioned the California Hand Florida in September, Fish and Game Commission to In other pesticide news, several taking a terrible toll on people and adopt a statewide prohibition U.S. senators have introduced a wildlife. From survey reports, ABC on the use of neonicotinoid bill to ban chlorpyrifos, a widely staff have been able to gather a few pesticides on the more than used pesticide that has been killing updates on some birds of concern. 1 million acres of wildlife birds and poisoning the environ- habitat under its jurisdiction. ment for the past half-century. The Irma reportedly caused thousands bill would prohibit all chlorpyrifos of deaths of American Flamingos Neonics are a relatively new class use by amending the federal law in the Cayo Coco Cays of of pesticides that are deadly to that oversees food safety. Chlor- stated that chlorpyrifos is likely Cuba. In Barbuda, our partner pollinators and other wildlife, pyrifos is related to sarin nerve to adversely affect 97 percent of BirdsCaribbean reported that including birds. Europe has gas and is used in production of all endangered wildlife, including habitat destruction on the island enacted a moratorium on the common crops such as strawber- more than 100 bird species listed was near-complete after that storm. use of neonics, and Canada has ries, apples, citrus, and broccoli. under the Endangered Species Act. Still, eight rare Barbuda Warblers proposed a nationwide ban on were sighted on the island in late the most widely used neonic, In addition to the pesticide’s Ready to take action against September. During a mid-October imidacloprid, given the risk it well-known threats to human pesticides? Urge your elected officials survey, BirdsCaribbean and poses to birds, insects, small health, ABC is concerned about to support the Saving America's partners counted more than 1,700 mammals, and other wildlife. In chlorpyrifos’ effects on birds, Pollinators Act, which suspends the surviving Magnificent Frigatebirds know via eBird reports that Black- Another species found only the U.S., many state legislatures including declining species such registration of neonics, in the House in hard-hit Codrington Lagoon. No capped Petrels were displaced in Puerto Rico, the Yellow- and companies, including Home as the Mountain Plover. A recent of Representatives; and the Protect Children, Farmers & Farmworkers West Indian Whistling- were by Irma and showed up far from shouldered Blackbird, numbers Depot and Walmart, are reining draft biological evaluation from the from Nerve Agent Pesticides Act, observed; however, additional their normal at-sea foraging only a few hundred individuals; in the use of neonics. The Environmental Protection Agency which bans chlorpyrifos, in the Senate. surveys and conservation grounds, with reports from inland the species’ coastal habitats were plans are in the works. Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. hard-hit by Maria. The species’ current status is unknown. Both Irma and Maria brought Other rare birds of Dominica ‘Poo-Poo Project’ Reaches Milestone significant damage to the island potentially impacted by Maria are In the southeastern U.S., of Dominica and probably to Imperial Parrot (endangered) and Audubon Florida reported that to Help Cavity-nesting Birds the Black-capped Petrels that are Red-necked Parrot. As we went Irma destroyed all 44 nests of the he Teton Raptor Center pipes, dryer vents, fence posts, old for the capping of open pipes on believed to nest there. We also to press, no surviving Imperial endangered Snail Kite around has reached a milestone in irrigation pipes, and chimneys. mine claims across the West.) Parrots had been reported, Lake Okeechobe. With only 130 its quest to protect cavity- (ABC has successfully advocated and only a few Red-necked nests statewide, the birds were T In 2010, the Teton Raptor Center nesting birds from entering vault Parrots had been observed. already having a bad year, and installed 100 screens on the ven- toilets — the type of self-contained this setback puts them in a tough tilation pipes of toilets in Grand Puerto Rico, meanwhile, was toilets found in many wilderness position for next breeding season. Teton National Park and other devastated by the storms. One areas — through the ventilation ABC’s programs in the Gulf natural areas. Three years later, the bright spot on the wildlife front pipes and becoming trapped. The region were directly affected by center created the Poo-Poo Project is the status of the rare Puerto Wyoming-based center has now the loss of fencing and signage and developed its own 12-inch Rican Parrot, which persists installed more than 10,000 screens to protect colonies of beach- “Poo-Poo Screen” to prevent wild- in two captive and two wild on vault toilets across all 50 states. nesting birds, including Least life entrapment on a national scale. populations. Captive birds and Terns and Black Skimmers. Each year thousands of cavity- at least a few wild parrots are For more information on the Poo-Poo nesters become trapped and die known to have survived. For more information, or to Project, or to purchase and install a in vertical open pipes such as Barbuda Warbler by Justin Dutcher help, visit BirdsCaribbean.org screen, visit tetonraptorcenter.org mining claim stakes, ventilation Elf Owls are a cavity-nesting species that will be helped by this project. Photo @Terry Sohl.

4 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 5

ON the WIRE

Camera Captures Cat Attack on Photo by Hob Osterlund Historic Program to Recover Whooping Cranes Ends

Endangered Hawaiian Gallinules federal program to breed to raise and reintroduce the birds. and reintroduce the Volunteers who cared for the pair of breeding Hawaiian Service (FWS) in partnership A Whooping Crane has ended birds would wear crane costumes Common Gallinules was with ABC. This predation on after decades of pioneering efforts to prevent chicks from becoming killed while sitting on their endangered birds represents a A to recover the endangered species. tame. And for a number of years, nest in a national wildlife refuge major setback for conservation The program, based at Patuxent the cranes would migrate from last spring, making them among efforts and is a reminder of the Wildlife Research Center, in Laurel, Wisconsin to Louisiana following the latest documented victims of dangers invasive create Md., was established in 1966, when an ultralight aircraft — an aspect feral cat predation on the Hawaiian for Hawai‘i’s native species. just 42 cranes survived. Today, of the program that ended in island of Kaua‘i. With no adults left roughly 500 Whooping Cranes 2015 when federal officials to tend the nest, the birds’ remain- The recent attacks are among the exist in the wild. All belong to one decided it wasn’t effective. ing three eggs and two hatchlings latest in a long line of killings of endangered Hawaiian birds by of four flocks; three of those grew did not survive. The incubating The closure of the breeding feral cats. Data collected by FWS out of the Patuxent program. parents of two more nests were and reintroduction program “is employees have documented at killed by the same feral cat between 2012 and 2014. Seabirds Funding for the program about budget cuts from above, least 252 suspected cat kills of in following weeks; six more eggs are similarly at risk, especially dried up in September, and and it is very sad to see,” Mike Hawaiian Common Gallinule, subsequently failed to hatch. while in the nest. Feral cats were the 75 captive birds are being Parr, President of ABC, told the Hawaiian Coot, Hawaiian Black- suspected in the deaths of 22 relocated to other facilities. Washington Post. “I would suggest The incidents were captured necked Stilt, Hawaiian , Laysan Albatross chicks during this is a very poor example of a A volunteer dressed as an adult crane feeds a on remote cameras installed and Pacific Golden-Plover in a 3-week period in 2015. The program, widely considered to Whooping Crane chick. Photo by Kathleen place that the federal government O'Malley, USGS by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge be a model of wildlife conservation, should try to save money.” used some innovative techniques

