Tracking Landscape Performance for Integrated Bird Management

Joint Venture Meeting

Austin, TX

December, 2006

Landscape’s ability to function for waterfowl, shorebirds, waterbirds,

landbirds

Urban Urban

PLAYAS

Riparian

Cropland Cropland

CRP

CRP

Riparian

PLAYASMid-Grass

Mid-GrassOther

Shortgrass

Other

Sand Sage Sand Sage

Shortgrass

Cropland

Riparian

CRP

Urban

The PAST The FUTURE

Groups/SpeciesPrairie-Chicken

DucksSongbirds

HabitatsCRP

WetlandsAll

ResultMore chickens

More DucksMore songbirds

How Much is Enough?How Much is Enough?

ConditionNativeWetLots

• Competing interests

• Little cooperation

• Every species for itself, etc...

Groups/TaxaDabblersCranes

Bl-cr Night-HeronLesser Prairie-Chicken

Long-billed CurlewLark Bunting

etc.

Habitats Playas

Mid-grassRiparian

ShortgrassSand Sage

Marshetc.

Conditionsgrazed

moist-soilwet

fragmentedpitted

Fencedw/shrubs

Neither can thinking or planning.

Birds use habitat in many, many ways – tracking can’t be linear

Concept -- A Hierarchical ApproachConcept -- A Hierarchical Approach

• AREAAREA (BCR part of a state)

– ASSOCIATIONSASSOCIATIONS (habitats with a suite of associated species)

• CONDITIONSCONDITIONS (Variations within habitat associations)

– SEASONSSEASONS (Breeding, Non-breeding, months, etc)

» SPECIESSPECIES (Found in each condition of each association)

“In BCR 18 - NM” “Shortgrass” “with few shrubs and moderate grazing” in the “ breeding” season for “Lark Bunting”

Landcover

DENSITY BY MANAGEMENT UNIT IN DRYLAND AGRICULTURE

0

20

40

60

80

NE CO KS NM OK USFS BCR

Management Unit

Den

sity

(b

ird

s/km

2 )

0 20 40 60 80

100

NE CO KS NM OK USFS BCR Management Unit

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

<1% 1 - 3% 3 - 10% >10% Shrub Cover Categories

0 20 40 60 80

100

Native Prairie Dry land Agriculture Land in CRP Habitat Classification

DENSITY BY SHRUB COVER CA TEGORIES (WITHIN BCR 18)

DENSITY BY HABITAT (WITHIN BCR 18)

DENSITY BY MANAGEMENT UNIT IN NATIVE PRAIRIE

De

nsit

y (

bir

ds

/km

2 ) D

en

sit

y (

bir

ds

/km

2 ) D

en

sit

y (

bir

ds

/km

2 )

A link from landcover to birds (usually density, duck-use-days or shorebird-use-days).

Goals

Acres of Habitat in an Area

X

Density/use-days of a Species in an Area=

Carrying Capacity of a Species in an Area

÷

Population Objective for the Area

=

% of Goal for Area

Then, if needed, develop habitat to meet goal.

MODEL

HABS: A tool that manages the concept, landcover, models, linkages and goals.

End Product: Area Implementation Plan (AIP)• Simple, specific, updateable• Shows current and desired

acres of habitat• Describes specific habitats

and priority species for work in that area

• Represents habitat goals over 30 years and reveals the magnitude of conservation work needed.

• Provides support for developing new conservation initiatives or tweaking existing ones

• Provides justification for budgetary requests

AIP BCR 18 Colorado

Jamestown NAWCAWaterfowl

(DUDs)

Shorebirds

(SUDs)

PLJV Goal for BCR 19-Kansas 107 M 25 M

PLJV Deficit for BCR 19-Kansas N/A 13 M

Jamestown project current

carrying capacity 700,000 4,000

Jamestown project future

carrying capacity

3,200,000

(4.6x increase)

276,000

(69x increase)

Jamestown project gain in

carrying capacity (post-NAWCA)

2,500,000 272,000 K

Gain as percent of PLJV shortfall N/A 2.1%

Gain as percent of PLJV goal 2.3% 1.1%

Guild/species Goal

% of Goal

Non-breeding Waterfowl (Spring)

86,792,883

DUDs

68.36

Non-breeding

Shorebirds (wetland)

6,564,863

SUDS

6.08

Lesser Prairie- Chicken

33,222

Individuals

82.22

Ring-necked Pheasant

1,065,590

Individuals

4.96

Ferruginous Hawk

279

Individuals

117.80

Conclusion

There are 159,129,630 acres of land in PLJV of which approximately 6,428,000 are permanently developed, leaving 152,697,742 to support birds, of which 12,891,769 need to change type or condition to meet priority bird goals.

Lesser Prairie-ChickenLesser Prairie-Chicken

• Minimum of 5,000 acres of appropriate contiguous habitat (a Minimum of 5,000 acres of appropriate contiguous habitat (a large block)large block)

• Min. 2,000 acres of native prairieMin. 2,000 acres of native prairie• Max. 3,000 acres of CRP and/or croplandMax. 3,000 acres of CRP and/or cropland• No 4-lane roads bisecting and No 4-lane roads bisecting and << 50 ac. other roads 50 ac. other roads• < 100 acres of all water types< 100 acres of all water types• CRP/cropland and native prairie min. ac. switched for CRP/cropland and native prairie min. ac. switched for

shinneryshinnery

Model:Model:

Densities/acre: Densities/acre: .0125 in Mixed Grass Prairie.0125 in Mixed Grass Prairie.0156 in Sand Sage Prairie.0156 in Sand Sage Prairie

data from KS, R. Rodgers pers.comm.data from KS, R. Rodgers pers.comm.