Five years ago, the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory began monitoring population, distribution and density of birds in the shortgrass prairie using a new protocol specifically designed for private and agriculture-dominated landscapes. The "Section Survey", as the method is called, is a road-based, point-count technique conducted within one-square mile sections - the basic land management unit of the prairie. To date, RMBO has collected data on more than 100 bird species within Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 18 in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, including data from five U.S. Forest Service national grasslands - Cimarron, Comanche, Kiowa, Pawnee and Rita Blanca.
The Section Survey method is not only uniquely suited for the prairie, but also fills in the information gaps not captured by larger, more nationally-based surveys, such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), for prairie bird species. BBS data do not reliably predict population trends at small geographic scales such as a national grasslands, states, or even larger eco-regions like BCR 18.
Filling these gaps is critical to prairie bird conservation as grassland species have experienced more widespread declines than any other guild of North American birds. Several species found in this region are found nowhere else or are closely associated with the Great Plains grasslands. Many of which are species of concern or importance, as recognized by Partners In Flight, the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and state and federal wildlife agencies, such as: Ferruginous Hawk, Mountain Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Cassin's Sparrow, Lark Bunting, McCown's and Chestnut-collared Longspur and Dickcissel.
The surveys are also crucial to bird planning and habitat conservation efforts of wildlife groups and agencies that work in this region including the Playa Lakes Joint Venture, and the agencies that help fund Section Surveys including the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, U.S. Forest Service and Oklahoma City Zoo.
RMBO's Section Survey data is being used by the PLJV for its Hierarchical All Bird Strategy - a relational database that compares species density to suitable and available landscape types to come up with habitat conservation objectives to reach regional and national bird population goals.
"The Section Surveys are some of best information on the continent of how birds respond to habitat," said PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. "We use the results extensively in our planning."
To find out more about Section Surveys, contact RMBO Prairie Conservation Biologist David Hanni.
Playa Country Radio Update: Ranching's New Look, Lannan Sponsors Show
This month on Playa Country radio, learn how cattle ranching is changing with the times from Duke Phillips, manager of the Chico Basin Ranch in Hanover, Colorado. At Chico Basin, they aren't just raising cattle, but a whole new breed of ranchers, tourists and city-dwellers dedicated to preserving the natural world and western heritage. That's just one of several radio programs airing in June on Playa Country.
Playa Country broadcasts every Monday morning at 10:30am and Saturday at 11:15am CST on all High Plains Public Radio stations across the PLJV region. You can also catch the show Thursdays at 11:55am on KPAN radio in Hereford, Texas. If you don't get Playa Country radio in your neck of the prairie, you can listen online.
Playa Country has a new sponsor! The Lannan Foundation recently granted $6,000 to the PLJV to support production of the radio program. Lannan is also a major contributor to the new PLJV film: The Playas - Reflections of Life on the Plains. The film will be released to the public later this month. Look for more details in the July Playa Post.
Playa Post ©2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Playa Lakes Joint Venture. Submission deadlines are the 15th of each month for publication the following month. Send press releases, comments and subscription inquiries to Debbie F. Slobe.
Very few students at Cactus Elementary knew what a playa was on the first day of the Playa Festival on May 22. But on the third and final day, not only could students tell you about playas, but they could also tell you about the Ogallala Aquifer, the hydrologic cycle, High Plains wildlife and more. About 200 4th, 5th and 6th graders participated in the three-day festival which took place in the northern Texas Panhandle town of Cactus May 22 - 24.
Festival instructors included renowned artists, musicians and scientists, and activities ranged from poetry-writing and drawing to hands-on lessons about water and wildlife resources and a live hawk demonstration. Students also participated in three separate field trips to visit and explore playas, the North Palo Duro Draw, and the Cactus Wastewater Treatment Facility.
This is the sixth Playa Festival conducted by the Ogallala Commons, with others having taken place in the Texas towns of Canadian, Olton, Nazareth and Highland Park, and in Goodwell, Oklahoma. Cactus Festival sponsors included the PLJV, High Plains RC&D, Texas Tech University Water Resources Center, North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, Moore County Soil and Water Conservation District and Sherman County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Recently, Playa Country radio featured an interview with Ogallala Commons Executive Director Darryl Birkenfeld and Highland Park teacher Jill Swan about the festivals. Click here to listen.
PLJV Honors Longtime
Partner Jim Ray
The PLJV bid a fond farewell to Jim Ray - one of the longest-tenured members of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Team (MERT) - at a celebration dinner last month in the Texas Panhandle. Ray, who began his involvement with the PLJV in 1990 when he was the High Plains-area waterfowl biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) - recently announced he was stepping down from the MERT.
"Jim is a solid individual that you could always count on, and he has a passion for things," said PLJV Board Member Mike O'Meilia of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, who has worked with Ray since the JV's beginning. "Jim is a Panhandle resident and has a real sense of value of the playas. It's hard to really even measure how valuable his contributions to the PLJV are."
Ray's PLJV involvement began as a member of the Interagency Playa Lakes Disease Council - basically the precursor to MERT. Ray was instrumental in supporting research on avian cholera, and facilitating interagency cooperation on avian disease outbreaks. The avian disease outbreak contingency plan developed by Ray and the Council is still in use at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges today. Ray moved on from the TPWD to become the wildlife biologist for Pantex Corporation in 2000, but stayed on with the MERT continuing to support science efforts of the JV.
Thanks Jim and we'll miss you!
Happenings Around the PLJV
> June 6: Ogallala Commons teacher training on playas, TX Panhandle; contact Darryl Birkenfeld.
> June 6 - 7: NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project - High Plains Wetlands, Lubbock,TX; contact Loren Smith.
> June 7: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission District 4 Birding Day, Red Willow Reservoir, NE; contact TJ Walker.
> June 12: Nebraska Partnership for All-Bird Conservation Steering Committee meeting, Ogallala, NE; contact Kelly Rezac.
> June 13-15: PLJV Management Board Meeting, Ft. Robinson State Park, NE; contact Mike Carter.
> June 20-21: National Wind Coordinating Committee's Wildlife Workgroup Core Group meeting, Boulder, CO.
> June 28: EPA Region 8 Grant-writing workshop