Plan to Shrink National Monuments Groups Cite Inadequacies in Environmental Assessment Jeopardizes Habitat for Threatened Birds for Proposed Lake Erie Wind Energy Project review of National for the federally listed Northern The charismatic Great Gray Owl ird conservation groups are Lake Erie Energy Development location approximately seven miles Monument designations Spotted Owl. The monument and many other species could also challenging an industry- Corporation, or LEEDCo, the from the Lake Erie shoreline, in a Aby the U.S. Department also provides important habitat lose important habitat if the size supported environmental consortium developing the project. Globally Important Bird Area. Five of the Interior has produced connectivity for the species by of the monument is reduced. “The B assessment of Lake Erie’s first recent advanced radar studies by recommendations that, if enacted, protecting a mountain ridge monument area, especially the offshore wind project because “Based on our exhaustive review the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would reduce protection of that connects populations in expansion areas around Howard of numerous inadequacies in of the EA, we see no evidence to have recorded vast numbers of important habitat for species listed the Coast and Cascade ranges. Prairie Lake and Grizzly Peak, is both science and process. Ohio’s support the claim that the project migratory birds and bats within under the Endangered Species famous among West Coast birders Black Swamp Bird Observatory poses little risk to birds and bats,” five to 10 miles of the Great Lakes Act. These recommendations as perhaps the easiest place to see (BSBO) and ABC reject the said Kimberly Kaufman, BSBO’s shorelines, including Lake Erie, would also threaten areas this species,” said Pepper Trail, assessment’s claim that the Executive Director. “In fact, having many flying within the rotor- now being conserved for their the Conservation Chair of the planned Icebreaker wind energy conducted more than 30 years of swept area of wind turbines. historic, cultural, and overall Rogue Valley Audubon Society. facility would have little to no migratory bird research along Lake environmental importance. Erie, we believe the six-turbine In addition, the assessment ignores “Mountain meadow habitats impact on birds and bats, citing Icebreaker project would pose a new data from Kirtland’s Warblers One of the targeted monuments is around Hyatt and Howard Prairie the critical importance of Lake significant threat to wildlife — not fitted with radio transmitters, the 112,928-acre Cascade-Siskiyou Lakes used by Great Gray Owls Erie to migratory birds such as the to mention substantially increased which show that the species uses National Monument in Oregon for hunting are also important endangered Kirtland’s Warbler. impacts that would be triggered by the airspace of central Lake Erie and California. Created in 2000 nesting areas for Sandhill Cranes The draft environmental the planned expansion of the proj- almost exclusively for its fall and expanded in 2017, Cascade- and the sharply declining Oregon assessment (EA), prepared by the ect to more than 1,000 turbines.” migration. The site selected for the Siskiyou is the only monument Vesper Sparrow,” he said. U.S. Department of Energy and Icebreaker project turbines could created specifically to conserve the Army Corps of Engineers, The organizations have identified put the entire world population biodiversity, including habitat was based on several studies several major concerns. Among of this rare species at risk. conducted by consultants to the them are the proposed site’s

Great Gray Owl by Peter Krejzl, Shutterstock BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 7

Daily. By providing detailed Marine Plastic a Major Eastern Meadowlark by Betty Rizzotti Butterfly Group to Sue BIRDS in BRIEF data, maps, and outreach tools, Threat to Seabirds Over Border Wall Plan the new website facilitates A report in the journal Environ- The North American Butterfly Rare Hawaiian Seabirds information-sharing between mental Pollution recently high- Association has filed a notice Moved to Safe Enclosure communities that steward im- lighted the threat marine plastic of intent to sue the federal portant sites along the migra- Conservationists have relocated pollution poses to seabirds in the government over its proposal to tory routes of Arctic shorebirds. 18 Newell’s Shearwater and 20 northeastern Atlantic region. Re- build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico Hawaiian Petrel chicks from their The site focuses on Semipal- searchers found that nearly three- border. The organization says mountain burrows to a safe enclo- mated Sandpiper and Red Knot, quarters of the 34 seabird species the border wall would harm the sure in Kilauea National Wildlife two migratory bird species that investigated have ingested plastic. National Butterfly Center (NBC), Refuge in recent months as part Megan Dalton of Pacific Rim Conservation breed in the Arctic and stop to its flagship project along the banks The paper’s authors collated data of an ongoing effort to establish moving a Hawaiian Petrel chick to a new rest at a select number of sites in of the Rio Grande, as well as a burrow. Photo by Brad Keitt from all known studies reporting a predator-free colony for the Canada, Mexico, and the United vital wildlife conservation corridor instances of plastic ingestion seabirds. Scientists hope the en- States during their migration. in South Texas. NBC Executive closed area, which is protected by a Hawai‘i. The birds are virtually and nest incorporation in Hook-billed Kite by Roger Ahlman Visit the website for this new online predator-proof fence, will become gone from the islands of Lana‘i, seabirds around northern Europe, Farm Bill Works for resource: nashorebirds.org a productive breeding site for the O‘ahu, Moloka‘i, and from west Scandinavia, Russia, Greenland, Landowners and Birds Maui, while the population on Semipalmated Sandpiper by Erni, Shutterstock endangered petrels and threat- Svalbard, the Faroes, and Iceland. The federal Farm Bill is America’s Kaua‘i is in steep decline. Non- ened shearwaters. The project single largest source of conserva- native avian malaria, carried “The production of plastic contin- was decades in the making before tion funding for private lands. by invasive mosquitoes, is the ues to rise, with millions of tons scientists began moving chicks in For farmers, ranchers, and forest primary driver in the decline entering the oceans each year,” 2015. The effort is the result of a owners, the bill provides a safety of the ‘I‘iwi populations, and said Nina O’Hanlon, a seabird collaboration among many organi- net that helps keep working has already caused the extinc- ecologist at the Environmental zations, including ABC, Pacific Rim lands from being developed. Research Institute in Thurso, Conservation, Kaua‘i Endangered tion and decimation of dozens U.K., and one of the scientists As the 2018 Farm Bill is debated Seabird Recovery Project, the U.S. of other Hawaiian forest birds. who worked on the project. for reauthorization in Congress, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the the State of the Birds Report 2017, Director Marianna Trevino Wright National Fish and Wildlife Foun- “Seabirds can ingest plastic, released in August by the North said that if the wall is built, the dation. To date, 76 seabird chicks become entangled in it, or in- American Bird Conservation Initia- center would lose two-thirds of have been moved to the new site. corporate it into their nests, tive, called attention to the bene- the land it has invested more causing impacts which may fits of investing in conservation on than 15 years in restoring for For the full list of partners, and to have negative consequences on watch a video about the seabirds’ ABC President Talks Birds private lands. These lands make up butterflies and other native species. reproduction and survival.” haven on the coast, visit abcbirds. on BirdCalls Radio nearly 70 percent of the land area This news brief courtesy of The area is also vitally important org/video-hawaiian-petrels-journey ABC President Mike Parr made two in the contiguous United States. Birdwatching Daily for many priority birds, including Population in Steep recent appearances on BirdCalls The report found that for more Hook-billed Kite, Elf Owl, Red- Decline, ‘I‘iwi Gains Radio to discuss a wide range of than three decades, the Farm crowned Parrot, Red-billed topics related to birds and bird Federal Protection Bill has been an effective tool Pigeon, and Tropical Parula, conservation, including migration;

