MULTISAR: The Milk River Basin Project A Multi-Species Conservation Strategy For Species at Risk: Year 2-Progress Report Alberta Species at Risk Report No. 87 MULTISAR: The Milk River Basin Project A Multi-Species Conservation Strategy For Species at Risk: Year 2-Progress Report Richard W. Quinlan, Brad A. Downey, Brandy L. Downey and Paul F. Jones (eds.) Alberta Species at Risk Report No. 87 March 2004 Publication No. I/147 ISBN: 0-7785-2983-5 (Printed Edition) ISBN: 0-7785-2984-3 (On-line Edition) ISSN: 1496-7219 (Printed Edition) ISSN: 1496-7146 (On-line Edition) Illustrations by: Brian Huffman For copies of this report, contact: Information Centre- Publications Alberta Environment/ Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Main Floor, Great West Life Building 9920- 108 Street Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5K 2M4 Telephone: (780) 422-2079 OR Visit our web site at: http://ww3.gov.ab.ca/srd/fw/riskspecies/ Suggested citation formats: Entire report Quinlan, R.W, B. A. Downey, B. L. Downey and P. F. Jones. 2004. MULTISAR: The Milk River Basin Project, A Multi-Species Conservation Strategy For Species at Risk: Year 2- Progress Report . Alberta Sustainable Resource Management, Fish and Wildlife Division, Alberta Species at Risk Report No. 87, Edmonton, AB.111 Pp. Chapter of report Downey, B.L. 2004. Burrowing Owl Surveys in the Milk River Basin, Pages16-24 In Quinlan R.W, B. A. Downey, B. L. Downey and P. F. Jones. 2004. MULTISAR: The Milk River Basin Project, A Multi-Species Conservation Strategy For Species at Risk: Year 2- Progress Report . Alberta Sustainable Resource Management, Fish and Wildlife Division, Alberta Species at Risk Report No. 87, Edmonton, AB. Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... v Executive Summary......................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION TO MULTISAR : THE MILK RIVER BASIN PROJECT Introduction……………………………………………………………………………....2 Richard W. Quinlan Study Area: The Milk River Basin.................................................................................. 4 Brad A. Downey and Brad N. Taylor CHAPTER 2- BIRD INVENTORIES Aerial Surveys of the Milk River Basin-2003…………………………………………8 Brad A. Downey and Richard W. Quinlan Burrowing Owl Surveys in The Milk River Basin....................................................... 16 Brandy L. Downey Milk River Basin Ferruginous Hawk Surveys-2003.................................................... 25 Brandy L. Downey Long-Billed Curlew Monitoring Surveys...................................................................... 32 Brandy L. Downey Loggerhead Shrike Surveys Within the Milk River Basin.......................................... 39 Brad A. Downey CHAPTER 3- FISHERIES Surveys of Aquatic Refugia-2003…………………………………………………...…52 Brad A. Downey CHAPTER 4- HERPTILES Amphibian Surveys of the Milk River Basin………………………………………….58 Brandy L. Downey 2003 Reptile Surveys of the Milk River Basin.............................................................. 62 Brad A. Downey i CHAPTER 5- MAMMAL INVENTORIES AND PROTOCOLS Richardson's Ground Squirrel Trend Surveys in the Milk River Basin……………68 Brad A. Downey Owl Pellet Collection for a Small Mammal Study ....................................................... 72 Brad A. Downey Long-tailed Weasel Survey Protocol…………………………………………………..74 Brandy L. Downey Western Small-footed Myotis Survey Protocol: The Milk River Basin..................... 88 Brandy L. Downey CHAPTER 6- MULTISAR STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Multi-Species Conservation Value…………………………………………………...102 Paul F. Jones and Brandy L. Downey MULTISAR Stewardship Program ............................................................................ 108 Brandy L. Downey, Brad A. Downey, Richard Quinlan and Paul Jones LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1.1. Numbers of raptors observed on the Milk River 2003 aerial raptor survey ... 9 Table 1.1.2. Numbers of non-raptorial birds observed on the 2003 Milk River aerial raptor survey ............................................................................................................... 9 Table 1.1.3. Comparison between species observations for the 2000, 2002 and 2003 surveys ...................................................................................................................... 10 Table 2.3.1. 2003 Long-billed Curlews and Incidental Species Observed for Selected Routes in the Milk River Basin................................................................................. 33 Table 2.4.1. Loggerhead Shrike Survey Method Comparison.......................................... 42 Table 2.4.2. 