UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES REGIONAL SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLAN Version 2.0 UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES REGIONAL SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLAN
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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES REGIONAL SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLAN Version 2.0 UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES REGIONAL SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLAN Version 2.0 Robert P. Russell Katherine E. Koch Stephen J. Lewis U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Migratory Birds Bloomington, MN 2016 Suggested Citation: Russell, R. P., K. E. Koch, and S. J. Lewis. 2016. Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes Regional Shorebird Conservation Plan. Version 2.0. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Birds, Bloomington, MN. 64 pp. Cover Photo: Sanderlings at Wisconsin Point, by Joel Trick TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………..…………………………….………………………………….……… 3 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………….………………………………….… 5 DESCRIPTION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES (UMVGL) REGION ….…..… 5 SHOREBIRD SPECIES OCCURRENCE, ABUNDANCE, AND REGIONAL PRIORITIES ………………. 8 CURRENT AND FUTURE THREATS TO SHOREBIRDS IN THE UMVGL REGION ……………….…. 10 REGIONAL SHOREBIRD HABITAT CONSERVATION STRATEGIES ……………………….………… 14 SHOREBIRD SPECIES MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES …………………………………………………… 22 SHOREBIRD POPULATION MONITORING ACTIVITIES ……………………………………………….. 22 SHOREBIRD RESEARCH AND INFORMATION NEEDS …………………………………………………. 27 SHOREBIRD EDUCATION AND OUTREACH TOOLS AND NEEDS ……………………………………. 29 SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION FUNDING NEEDS AND FUNDING SOURCES……………………….... 31 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………………………...…… 32 LITERATURE CITED …………………………………………………………………………………..……… 32 APPENDIX 1 – SHOREBIRD POPULATION STATUS IN THE UMVGL REGION ……………...……... 37 APPENDIX 2 – SHOREBIRD SPECIES MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES ……………………………...… 40 APPENDIX 3 – MONITORING PROGRAMS FOR UMVGL SHOREBIRD SPECIES ……………..….... 61 FIGURE 1 – UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLANNING REGION ………………………………………………………………………………………..…. 63 TABLE 1 – SEASONAL OCCURRENCE, CONSERVATION CONCERN CATEGORIES, AND STEWARSHIP STATUS FOR SHOREBIRDS IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY/GREAT LAKES REGION, 2016 …………………………………………………………………………………………………... 64 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Upper Mississippi Valley / Great Lakes (UMVGL) region is a diverse area that includes five Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) and provides important habitat for shorebirds, especially migrants. In 2000, Version 1.0 of the UMVGL Regional Shorebird Conservation Plan (de Szalay et al. 2000) was developed. This plan - Version 2.0 - updates that document. Thirty-five shorebird species occur regularly in the UMVGL region, and information is provided on their seasonal occurrence and abundance in each of the BCRs comprising the UMVGL region. Habitat preferences, migration chronology, population status, and management recommendations are also noted. Updated information on continental populations has been stepped down to the UMVGL region. All 35 shorebird species that occur regularly in the UMVGL region migrate through the region. Ten of them also breed there. The following 20 shorebird species are priorities in the UMVGL region because of their conservation concern category, stewardship status, and/or our ability to take conservation and management actions in the region that will significantly benefit them: Black-bellied Plover, American Golden-Plover, Piping Plover (Great Lakes population), Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, Upland Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Hudsonian Godwit, Marbled Godwit (Great Plains population), Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, White-rumped Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, American Woodcock, and Wilson’s Phalarope (see Table 1 for scientific names). Interior areas like the UMVGL region experience dynamic climatic conditions, from floods to droughts, making habitat conditions for shorebirds less predictable when compared to conditions in coastal regions. Loss of wetlands from urban development, river dredging and diking; loss of grasslands to agriculture; and habitat degradation from urban and agricultural runoff, agricultural tiling (including draining of ephemeral wetlands), and reduction of wetland plant diversity from invasive plants such as hybrid cattail, have seriously reduced the quantity and quality of shorebird habitat in the region. Major shorebird habitats in the UMVGL region, such as Great Lakes beaches, lake shorelines, ephemeral and managed wetlands, river floodplains, forested wetlands, reservoirs, and flooded agricultural fields, are noted, as well as minor