‘I‘iwi by Warren Cooke for wildlife conservation, sus- and ABC has been closely The iconic ‘I‘iwi, once one of the New Resource to Support bird tourism; habitat challenges taining essential habitat for monitoring developments in most common forest birds in the Shorebird Conservation in the east and west; and current more than 100 bird species. the border wall proposal. Hawaiian Islands, will now be

policy threats involving Greater Tropical Parula by Greg Homel Read the full report: protected as a threatened species The Commission for Environ- Sage-Grouse, the pesticide chlor- stateofthebirds.org/2017 under the Endangered Species mental Cooperation, an intergov- pyrifos, and a proposed border Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife ernmental collaboration among wall between the U.S. and Mexico Service determined that listing was Canada, Mexico, and the United that would harm critical habitat in warranted in September. Ninety States, has launched an online Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. resource to support the conserva- percent of the ‘I‘iwi population is Have a listen: tion of migratory shorebirds at key now confined to a narrow band birdcallsradio.com/ Stomach contents of an albatross that died of forest on East Maui and the North American stopover sites, episode-101-mike-parr from plastic ingestion. Photo by Steven Siegel, Marine Photobank windward slopes of the island of according to BirdWatching birdcallsradio.com/ episode-103-mike-parr-abc-part-2

8 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 9 HOME Whether nesting, feeding, migrating, or wintering, birds depend on healthy landscapes to survive. But as habitat is degraded, it’s getting harder for them to find these havens. Meanwhile, threats such as collisions with glass and wind turbines, deadly pesticides, and free-roaming cats compound the problem.

Thanks to supporters like you, ABC has a proven track record of protecting and restoring some of the most important and irreplaceable bird habitats, as well as tackling the most serious threats to birds. Right now we have an unprecedented is where the habitat is. opportunity to do even more, thanks to our Home is Where the Habitat Is campaign. Between now and December 31, we Your donation will help ABC protect vital habitats, including: aim to raise $1 million for birds, and we need your help. Several • Grasslands from the Northern Great Plains to the Chihuahuan generous supporters have already contributed $500,000 Desert in Mexico, which Baird’s Sparrow and Long-billed toward our goal. Curlew call home;

Will you make an extra gift today to help us match them? • Latin American habitats, where we work with local communities to protect some of the rarest birds on Earth;

• In Hawai’i, where we are planting native trees for declining honeycreepers such as Palila, and creating new protected areas for Newell’s Shearwater and Laysan Albatross; and

• Young forests in the Great Lakes and the Appalachians, where our work with partners is creating and managing thousands of acres of habitat for Golden-winged Warbler, American Woodcock, and other priority species.

Donate today to help us make sure that birds find healthy homes and habitat wherever they go. Please don't delay: our Home is Where the Habitat Is campaign ends December 31.

Please use the enclosed envelope to make an additional gift, or give online at abcbirds.org.

Boreal forest habitat. Art by Chris Vest

TOP: Hawaiian habitat. Art by Chris Vest WHAT’S NEXT FOR GREATER SAGE-GROUSE?

Across the West, plans to save the grouse face an uncertain future The Greater Sage-Grouse is the largest species of only half of its former range. The bird’s range has grouse in North America. This striking bird, which shrunk, too, from 14 western states to 11, largely Lewis and Clark called the Cock of the Plains, relies due to energy development, crop conversion, habitat By Divya Abhat on vast swaths of sagebrush habitat across the western fragmentation, invasive species, and wildfires. United States. Without sagebrush, it simply can’t For more than a decade, conservationists have been “If we have a patch with a lot of sage-grouse on it, survive. Because the birds use such a wide landscape y Checketts raises more than 700 Angus pushing for greater protections for the bird’s sage- I don’t put my cows there during lekking time,” for food and shelter, they’re also considered an cattle on his 50,000-acre ranch in northeast brush home. Private landowners like Checketts are Checketts says, referring to the grouse’s elaborate “umbrella” species: Healthy habitat for sage-grouse TWyoming. But he also pays close attention part of the solution. But their efforts alone won’t be mating displays. That’s when males form in groups, means a healthy landscape for mule deer, pronghorn, to the dozens of Greater Sage-Grouse that live on enough: Most of the grouse’s remaining range is on or leks, and strut for the females, fanning their spiky Sage Thrashers, and more than 350 other species. his land. Checketts has affixed reflective markers to vast tracts of public lands managed by the federal gov- tails and inflating and deflating their throat sacs to barbed-wire fences to deter sage-grouse from flying But the sage-grouse is in trouble. Populations have ernment and used for a variety of activities, including produce a popping sound. Checketts considers himself into them. He’s preparing to install solar pumps in plummeted from an estimated 16 million prior to hiking, fishing, camping, and grazing of livestock. a conservationist; he loves the grouse and the many place of his windmills, which should protect grouse European settlement to fewer than 300,000 today. species of sagebrush country. “Our main priority from predatory raptors that use the windmills as perch The sagebrush ecosystem the bird depends on — “For the bird to rebound,” says Steve Holmer, Vice is cattle,” he says. “But by taking care of the cattle sites. And he moves his cattle around more, avoid- expansive, treeless landscapes teeming with sagebrush, President of Policy at ABC, “it needs healthy, contigu- and the rangeland, that helps all these species.” ing certain pastures when the birds are present. wildflowers, and native grasses — is considered ous habitat on these public lands. And that habitat one of the most imperiled in the U.S., covering should be enhanced by sustainable management Greater Sage-Grouse by Noppadol Paothong

12 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 13 practices — much like the ones that private landown- the federal conservation plans. “The epic conservation Sportsmen, business owners, ers use on tens of thousands of acres of private lands.” effort will benefit westerners and hundreds of Western elected officials, and con- species that call this iconic landscape home, servationists all invested years of Plans in Jeopardy while giving states, businesses and communities work and substantial resources the certainty they need to plan for sustainable into developing the existing The Greater Sage-Grouse’s population hit an all-time economic development,” Jewell said at the time. plans, Holmer continues. “Now, low in the 1990s. That’s when conservation groups we’re all speaking with a common began pushing to have the bird listed under the The department also promised that future message: Give the grouse manage- Endangered Species Act. States began mobilizing, development would be fully mitigated and that the ment plans a chance to work.” too, to try to conserve the grouse without a listing. most important grouse habitats would be protected When a species is protected by federal law, a from potential mining. And if grouse populations Price of Conservation variety of restrictions on land- continued to decline, the plans use practices typically follow, Wyoming is home to more than In early October, the new would be strengthened. raising fears of hurting local rural a third of the entire sage-grouse economies. A collaboration was Interior Secretary, Ryan But now, under a new population. Conservation policies born: Over the past several years, administration, conservationists there have tried to focus on federal agencies, conservationists, Zinke, announced major say those promises have been managing important areas for private landowners, and energy abandoned, and the future of sage-grouse to prevent the bird’s industry representatives rolled changes to sage-grouse the federal plans is uncertain. numbers from dropping further. up their sleeves to develop management on federal In early October, the new With energy development, for conservation plans that would Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, instance, the state allows an protect the bird and its habitat land that would allow for announced major changes to average of only one well pad while still allowing certain land- sage-grouse management on for every 640 acres in areas that use practices to continue. increased energy extraction. federal land that would allow for contain large populations of increased energy extraction. grouse — a limit that’s believed to “The plans for federal lands in each help curb population declines. state required a lengthy development period and a Conservationists fear some of these changes could great deal of compromise. We will need to measure be devastating for the species. Plans targeting The state is also grappling with their effectiveness over time and with adequate habitat protection for the grouse on public lands the spread of cheatgrass. This monitoring,” says Mike Parr, President of ABC. “The were put in place just two years ago, ABC’s Holmer invasive weed has taken over plans all have the same core concept, which is avoiding says. Weakening the plans puts the grouse at millions of acres of sagebrush development in areas that are important for grouse.” grave risk of further population declines — and steppe habitat in the Great Basin threatens the future of an entire region, he says. and tends to increase the fre- In 2015, the Department of the Interior announced “With the future of sage-grouse at risk, we need to quency and intensity of wild- it would not list the Greater Sage-Grouse under the make sure the success we’ve observed on private fires. Because sagebrush doesn’t Endangered Species Act. The key to the grouse’s future, lands is what we strive for on public lands.” former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said, would be RIGHT: Greater Sage-Grouse and fracking rig. Photo by Gerrit Vyn

