IBP'S SIERRA NEVADA BIRD OBSERVATORY

The Institute for Bird Populations has a long history of avian research, monitoring, and conservation efforts in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Current or recent Sierra projects include:

• Black-backed Woodpecker Monitoring and Management - Working with the Forest Service to develop a monitoring program for Black-backed Woodpecker, a designated Management Indicator Species for burned forest.
• Bird Monitoring at Meadow Restoration Sites - Partnering with the National Fish and Wildife Foundation to maximize the benefits meadow restoration projects yield for Sierra birds.
• Helping the Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region to Revise its Sensitive Species List - Assessing the distribution, abundance, population trend, and vulnerability of bird species on national forests throughout California.
• MAPS Demographic Bird Monitoring at Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks - Tracking bird populations at long-term monitoring stations.
• Use of Post-fire Landscapes by California Spotted Owls - Using radio-telemetry to assess the value of recently burned forest stands to California Spotted Owls.
• Yosemite Willow Flycatcher Survey - Assessing the status and distribution of Willow Flycatcher in Yosemite National Park.
• Landbird Monitoring Protocol Development - Collaborating with National Park Service personnel to develop a long-term monitoring protocol for birds in the Sierra Nevada's national parks.
• Great Gray Owl Survey - Surveying for Great Gray Owls throughout the Sierra's national forests.
• Yosemite Landbird Inventory - Conducting an inventory of the birds of Yosemite National Park.
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon Landbird Inventory - Conducting an inventory of the birds of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
• Devils Postpile National Monument Landbird Inventory - Conducting an inventory of the birds of Devils Postpile National Monument.
• Sierra Nest Monitoring - Evaluating the ecological effects of commercial timberland management practices by monitoring the nest success of landbirds.
• Avian Conservation Plan for the Sierra Nevada Bioregion - Working through Calfornia Partners in Flight to advance avian conservation in the Sierra.
• Sierra Meadows - Identifying bird conservation hotspots throughout the Sierra.
• Manter Fire Project - Studying the effects of stand-replacing fire on Sierra Nevada birds.
• BBS Habitat Classification - Classifying habitat along Breeding Bird Survey routes throughout the Sierra.

Compared to other regions of California, the Sierra Nevada avifauna is still in relatively good condition, hosting only a handful of critically at-risk species. Evidence suggests, however, that many of the Sierra's more common bird species may be declining. The Sierra Nevada was recently identified as one of 233 ecoregions whose biodiversity is outstanding on a global scale; unfortunately it was also identified as one of the 110 of those ecoregions considered critical or endangered. Problems facing the Sierra biota include a legacy of destructive land management practices reaching back to the Gold Rush, many current land management practices that still urgently need revising, rapid human population growth, and impending climate change.

Covering approximately 1/6 of the state of California, the Sierra Nevada's diverse habitats are enormously important to the birds of California and, indeed, to a large portion of western North America's Neotropical migratory birds. The best way to protect Sierra bird populations, those that are already seriously jeopardized as well as those that are not, is to proactively safeguard the habitats on which they depend. In some cases this may require habitat preservation efforts that strictly exclude extractive resource-use activities. Ever-increasing resource-use pressures and burgeoning human population growth in the Sierra, however, make this preservationist approach unrealistic for much of the Sierra. Given current political, social and economic realities, a far more effective strategy for safeguarding Sierra bird populations is to seek ways of making resource-use activities such as timber harvesting and livestock grazing more compatible with maintaining the necessary habitat features that support the Sierra avifauna.

Accordingly, The Institute for Bird Populations' research and conservation efforts in the Sierra Nevada focus on

• defining the specific habitat needs of Sierra landbird species,
• determining the effects of various land management practices on avian population and community dynamics, and
• identifying land management practices that are most compatible with maintaining habitat characteristics capable of supporting viable populations and diverse communities.

Public or private land managers in the Sierra interested in collaborating with IBP to solve applied conservation problems, answer targeted research questions, or develop avian monitoring programs are invited to contact Rodney Siegel.

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