2003 Milk River Basin loggerhead shrike habitat within 200 meters of initial sighting...................................................................................................................... 43 Table 4.2.1. Snake road mortalities from 2003................................................................. 62 Table 4.2.2. Snake hibernacula characteristics within the Milk River Basin ................... 63 Table 5.1.1. Comparison of the number of Richardson’s ground squirrels seen using the two survey methods within the Milk River Basin. ................................................... 69 Table 5.1.2. Habitat selection by Richardson’s ground squirrels in the Milk River basin of Alberta in 2003 ......................................................................................................... 70 Table 5.3.1. Comparison of Survey Method..................................................................... 77 Table 6.1.1. Species for which Habitat Suitability Index models and habitat suitability maps were produced as part of the Milk River Drainage Species at Risk Conservation Strategy............................................................................................. 102 ii Table 6.1.2. Species and status for which Habitat Suitability Index models and habitat suitability maps were produced as part of the Milk River Drainage Species at Risk Conservation Strategy............................................................................................. 104 Table 6.1.3. Species Distribution and Patch Size ratings for the 17 species for which Habitat suitability index models were developed as a component of MULTISAR. ................................................................................................................................. 104 Table 6.1.4. Weighting values used in calculating the multi-species conservation values within the MULTISAR project area. ..................................................................... 105 Table 6.1.5. Multi-species prioritization ranking for MULTISAR Project area. ........... 105 Table 6.1.6. Percentage of MULTISAR area within the 4 classes of priority for stewardship activities.............................................................................................. 107 Table 6.2.1. Distribution of MULTISAR brochures in the Milk River Basin................ 110 Table of Figures Figure 1.1.1. Milk River Basin Study Area ........................................................................ 4 Figure 2.1.1. 2003 Burrowing Owl Milk River Basin Route Map ................................... 17 Figure 2.3.1. Number of ferruginous hawks located during quadrat surveys within the Milk River Basin....................................................................................................... 26 Figure 2.4.1. Loggerhead shrike survey transects and quadrats within the Milk River Basin ......................................................................................................................... 40 Figure 2.4.2. Known loggerhead shrike sites within the Milk River Basin...................... 41 Figure 2.4.3. Loggerhead shrike young in nest….……………………………………….42 Figure 2.4.4 Ideal loggerhead shrike habitat…...………………………………………...42 Figure 4.2.1. Hibernacula entrance in rock face with prairie rattlesnake ......................... 64 Figure 4.2.2. Short-horned lizard….................................................................................. 64 Figure 4.2.3. Short-horned lizard habitat…………………………………….…………...64 Figure 5.3.1. Long-tailed weasel Albertan Range…….…………………………………75 Figure 5.4.1. Map of Milk River Basin Study area........................................................... 90 Figure 5.4.2. Western small-footed myotis habitat map based on model developed by Landry (2003) for the Milk River Basin................................................................... 90 Figure 5.4.3. Mistnet components and dimensions (Vanhof 2003).................................. 91 Figure 6.1.1. Multi-species Conservation Value Map of the Milk River Basin. ............ 106 iii APPENDIXES Appendix A- Active Raptor Nests 2003 ........................................................................... 12 Appendix B- Raptor Observations 2003........................................................................... 14 Appendix C- Burrowing Owl Data Sheet ......................................................................... 21 Appendix D Beaufort Wind Scale .................................................................................... 28 Appendix E- Ferruginous Hawk Data and Map Sheet...................................................... 29 Appendix F- Raptor Nest Data Sheet................................................................................ 31 Appendix G- Long-billed Curlew