Sagebrush Sparrow This medium- Brewer’s Sparrow The smallest North Much like the sage grouse, Birds of the sized sparrow is found mostly on the American sparrow, the Brewer’s fragmentation and loss of sagebrush Sagebrush Country ground or hidden in shrubs. Research Sparrow is considered an especially habitat is a key threat to this published in the Journal of Wildlife sensitive species. Reports show that bird. Research shows that these Meet a few of the birds Management showed that Sagebrush the bird has been steadily declining sparrows are more abundant that, like Greater Sage- Sparrows and Brewer’s Sparrows over the last few decades despite near large sage-grouse leks, declined significantly in Wyoming’s once being among the most abundant suggesting that conservation of Grouse, depend on this Upper Green Basin as the number birds in the large area known as the breeding habitat for sage-grouse unique habitat to survive. of natural gas wells in the area Intermountain West, which stretches could also benefit this sparrow. increased, suggesting that the region’s from Washington to Colorado. songbirds could also be affected by increased energy development. Photo by Tim Zurowski, Shutterstock Photo by Greg Lavaty

14 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 15 typically burn so frequently and takes decades to It’s not just sage-grouse that could potentially recover from these intense fires, weeds quickly take suffer as a result of these changes; other birds that over the land. The grouse can’t access the nutritious rely on a healthy sage habitat would lose out, plants and grasses it needs to survive. Wyoming too. And it’s too soon to modify the 2015 plans, has responded to this threat by mapping out areas says Emily Jo Williams, ABC’s Vice President of affected by cheatgrass, spraying herbicides, and Migratory Birds and Habitats. “It took many years re-seeding the affected areas with native plants. to work through and get those plans in place and the certainty they provided is now at risk.” Farther north, particularly in Montana and the Dakotas, sage-grouse are losing habitat to wheat Conservation measures can come at a price, however. SGI also served as a foundation for another key part- For now, it’s a waiting game. Federal officials are fields. Large belts of land in the region are also used Although many ranchers are good stewards of the land, nership with landowners, NRCS’s Working Lands for seeking public comments on changes to the grouse for ranching. Many ranchers have been responsive they often can’t afford these conservation measures on Wildlife — a $33 million collaboration among NRCS, plans; an environmental impact assessment will to calls to help the grouse. Peter Garrett, whose their own. State and federal agencies have a number the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, farmers, ranch- then follow. It will be years before any changes 80,000-acre ranch near Casper, Wyo., is home to of funding opportunities in place for sage-grouse and ers, and forest landowners across the country. This take root. And conservationists say they anticipate one of the largest populations of grouse in the area, sagebrush conservation and management. Garrett, voluntary wildlife conservation initiative, started lengthy legal challenges to any rollbacks of the says he used to get nervous when talk of listing the for instance, has relied on the Wyoming Game and in 2012, helps landowners implement sustainable federal plans. ABC’s Holmer sees this as a critical sage-grouse first surfaced 20 years ago. But in the Fish Department for financial incentives; Checketts agricultural practices that also benefit wildlife. moment for the grouse — and the region. decades since, he has been part of a local working partners with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s group that identifies and implements sustain- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). One Bird, Many Plans “The Greater Sage-Grouse is an amazing bird, but able land-use practices. Over the years, Garrett has this is about more than saving a single species,” he Many of these conservation incentive programs sprayed cheatgrass, installed fences, and rotates his NRCS’ Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) is the most says. “It’s about maintaining our public lands for for private landowners are financed through the cattle from pasture to pasture. He now believes the prominent collaborative effort to protect sage- future generations and ensuring there will still be federal Farm Bill, and should be unaffected by the conservation projects have helped his business. grouse and manage its habitat. Started in 2010, it wide open spaces. It’s about knowing that if we work involves an array of players, including federal and recent announcements from the Interior Depart- together to accomplish a shared vision — as hundreds Jewell Reed is another landowner who feels state agencies, conservation groups, and private ment. But it’s unclear what the agency’s review have done to prevent the Greater Sage-Grouse from the same way. She raises cattle and sheep on landowners. NRCS will spend roughly $760 million on will mean for the grouse on public lands. Many disappearing — our collective voice will be heard. her 20,000-acre ranch in Wyoming, about the initiative through 2018. States have contributed are uneasy about what they’ve learned so far. And it’s about trusting that any plan we’ve developed 80 miles from the South Dakota border. as well, spending about $60 million in 2016 on together is given the chance to prove its worth.” “We’re concerned about the Secretary’s interest sage-grouse management and conservation. “It is conserving our livelihood,” she says of the and emphasis on sage-grouse numbers as sustainable land-use practices. “If we’re on this land Since its inception, the SGI has worked with almost opposed to managing habitat,” says Tom Divya Abhat is a freelance writer based in the Washington, D.C. area. She has written about and we deplete it and don’t put anything back, after 1,500 ranchers across the 11 western states in the Christiansen, Sage Grouse Program Coordinator wildlife, the environment, and scientific research a while there’s nothing there to feed our livestock, grouse’s range, says Thad Heater, Coordinator for with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. and discovery for the Atlantic, Smithsonian which is our business. After all, that’s where our money the Sage Grouse Initiative. “We’ve put 5.6 million “We’re not interested in seeing a wholesale magazine, and NPR, among other outlets. comes from — eventually it’s in the grass. So if we acres of voluntary conservation on the landscape change or starting the process over again.” don’t take care of the land, it won’t take care of us.” with these ranchers and partners,” he says.