habitats such as dredged disposal islands, gravel quarries, sand bars, and rock jetties used by only a handful of species. Current threats to shorebirds in this region often focus on agricultural practices, including tiling, drainage of ephemeral wetlands, grassland ploughing, and pesticides. Future threats, such as climate change and stochastic events like 100-year floods and late spring cold snaps, add increased uncertainty to managing and/or predicting changes in shorebird populations. A primary goal of this plan is to guide action that will ensure the availability of shorebird foraging and nesting sites over a range of climatic conditions by protecting, restoring, and managing a variety of habitat types throughout the UMVGL region. At many intensively managed sites, water level manipulation and other management activities (e.g., burning or disking) can be used to provide shorebird habitat, usually without compromising other wildlife objectives. Ultimately, an integrated management approach should be adopted that combines 3 region-specific information on wetland and grassland dynamics and life history strategies of a variety of wildlife species. The Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (JV) established waterfowl habitat conservation objectives that focus on providing complexes of ephemeral and permanent wetlands and associated upland habitats. These objectives were adopted for Version 1.0 of the UMVGL Shorebird Conservation Plan. This plan (Version 2.0) builds on the JV’s 2007 Shorebird Habitat Conservation Strategy (Potter et al. 2007) and expands upon management information for all regularly-occurring shorebirds, specifically by foraging guilds. Monitoring programs are discussed, with emphasis on standardized protocols such as the International Shorebird Survey and the Breeding Bird Survey. New with this Version 2.0 plan is reference to a series of species-specific management plans produced largely by Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. Using these plans in conjunction with the habitat management information provided under the guild/species section of this document, managers now have a full array of localized and continental planning recommendations to guide site-specific and regional management efforts. Research and information needs developed by the JV Science Team and others are identified and prioritized, along with education, outreach, and funding needs. 4 INTRODUCTION The U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan (USSCP; Brown et al. 2001) was developed to summarize needs and focus direction for stabilizing populations of declining shorebird species and ensuring that common species remain common. This has been accomplished, in part, through the development, refinement, and continued implementation of 11 regional conservation plans that outline strategies to provide sufficient high-quality shorebird habitat and to overcome other shorebird limiting factors. In 2000, Version 1.0 of the Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes (UMVGL) Regional Shorebird Conservation Plan (de Szalay et al. 2000) was developed. We now present an updated plan - Version 2.0 – that incorporates relevant information from Version 1.0 and further addresses shorebird conservation in the UMVGL planning region. The region is a large, diverse area that provides important habitat for a variety of shorebirds, especially during migration. The purpose of this plan is to provide recommendations for a course of action to support healthy shorebird populations in the UMVGL region through a combination of securing and effectively restoring/enhancing high-quality habitat and facilitating habitat modeling, population monitoring, research, and education and outreach. These collective actions will hopefully reverse wetland losses, preserve and enhance existing shorebird habitats, provide needed data on populations and limiting factors, and disseminate information on shorebird needs and values. While the ultimate goal will be the maintenance or increase of shorebird populations, many other wetland bird species with similar habitat needs will benefit, including some waterfowl, rails, bitterns, other waterbirds, and wetland-inhabiting landbirds. As a component of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, the USSCP is aimed at promoting partnerships at a landscape level that emphasize integrated management for multiple bird species. The Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (JV) published the Shorebird Habitat Conservation Strategy in 2007 (Potter et al. 2007). The key strategic goal of the strategy is to “establish efficient habitat conservation to maintain or increase carrying capacity for populations of priority shorebird species consistent with continental and JV regional goals.” The JV strategy adopted the population assessments and conservation priorities in the original (Version 1.0) UMVGL Shorebird Conservation Plan. Thus, the strategy worked symbiotically with the first plan, and this new plan is intended to facilitate the development of additional strategies and a potential reassessment of species