Vol. 7 Issue 6, May 2009
In this issue
Top Stories

POLICY NEWS: Kansas Lawmaker Conducts Annual 'Conservation Tour'

If you preserve it, they will come; if you conserve it, they will stay.

On April 7 and 8, 1st District Congressman Jerry Moran (R-KS) held his 9th Annual Conservation Tour, which focuses on conservation accomplishments and/or issues facing federal programs in his home state. This year, the tour centered around the activities and goals of the newly formed Kansas Prescribed Fire Council (see link to their activities on the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition website). The first stop—the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP—and the details of maintenance or management burns on those acres were discussed and examples shown. Safety and site preparation were emphasized, necessary equipment and training, along with proper training, to ensure safe, inexpensive burns to maintain and improve native grasslands and CRP acres.

At the second stop—the Fred Bern Ranch—Fred, Mike Collinge, and Ted Alexander all shared their personal perspectives on burning native grass pastures. For ranchers, prescribed fire is seen as an economic aid to managing their grass and adding more weight gain for their livestock, while keeping down invasive woody plants, such as eastern red cedar, which use excess water and compete with grasses for nutrients. They also all spoke about continuing the tradition of fire to keep the prairie as it has been done for many centuries, starting with the native Americans and then the early ranchers who settled here. Fire has been used all across the PLJV region for centuries to manage native prairies and is a valuable tool to help insure the habitat grassland birds require to thrive.

"PLJV is interested in assisting any state or congressional district in arranging and conducting similar conservation tours to Congressman Moran's tour in their area," says Barth Crouch, PLJV Conservation Policy Director. For more information, contact Barth Crouch at 785-823-0240 or barth.crouch@pljv.org.

POLICY UPDATE: New Field Guide to Farm Bill Available

The Farm Bill is one of the most important tools enacted by Congress for restoring, enhancing, and protecting habitat on private lands. As the number of conservation programs has increased since the 1985 Farm Bill, so have the amount of funds authorized to further conservation on private lands. The 2008 farm Bill authorized approximately $23 billion for a five-year period. To help landowners, conservationists, biologists, and others take advantage of conservation programs in the 2008 Farm Bill, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative in partnership with the Intermountain West Joint Venture has published the Field Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill for Fish and Wildlife Conservation. The publication is available in pdf format on the NABCI Web site. This site will also be presenting the material as interactive Web pages that will be updated as information changes.

The publication presents an overview of the Farm Bill and its history, as well as important information on organizations, like PLJV, that administer it. Also provided is information on setting priorities, maximizing wildlife benefits, conservation planning, conservation practice standards, performance measurements, and assessments. A resources page provides citations of studies that document the impacts of Farm Bill programs and practices on wildlife. The author, Randall Gray, worked for 31 years for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, where he helped develop, deliver, and evaluate Farm Bill conservation programs. Before retiring, his final position was the National Wildlife Biologist. He is presently the Farm Bill Coordinator for the Intermountain West Joint Venture.

SCIENCE NEWS: National Wildlife Organizations Convene Conference to Address Climate Change

The National Council for Science and the Environment, Wildlife Habitat Policy Research Program and the National Wildlife Federation recently convened "Adaptation 2009: Safeguarding Fish, Wildlife and Natural Systems in the Face of Climate Change."

This innovative conference made an important contribution to advancing the dialogue about how natural resource management and conservation efforts, like those of the PLJV, will need to be transformed to meet the challenges of climate change.

Participants included more than 130 professionals working on management, policy and research related to wildlife and climate change. These leading "thinkers and doers" came from across the U.S., representing a broad diversity of expertise and balanced participation by non-governmental organizations, federal and state agencies, academia, and the private sector.

The conference website includes background information on the conference, available presentations and audio.

MAPPING NEWS: Center for Geospatial Technology at Texas Tech University to Launch Website of Ogallala Aquifer Maps and Data

This website is organized into two parts: (1) Ogallala Maps & Data and (2) Texas Maps. The Ogallala Maps & Data section contains aquifer information for 41 Texas counties for a 15-year study period from 1990 to 2004. Included in the Texas Counties subsection are maps and graphs of the water in storage, change in water in storage, the saturated thickness, and the change in saturated thickness for each county. Additionally summary data and graphs by county present the available water in storage and average saturated thickness. The Texas Ogallala Summary subsection presents summary data and maps for the portion of the aquifer that lies within Texas.

The Texas Maps section of the atlas provides an information resource of the land, the people, and the agricultural economy of the region that is served by the Ogallala Aquifer and compares that to the rest of the state. The Texas Maps section is organized into three categories: Agriculture, Demographic Trends and Physical Landscape. Also provided is a description of each map including the source data information. All maps are provided in PDF format.