TOP: Cattle roundup by Todd Classy, Shutterstock

Sage Thrasher This species is con- Gray Flycatcher This small bird typi- Ferruginous Hawk The largest sidered at risk largely due to loss of or cally occurs in open areas, particularly of North American hawks, this damage to its breeding habitat caused in the Great Basin. Considered a sen- species is found in open areas by oil and gas development, agricul- sitive species in Washington State by of the West, including arid ture, and the spread of invasive plants. the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of grasslands, sagebrush steppe, Land Management, it relies on sage- and pinyon-juniper woodlands. A recent study by researchers at brush plains and benefits from main- the University of Wyoming showed tenance not only of sagebrush but This hawk preys on Greater Sage- that gas fields in western Wyoming also of juniper and pinyon pines that Grouse, so also suffers from loss or tend to attract rodents, which prey serve as nesting and feeding habitat. degradation of sagebrush habitat. on the nests of Sage Thrashers and other sagebrush-obligate birds, resulting in population declines. Photo by Mike Parr Photo by fliglht1, Shutterstock Photo by Glenn Tepke

16 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 17 of brilliant lime-green mixed with Together with my ECOAN Pushed to the Edge high-elevation grasses in a treeless colleagues, I recently visited I raised my camera to document wonderland, all set before the back- the bofedal near Ticlio Pass, a this illegal activity and was spotted drop of the snow-capped Andes. few hours east of Lima, off the by the men, who quickly dropped main highway toward Huancayo. their work and hiked angrily over A Mining Target We were pretty sure we would to me. “No saca fotos” (“Don’t find the White-bellied Cinclodes No other bird is tied so exclusively take photos”), they demanded. here, because it has long been to the bofedales as the White- High in the Andes, Turf Mining a reliable site for this species. bellied Cinclodes. In evolutionary I explained that my friends and I were there to watch the local time, by capitalizing on these We did not expect what else we birds. One man exclaimed that Threatens Rare Birds’ Habitat habitats, this species was able found. Just across the valley, on there were no birds in the area to survive better in this sparse the adjacent hillside, there was and that we should go elsewhere setting than by competing with a large dump truck filled high to look for birds. It was clear they the many species that dominate with rectangular, foot-thick knew their activity was illegal more productive habitats. chunks of the ancient turf. A and were afraid of being outed. crew of laborers carried a steady For most of the time since the end These robbers had no claim to stream of turf blocks on their of the last ice age, the cushion either the land or its resources. backs, up a steep wooden ramp bogs have grown unimpeded, to the top of the truck, where allowing a slow, steady build- To calm the situation, I said, “Hola they piled them ever higher. up of peat formed by the dead amigos,” extended my hand, and layer of roots that refuse to decay remarked on the difficulty of their in the cold, wet bofedal. Today, No other bird is tied so work. “Que duro es tu trabajo!” that peat is the target of illegal (“Your work is so tough!”) To my miners who chop out great blocks exclusively to the bofedales surprise, they shook my hand in and haul it away in trucks. greeting. Satisfied that my ECOAN as the White-bellied colleagues and I posed no threat, Bofedales are protected by Cincolodes, a critically they returned to loading the big Peruvian law. They are formally truck with turf, and I continued recognized as fragile ecosystems endangered species found capturing their work on camera. where mining, mining explora- By Philip Tanimoto as I discovered on a recent trip snowmelt is channeled through tion, and roads are prohibited. only in Peru. In the distance, at the edge to Peru with colleagues from isolated valleys, enabling the es- of the mined-out section f the more than 10,000 But the laws are not enforced. the environmental nonprofit tablishment of what are known species of birds on the group ECOAN, an ABC partner. as “cushion bogs.” These tree- planet, less than a quarter O Turf miners are carving up this less ecological communities are of 1 percent are considered unique ecosystem and carting it off. made up of native grasses and critically endangered. These species moss-like plants called Distichia are often restricted to unique and To understand what’s at stake, it muscoides, actually a type of rare habitats that are susceptible helps to know more about this rush, that lives in green colonies to human disturbance. One unique habitat. Bofedales comprise of millions of individuals yet such species, the White-bellied an ecosystem so stark and sensi- reaches only half an inch tall. Cinclodes, makes its home high tive that the effects of peat mining in the Peruvian Andes, in sensitive could last for hundreds or even These colonies endure nightly wetlands known as bofedales. thousands of years. Of the 13 cin- freezes virtually all year round, clodes species, all found in South burial by snow, prolonged satura- Now numbering as few as 200 America, the White-bellied occurs tion, and intense UV radiation. individuals, this boldly colored at by far the highest elevations — They form lens-shaped pads, up to species looks much like a striking between 14,400 and 18,000 feet. several feet across, often separated chestnut-and-white mockingbird. from each other by crystalline rivu- The high-elevation wetlands that At those elevations, scattered at lets of alpine snowmelt. The pads are its home are highly vulnerable, the base of rocky crags and peaks, form an irregular, expansive carpet OPPOSITE PAGE: Ancient turf dug up by miners. Photo by Philip Tanimoto ABOVE: White-bellied Cinclodes by Fabio Olmos. RIGHT: Illegal turf mining in progress. Photo by Philip Tanimoto 18 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 19 of bofedal, we saw three White- projects, and llamas and alpacas bellied Cinclodes — perhaps — whose soft feet won’t tear up well over 1 percent of the the cushion bogs the way cows’ global population — trying hooves do — can be an alternative to survive, as the majority of source of income generation. their turf had already been hauled out. These birds, whose In addition, Peru has a great, feeding strategy focuses on small unused resource that could arthropods that use the green substitute for the use of peat as plants, had been pushed to the a planting medium: coconut edges of the mud to forage. fiber. ABC is investigating the potential for establishing a coconut A Fragile Ecosystem in Peril fiber industry where none now exists. In the coming years, As a bird conservation specialist, ABC also plans to work closely my hackles were way up. I asked with ECOAN to promote law my colleagues how this blatant enforcement, increase community theft of habitat for a critically vigilance, and take preventive endangered species could be measures to keep illegal peat happening without restriction. I miners out of community land. learned that these chunks of turf are used as a growing medium If successful, ABC’s and ECOAN’s for houseplants, at nurseries in effort will benefit more than just Peru’s massive capital city of the White-bellied Cinclodes. Beloved and Deadly, Cats are more than 10 million residents. The beautiful Andean , Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, Andean My colleagues pointed to the Snipe, White-fronted Ground- the ‘Lion in the Living Room' need for community involvement Tyrant, Andean Lapwing, to prevent this kind of illegal Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, By Jennifer Howard exploitation on community lands. and a suite of other species, There was no chain across the also use these cushion bogs. access road, no sign declaring the What is it about cats? They purr and cuddle up to us on our laps. But they also hunt turf off-limits to miners. To make Witnessing the destruction of birds and small mammals to the brink of extinction. Whether house cats are turning matters worse, bofedales are often the bofedal at Ticlio was a pivotal entire ecosystems upside down or starring in misguided attempts at rat control, grazed by cows, whose hooves moment for me. The White-bellied break apart the Distichia pads, Cinclodes is emblematic of the one thing is consistently true: Cats rarely do what we expect of them. leaving muddy holes. fragile beauty of the bofedales. But if we don’t curtail illegal In her book The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Luckily, there are ways to peat mining, the White-bellied Took Over the World, author Abigail Tucker, a correspondent for Smithsonian address these threats: Mining Cinclodes will disappear. companies are often amenable magazine, explores the fascinating history of these “global overlords” from to collaborating on conservation prehistoric times to the age of Instagram. Tucker recently answered a few questions from ABC about her book, which is now out in paperback. Philip Tanimoto has been engaged in conservation science projects domestically and abroad since the 1980s. He has a special interest in the conservation of tropical montane cloud forest and, since 2007, Jennifer Howard: What role did life forms. At his peak, Cheetoh has spearheaded forest conservation at Cerro Amay, Guatemala. your cat, Cheetoh, play in the weighed more than 20 pounds. His At ABC, Philip works with Latin American and Caribbean partners development of this book? size forced me to see how much Birds of the cushion bog, from top: White-bellied to protect some of the rarest birds in the Western Hemisphere. house cats look and even act like Cinclodes by Luke Seitz; Diademed Sandpiper-Plover; Abigail Tucker: Cheetoh, my Gray-breasted Seedsnipe; Andean Geese; Andean big cats, and so I started to wonder: furry orange muse, made me see Lapwing by Glenn Bartley why are there nearly a billion these familiar pets as formidable

20 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 TOP: Graphic by Briana Hunter, Shutterstock BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 21 Cheetohs strolling the planet are charismatic hypercarnivores JH: What does it mean, exactly, We create a similar situation when Feral cat and kittens on O’ahu by Chris Farmer today when so many wild cats, like that exist at the tippy-top of the for a cat to be domesticated? we feed pet cats canned food and tigers and jaguars, are dying out? food chain. It’s rare that an then let them go out hunting. AT: It means their bodies and typically the culprits. What’s more, with such finicky eating habits Cat populations don’t reflect local brains have gone through a per- humans are also exposed to toxo- Cheetoh’s personality was even would be able to survive in alien prey populations. They reflect manent metamorphosis in human plasmosis from eating unwashed more astonishing than his actual environments, and that humans local can-opener populations. company. House cats have smaller vegetables (cats poop a lot in size. His brazen bossiness helped would intentionally chauffeur brains than their wild counterparts, gardens) or rare meat at dinner. me understand that the key to the the invading critter around. JH: Are species ever at risk of domestic cat’s staggering global and the shrinkage seems to be in extinction from cat predation? JH: Where do you see our success has much to do with the JH: We’re in thrall to house the part of the brain associated AT: Absolutely. Cats can do tre- relationship with cats going way they’ve adapted to human cats as pets. Domesticated with fear. This inherited boldness helps cats, as hunters, perform in mendous damage, especially to in the coming decades? company over the millennia. or not, they’re also super- island ecosystems, where they stressful environments — our cities AT: House cat populations are predators. What makes may contribute to or cause the JH: Cats are such a familiar part and suburbs. Disturbances that exploding — rising at the rate of cats so good at hunting? extinctions of small mammals, of our lives that many people discourage other predators don’t Cats can do tremendous a million cats per year in some AT: All three dozen species of birds, and reptiles. Carnivorous don’t realize they are an in- necessarily bother house cats. countries. Although cats have feline are standout hunters, from predators like house cats are rare vasive species. Where did cats damage, especially to island wreaked havoc in some parts of sand cats to clouded leopards, and But there’s a twist. Although house on islands. Prey animals there come from, and how did they the world, my appreciation for house cats are no different. With cats have these smaller brains, may exhibit “island tameness” ecosystems, where they spread to so many places? these animals, and their ability their otherworldly hearing and they lack other physical hallmarks and lack defense strategies or even may contribute to or cause to survive in all circumstances, AT: House cats hail from the Near eyesight and fabulous athleticism, of domestication that you see in fear itself. Some scientists say that has only increased as I’ve learned East, where a little over 10,000 they are quintessential stalk-and- most domesticated animals — like across the entire continent of Aus- the extinctions of small more about them. In a sense, I find years ago their wildcat ancestors ambush predators. Of course, floppy ears, curly tails, and smaller tralia, feral house cats are more it totally refreshing that humans sidled up to our firesides and house cats are especially formida- teeth. Despite their personality threatening to local mammals than mammals, birds, are entangled in an interspecies slipped into our mud huts, helping ble because they eat such a broad changes, on the outside house cats habitat loss, which is staggering and reptiles. relationship that we can’t quite themselves to our meat scraps. diet, including more than a thou- don’t look much different from to contemplate. Hawai‘i — home make sense of, and where we As early as 9,000 B.C., humans sand species, from grasshoppers wild cats. Scientists think that cats to lots of rare, slow-breeding aren’t necessarily in control. started toting cats along on sea to wallabies. Some of their wild have only been domesticated to a birds — suffers from similar prob- cornucopia of health conditions, Humans are accustomed to using voyages. So we ended up ferrying cousins, on the other hand, focus degree, and that the process is still lems. The effects on the American from schizophrenia to road rage. animals, especially domesticated them everywhere. And once they on only one type of prey animal. ongoing. This unusual semi-do- mainland are still being studied. animals, for cold, self-interested reached a far-flung destination, cats mesticated status may be another Most people don’t understand purposes, and for once that’s not were perfectly capable of jumping But I think a more complete boon for cats as hunters. As cuddly JH: What are your impres- how the disease spreads. Obste- the case here. We increasingly see ship and fending for themselves, answer lies in this tricky idea of as they can act, they seemingly sions of Toxoplasma gondii? Is tricians warn pregnant women cats as furry family members or invading new ecosystems. domestication. Whether or not haven’t lost their wild hunting in- it really a health concern? not to scoop kitty litter boxes, for instance, because toxoplas- Instagram stars. But it’s vital to they technically live in houses, stincts to the extent that dogs and AT: Cats have infected an estimat- Most invasive species are simple mosis (which can be spread by remember that these are flesh-and- all house cats are domesticated other household animals have. ed one in three people worldwide, organisms like jellyfish or direct contact with cat poop) is blood beings with an astounding animals. This applies to the and perhaps 10 percent of Ameri- blackberry bushes. Cats, though, especially threatening to unborn and unique natural history — stray cats of urban alleyways, JH: You mention in your book cans, with a single-celled brain- babies. But indoor-only cats rarely and that there are real-world the feral cats of Madagascar’s that cats cause “hyperpreda- dwelling parasite called Toxoplasma carry the disease — it’s outdoor consequences for their presence. interior forests, and plump and tion.” What is that, and what gondii. The neurological impacts of cats eating wild prey that are coddled specimens like Cheetoh. does it do to native ecosystems? this parasite are still being under- Some house cats are friendly, AT: Hyperpredation sometimes stood. In most healthy adults the and some are feral and fierce, happens when the number of feline-transmitted infection goes but all are domesticated. predators in an environment dormant after about a month. But Jennifer Howard is Director of Public Relations at ABC. She was a is out of whack. Often, when a minority of people apparently writer and reporter with The Chronicle of Higher Education for 10 ecosystems have large house have difficulty battling the disease years and before that was a contributing editor and columnist with cat populations, it’s because from the beginning, and in these The Washington Post. Follow Jen on Twitter at @JenHoward. humans have also introduced an unlucky patients the infection invasive prey source for them. has been associated with a whole