The goal of this project is to provide scientifically sound data and knowledge to water planners and policymakers to support the decision making that will ultimately affect the longevity of Ogallala Aquifer. The efforts in this project were funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service as part of the Ogallala Aquifer Program.

http://gis.ttu.edu/ogallalaaquifermaps

SCIENCE UPDATE: 90 Years of Bird-Watching Notes Becoming Available to PLJV

The U.S. Geological Survey plans to post nearly a century of observations from amateur bird-watchers, a resource scientists say could help them understand the impacts of climate change on avian behavior. Observations indicate that climate change is already altering bird migration patterns and population distribution, and scientists hope the century of continuous data will allow them to better track changes.

The collection contains data on roughly 900 bird species, including some—such as the Guadalupe storm-petrel, Labrador duck, Guadalupe caracara, great auk, Carolina parakeet and passenger pigeon—that are now extinct.

OUTREACH UPDATE: EnCana and Colorado DOW Produce Wildlife Video

EnCana and the Colorado Division of Wildlife have produced a training DVD that gives energy workers information to minimize their impacts to Colorado wildlife and wildlife habitat. Wildlife in Colorado: What You Need to Know is designed to give energy workers a basic overview of the animals they might encounter when working in Colorado's oil and gas fields.

"Many of the energy workers in Colorado come from other places where wildlife may not be as plentiful or as close as what they are going to experience in Colorado," said JT Romatzke, a DOW Area Wildlife Manager and one of the on-screen hosts for the video. "We can't personally go to every employee orientation so the DVD gives us the ability to equip workers with some basic information."

The video includes information about wildlife, including how to care for trash to avoid attracting bears to work areas, why feeding even small animals can be unsafe for people and the animals, what to do if you encounter a mountain lion, and the importance of protecting species like the cutthroat trout and sage grouse. The DVD also explains hunting and fishing opportunities in Colorado and what is required to qualify for resident hunting and fishing licenses.

"This project really speaks to the collaborative approach we strive to maintain with the CDOW. We believe that this video provides an effective way to educate the men and women of industry how to minimize impacts to wildlife and their habitat while working hard to provide clean-burning, domestic energy," said Byron R. Gale, EnCana, Vice President, Environmental, Health and Safety.

In addition to funding production costs associated with the video, EnCana is making copies available to other natural gas and oil producers and industry contractors throughout the state. To request a copy of the video contact EnCana community relations at (866) 896-6371.

POLICY NEWS: Senate Bill Introduced to Conserve Rapidly Disappearing Migratory Birds

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Water and Wildlife Subcommittee, has introduced bipartisan legislation to boost funding for the conservation of migratory birds. Cosponsors of the bill include Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).

The Senate bill (SB 690) reauthorizes the existing Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA), but at significantly higher levels, to meet the growing needs of migrants, many of which are in rapid decline. Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) plans to introduce similar legislation in the House of Representatives. The legislation was introduced following the release of U.S. State of the Birds, the most comprehensive assessment to date on the status of bird populations. The report found that over 250 American bird species are in decline or facing severe threats.

Of the 178 continental bird species included on American Bird Conservancy’s "WatchList" of birds of highest conservation concern, over one-third, 71 species, are Neotropical migrants. The populations of an estimated 127 species of migratory birds are in persistent decline, and 60 species have experienced significant population declines greater than 45 percent over the last 40 years. Several species, the Cerulean Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher, have declined as much as 70 percent since surveys began in the 1960s.

Saving Migratory Birds for Future Generations: The Success of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, a 2008 report by American Bird Conservancy, details the disturbing downward trend in the populations of many migratory species and its causes, and documents the effectiveness of NMBCA. American Bird Conservancy and the Bird Conservation Alliance, a broad network of bird clubs, science and conservation organizations, have launched the Act for Songbirds campaign, to support reauthorizing the legislation and boosting funding levels each year. Citizens are being encouraged to contact their Senators in support of the legislation at http://www.abcbirds.org/action.

PLJV ‘Channel’ Debuts on YouTube

In an effort to expand its communications tools and outreach activities, the Playa Lakes Joint Venture has joined YouTube, the online video-sharing phenomenon that encourages people to Broadcast Yourself. The PLJV ‘Channel’ is home to six videos, chapters taken directly from the PLJV film produced in 2006, The Playas: Reflections of Life on the Plains. Plans are also underway to edit together a compressed, 7-minute version of the film.

The new "channel" on YouTube will help PLJV establish a growing online presence and help build name recognition outside of the six-state boundary it currently supports. PLJV also recently established a Facebook page, "Friends of the Playa Lakes Joint Venture," to facilitate online discussions and share more current birding news.

"We’re excited about using emerging technologies and the Internet to help get the PLJV mission out," says PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. "The Playa Post and Playa Country Radio remain our main forms of communication, but the Internet is proving to be an important and viable medium, especially for nonprofits who don’t have the budgets to devote to costly advertising."

To watch, rate and/or make comments about the PLJV videos, visit www.youtube.com/user/PlayaLakes.

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