Cat by Artmim, Shutterstock

22 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 23 CONTROLLED BURN Fire can be destructive, but when used carefully, it creates habitat for many declining bird species

By Rebecca Heisman

n a stand of tall, slender After decades of warnings from ‘Like Taking Water birds depend on for foraging or In an ecosystem where pines somewhere in Smokey Bear, it’s unsurprising from a Wetland’ nesting. After a disturbance such IFlorida, a fire is burning. that many people view fire as a as a fire sweeps through a plant fire is frequent, short- destructive force. Last summer, Sparked by lightning, or some- community, the series of stages Set widely apart from one other, news reports were filled with times by Native Americans who it goes through as it returns to lived, disturbance- the trees have scaly, reddish harrowing images of flaming preferred open ground for hunting its former state are known as dependent habitat will bark and round tufts of needles hillsides as massive wildfires blan- and cultivation, fire historically succession. In an ecosystem as long as your hand. The fire has played a role in nearly all of keted the Pacific Northwest in where fire is frequent, this short- always be available doesn’t touch the crowns of the smoke; two months later, nearly North America’s ecosystems. The lived, disturbance-dependent trees — instead, it burns slowly two dozen people died as fires details varied from one place to habitat will always be available somewhere, and the along the ground, crackling as it swept across more than 36,000 another. Prairies saw fires every somewhere, and the birds that blackens shrubs and trees. Over acres in northern California. year or two that burned standing specialize on it will always find a birds that specialize on it everything hangs a haze of smoke. dry grass to the ground, promot- home. But when fire is removed will always find a home. But though fire burns, it also ing a new cycle of growth. Mature from a system, these communities This is no natural disaster. It’s a revitalizes. And the fire burning forests in wetter parts of the con- calculated act by land managers eventually disappear: grasslands this longleaf pine forest — set tinent burned only every century become fields, then young forest, to rejuvenate a longleaf pine carefully in optimal conditions or two. The adaptations of plants forest, home to vulnerable birds then mature forest, and the birds and monitored closely for safety in these communities were closely are forced to go elsewhere. such as the Bachman’s Sparrow — mimics the natural burns that attuned to their local fire pat- and the federally endangered historically kept trees and shrubs terns. Longleaf pines, for instance, Removing fire from these systems Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and from growing too thick. The need fire to clear the ground of is exactly what we’ve done. In the other animals unique to this technique, known as prescribed leaf litter so they can reproduce. late 1800s and early 1900s, drought landscape, such as the gopher fire, is a valuable tool in many If their seeds land in a layer of and the slash piles left behind tortoise and indigo snake. Without efforts to conserve important debris, they won’t germinate. in logged forests fueled massive regular fires to maintain the habitat for declining birds. What wildfires that killed thousands PREVIOUS PAGE: Prescribed fire. habitat they need, these species Fire was especially crucial in used to happen naturally now of people and destroyed towns Photo by yelantsevv, Shutterstock and others would disappear. requires a human helping hand. maintaining the availability and cities from the Northwest to of what ecologists call early ABOVE LEFT: Bachman’s Sparrow by Jacob Maine. This spurred large-scale, Spendelow. ABOVE RIGHT: Red-cockaded successional habitat, which many coordinated efforts by the U.S. Woodpecker by feathercollector, Shutterstock

BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 25 the growing realization that carefully controlled. Regardless Despite the growing overzealous fire suppression has of size — prescribed fires can be damaged ecosystems, letting fires anywhere from a few to several realization that burn wildly and threaten homes thousand acres — most burns are and infrastructure is no one’s idea completed within a single day. overzealous fire of good management policy. Depending on the time of year suppression has Instead, today’s land managers and the specific characteristics of damaged ecosystems, follow a specific plan to create the site being burned, a habitat a fire under carefully controlled can go from blackened to green letting fires burn wildly conditions to achieve a specific in an amazingly short time. “It’s management goal. To ensure really quick. Within two or three and threaten homes safety, foresters wait until weather days you’ll see things starting to and infrastructure is conditions — wind speed and green up,” Holbrook says of the direction, temperature, and longleaf pine restoration. “Say you no one’s idea of good humidity — are just right to both burn in early summer; by the end keep the fire from spreading and of the summer, to the untrained management policy. keep the smoke from drifting eye, you wouldn’t know that a toward populated areas. If a site fire had been through there.” doesn’t already have features such as streams and roads that can be From 2013 to 2016, the amount of used as fire breaks, foresters may land in longleaf pine ecosystems create some with bulldozers or under prescribed fire manage- other equipment. Then, they ignite ment increased by 50 percent, the downwind end of the area to to over 1.6 million acres. And be burned so the flames can be the birds have noticed. “At our Regenerating pine forest. Photo by Virgil Davis, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

A controlled burn in progress. Photo by yelantsevv, Shutterstock

Forest Service to suppress fires on “Taking fire out of these systems But as land managers and public lands, guided by a 1926 is like taking water away from conservationists like Holbrook federal policy of putting them a wetland,” says Rob Holbrook, look for ways to strategically out before they reached 10 acres Assistant Coordinator for the East return fire to the landscape, these in size. For decades, prescribed Gulf Coastal Plain Joint Venture ecosystems are recovering once burning was banned on public (EGCJV), a partnership among again. Red-cockaded Woodpecker lands across much of the country, state and federal agencies and populations, for example, have though private landowners con- nonprofits, including ABC, that’s recently been increasing at a tinued to practice it in areas used working on bird conservation in rate of 4 to 5 percent per year. for farming, grazing, and logging. the Southeast. As woodland and As fire management techniques savanna habitat have grown scarce, are updated, the outlook for Across much of the eastern United so have the birds that depend on many threatened bird species States, the result of this suppression it. In this area, it’s the Bachman’s is beginning to brighten. was dramatic. Within decades, Sparrows and Red-cockaded thick canopies of trees stood over Woodpeckers; further west, in From Blackened to Green forest floors that were cool, damp, the central hardwoods region of The fragmented nature of some shady — and much less likely to Missouri, Arkansas, and east to habitats in the eastern half of burn. Pine and oak woodlands gave Tennessee and Kentucky, this North America means that even way to hardwoods such as maple change in habitat has hurt Prairie if fires do start naturally, they and birch, which thrive when Warblers, Northern Bobwhite, can’t spread very far. Nor would disturbance is low and fires rare. and Red-headed Woodpeckers. we want them to — despite

26 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 27 Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines This joint venture is another of the EGCJV. Red-cockaded Preserve in Florida, we’ve gone collaborative conservation Woodpeckers don’t live on the from almost never hearing quail effort that promotes the use of ground, but their foraging and or Bachman’s Sparrows to having prescribed burns to create habitat nesting requirements are precise, them coming out of our ears” for imperiled land birds, in this involving pulling loose plates of since biennial prescribed burns case in the woodlands and glades bark from large pine trees to get began in the 1990s, says David of states including Arkansas, at the insects underneath. “If the Printiss, North Florida Manager Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. understory of hardwoods gets too for The Nature Conservancy. “It’s not like you start, and then dense, then it’s going to be poor when you get it in condition, habitat for the woodpeckers,” One of the biggest challenges with you’re done,” Heggemann says. Holbrook says. “Fire keeps prescribed fire is that the process “You have to keep it going.” the pine as the dominant tree is never finished. Because fires species and keeps the oaks and need to happen every three to five But for the birds, it’s worth it. “For other hardwoods suppressed.” years in many places to maintain birds like Northern Bobwhite and early successional habitat and Wild Turkey that spend most of Creating a Mosaic the bird species that require it, their life on the ground, they’ve managers can never walk away. got to be able to get around, Fire isn’t always good news for especially when the chicks leave birds, of course. When it gets “You can’t start a program and the nest. Without fire, often out of control and enters habi- then quit,” says Larry Heggemann, what happens is the groundcover tats where it doesn’t belong, it LEFT: Black-masked Finch by Daniel Alarcon, Barba Azul, an ABC-supported percent of the savanna habitat in Delivery Coordinator for the gets so dense that the birds can’t can become a serious threat. Asociación Armonía. ABOVE: Tractor creating Central Hardwoods Joint Venture. nature reserve in Bolivia run by one area of the reserve burned. a fire break at Barba Azul Reserve in Bolivia. walk around,” says Holbrook, Photo by Tjalle Boorsma the conservation organization Turkey hen and poult by Kristen Nicholas In 2016, ABC was one of several Asociación Armonía, protects organizations that helped the Tyrant and the vulnerable Black- an expanse of seasonally reserve purchase a tractor to dig fire masked Finch, both of which flooded savanna and grassland. breaks, which has helped turn the depend on savanna to survive. Interspersed throughout are small situation around. And even here, “What you’d get is a mosaic of islands of forest that provide land managers still see the potential different age classes of savanna, crucial habitat for the critically of fire as a conservation tool. and you’d have a wide range of endangered Blue-throated Macaw. biodiversity using that landscape.” Left to its own devices, this “Fire is part of this ecosystem,” says habitat would naturally burn reserve manager Tjalle Boorsma. Thousands of miles away, back roughly every 15 to 20 years “We try to block it completely now in the U.S., a prescribed burn has during the rainy season, when wet to stop fires that go out of control done its job. The fire in Florida’s conditions would keep lightning- from our neighboring ranches, longleaf pine forest has burned generated fires from spreading but we would like to implement itself out. Within a few days, young too far or burning too hot. it in the reserve at some point.” grasses and wildflowers will shoot up through the blackened ground, But cattle ranchers who use the Around 10 percent of the habitat and by the end of the season, the lands surrounding the reserve for would have burned naturally area will be green once more, beck- grazing now set fires every year each year, Boorsma says. Using oning woodpeckers, turkeys, and to promote the growth of fresh, prescribed fire on a small portion bobwhite. Growth is continuous, young grass for their cattle. Al- of the reserve’s savanna habitat though, and within a few years though some ranchers do their annually, he predicts, could help the vegetation will be thick. Once best to time burns for, say, the birds such as Streamer-tailed again, it will be time to burn. approach of a rainstorm that will keep fires under control, this is Rebecca Heisman is an environmental educator-turned-science writer hard to predict. In recent years, and communicator who has also written for Audubon, Sierra, and fires have spread into the reserve, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. She lives in Walla Walla, Wash. damaging roosting and foraging habitat for macaws. In 2015, 80

28 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 29 FINAL GLIMPSE Island Birds, Unique and Vulnerable, Need Our Help

Dodo painting by Frederick William Frohawk YOUR By Brad Keitt partners to protect threatened island birds and their habitats n undisturbed seabird island across the Americas. In Hawai‘i, is one of nature’s amazing we are controlling predators and LEGACY Aspectacles. Early in my career, restoring habitat to protect rare I spent time on Laysan Island in the land birds such as Palila and Northwest Hawaiian Islands, where Maui Parrotbill, and using these ENSURE THAT WHEN BIRDS RETURN, hundreds of thousands of albatross same methods to protect seabirds danced in courtship through the such as Hawaiian Petrels and day, and thousands of Bonin Petrels Laysan Albatross. In the Juan returned to the island at sunset. But Almost 90 percent of all Fernández Islands in Chile, we are Laysan taught me something else working with partners to remove about island birds: They are fragile. recorded bird extinctions invasive predators and increase Less than a century ago Laysan support for the conservation was almost devoid of seabirds, and in the last 500 years have of threatened Pink-footed three species found only on Laysan Shearwaters. In the Galápagos occurred on islands. — the island’s Millerbird, Honey- Islands, we are investigating creeper, and Rail — went extinct. new nesting areas for the means seabird populations take Galápagos Petrel and developing Almost 90 percent of all recorded longer to recover from losses. They innovative ways to protect this bird extinctions in the last 500 are among the most threatened critically endangered species. years have occurred on islands. of all bird groups, and land-based Why? Because most island birds threats continue to lead to declines. History tells us that islands are the have evolved without mammalian epicenters of extinction. Yet we also But there’s hope; Laysan Island also predators. As a result, island species have the tools and the knowledge taught me that. Once the harvest- THEY FIND THIS… are naïve to non-native, terrestrial to save island species and make ing and sale of albatross feathers predators, and their populations are them beacons of conservation and eggs was stopped, and invasive quickly devastated by introduced success. The sight of seabirds rabbits were removed, the remain- mammals such as domestic cats blanketing the entire island of ing birds rebounded. And today, and rats. Island birds are simply Laysan may be an exception to the thanks to ABC and partners, the ill-equipped to evade these norm — but it doesn’t have to be. unexpected neighbors: Think of the Millerbird is thriving once again flightless Dodo from the island of on Laysan, with translocated birds ABC’s efforts to protect seabirds are Mauritius. Or the Laysan Finches from Nihoa filling the void left by made possible by the generous support that would, full of curiosity, land the disappearance of the closely of Lynn and Stuart White, the National on my hat as I tried to count them. related Laysan Millerbird subspecies. Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Most seabirds breed on islands, and It is this resilience that inspires the Disney Conservation Fund, these insular habitats have changed ABC to collaborate with our and the Martin Foundation. them, too. Seabirds lay fewer eggs than land birds and spend more Brad Keitt is ABC’s Oceans and Islands Program Director. He has time rearing their chicks. They conducted research on all of the Baja Pacific Islands, as well as islands can do this because, for millions in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, the tropical Pacific, and the If you would like more information on how to create your legacy of of years, they didn’t have to worry Caribbean. Brad was a founding member of Island Conservation. NOT THIS. bird conservation through your will, or if you have already included about terrestrial predators. But living life in the slow lane also ABC in your estate plans, please contact Jack Morrison, ABC Planned TOP: Long-billed Curlews by Betty Rizzotti MIDDLE: Prairie habitat by Michael Rosebrock, Giving Director, at 540-253-5780, or [email protected]. Shutterstock; BOTTOM: Oil pumps by Kit Leong, BIRD CONSERVATION | WINTER 2017-2018 30 Shutterstock NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID P.O. Box 249 PERMIT NO. 2392 MERRIFIELD, VA The Plains, VA 20198 abcbirds.org 540–253–5780 • 888–247–3624

Tufted Puffin by Greg Homel, Natural Elements Productions