EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


This document has been prepared to stimulate and support an active approach to conservation of landbirds in the Columbia Plateau of eastern Oregon and Washington. It represents the collective efforts of individuals from multiple agencies and organizations within the Oregon-Washington Chapter of Partners in Flight. Participants included biologists and ecologists from Federal and State agencies, industry, private consulting firms, environmental organizations, and academia in order to ensure a full range of ideas, information flow, and practicalities.

Recommendations included in this document are intended to guide planning efforts and actions of land managers, direct expenditures of government and non-government organizations, and stimulate monitoring and research to support landbird conservation. The recommendations also are expected to be the foundation for developing detailed conservation strategies at multiple geographic scales to ensure functional ecosystems with healthy populations of landbirds.



Background



The vegetation of the Columbia Plateau has changed dramatically in the last 150 years since European settlement of the region. The loss and alteration of historic vegetation communities has impacted landbird habitats and resulted in species range reductions, population declines, and some local and regional extirpations. In the Columbia Plateau Breeding Bird Survey Physiographic Region, 16 species have significant recent (1980-1998) and/or long-term (1966-1998) declining population trends. Several other species which lack sufficient BBS data are considered by many to be declining (e.g., bobolink, Lewis' woodpecker). Additionally, species such as sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, and upland sandpiper have been extirpated as breeding species from parts of the Columbia Plateau, and yellow-billed cuckoo has likely been extirpated as a breeding species from the entire area.

Conservation Strategy

The overall goal of Partners In Flight Bird Conservation Planning is to ensure long-term maintenance of healthy populations of native landbirds. This document is intended to facilitate that goal by describing the process and the recommended actions to implement landbird conservation in the Columbia Plateau. The four principal components of that process are:

identify habitats and habitat attributes important to landbirds,

describe the desired habitat conditions based on the habitat relationships of a select group of priority species,

provide interim management targets (i.e., biological objectives) to achieve the desired conditions, and

recommend management actions (i.e., conservation strategies) that can be implemented by various entities at multiple scales to achieve the biological objectives.



Because of the diversity of landbird species and habitats in the Columbia Plateau, conservation will require a complex array of conditions within variable landscape patterns. Management goals need to be carefully designed and integrated across several scales to meet the needs of multiple species. Landbird conservation will likely require areas that function as reserves, and areas that incorporate a wide range of management activities within various land uses. Thus, our conservation emphasis is three-fold:



initiate conservation actions in accordance with the ecological potential of the site (i.e., within the framework of potential natural vegetation and natural ecosystem processes),

emphasize conservation within high priority designated conservation areas and where opportunities exist (i.e., receptive land owners and land managers), and

emphasize conservation at multiple scales such that habitat conditions for one or a few species are nested within a landscape that provides a mosaic of conditions for multiple species.



Our conceptual approach for landbird conservation was to emphasize ecosystem management through a hierarchy of conservation recommendations for priority habitat types, habitat attributes or conditions within those habitat types, and landbird species highly associated with those habitats and habitat attributes. The two priority habitats are:



shrub-steppe

riparian



Our strategy for achieving functioning ecosystems for landbirds within shrub-steppe and riparian habitats is described through the habitat requirements of "focal species" highly associated with important attributes or conditions within each habitat type. The rationale for using focal species is to draw immediate attention to habitat attributes most in need of conservation or most important in a functioning ecosystem. By managing for a group of species representative of important components in a functioning ecosystem, many other species and elements of biodiversity also will be conserved. The following focal species were selected based on their conservation need, and/or degree of association with important habitat attributes in the Columbia Plateau:



Habitat Habitat Attribute Focal Species

Steppe native bunchgrass cover grasshopper sparrow*

Steppe-Shrubland interspersion tall shrubs-openings loggerhead shrike*

Steppe-Shrubland burrows burrowing owl

Steppe-Shrubland deciduous shrubs and trees sharp-tailed grouse

Sagebrush large areas - diverse understory sage grouse

Sagebrush large contiguous patches sage sparrow

Sagebrush sagebrush cover Brewer's sparrow*

Sagebrush sagebrush height sage thrasher

Shrublands ecotone edges lark sparrow

Shrublands sparsely vegetated desert scrub black-throated sparrow*

Juniper - Steppe scattered mature trees ferruginous hawk

Riparian Woodland large snags (cottonwood) Lewis' woodpecker

Riparian Woodland large canopy trees (cottonwood) Bullock's oriole

Riparian Woodland subcanopy foliage yellow warbler

Riparian Woodland dense shrub layer yellow-breasted chat

Riparian Woodland large, structurally diverse patches yellow-billed cuckoo

Riparian Shrub dense shrub patches willow flycatcher

Riparian Shrub shrub-herbaceous interspersion lazuli bunting

Aspen large trees/snags with regeneration red-naped sapsucker

Agricultural Fields mesic conditions bobolink

Juniper Woodland mature trees with regeneration gray flycatcher

Cliffs and Rimrock undeveloped foraging areas prairie falcon

Mountain Mahogany large trees with regeneration Virginia's warbler

* Significantly declining population trends in the Columbia Plateau BBS Physiographic Region.



Based on the habitat relationships of these species, biological objectives are recommended and management actions (i.e., conservation strategies) to achieve them are described. Simply stated, biological objectives are "what we think the birds need." They are intended to stimulate conservation actions, but are not regulatory nor do they represent the policies of any agency or organization. Biological objectives provide a management target for planning and implementation, and a benchmark for measuring success. They also should be used as a starting point for discussion of integration with broader ecosystem-based objectives. Because data are limited for many species, biological objectives often are based on assumptions. These are stated as such, and are considered to be testable hypotheses for research.



Biological objectives may include site- and/or landscape-level habitat objectives or population objectives. Habitat objectives are derived from current knowledge and professional judgement about bird-habitat relationships (see Appendix E for a summary). Population objectives are primarily trend objectives for declining focal species, and density or distribution objectives for a few species.



Conservation is emphasized in areas where it is ecologically appropriate and where presumably the habitat is most suitable for the focal species. To facilitate this at a regional scale, recommended management is prioritized for focal species and their associated habitat attributes by habitat type and physiographic subprovince (see Appendix D for a summary).



Implementation



Implementation of this conservation strategy will require careful consideration of options to maximize conservation efforts, and the integration of diverse values and goals of land owners/managers with that of bird conservation. Implementation also will require a broad range of partnerships, extensive cooperation, and considerable financial resources. To be successful, participation will not only include land owners and managers, but also increased public awareness, commitment, and political support.



The conservation strategy has been designed for participation at any level. This includes directing management actions for small landowners to provide habitat for a single species, and as the foundation for comprehensive, integrated, multi-agency/organization, multi-species conservation within large-scale management units (e.g., watersheds, land management districts, physiographic regions). When this ecosystem-driven conservation strategy is fully implemented at large geographic scales, the aggregated effect will be the creation of landscapes that should function to conserve landbird communities.



The strategy has broad applicability to many other conservation planning efforts. Information presented in this document can be used in development of site-specific conservation plans such as State and private Habitat Conservation Plans, agency and inter-agency Management Plans, and local land-use planning strategies. Conversely, areas designated for conservation or management in other land management plans (e.g., The Nature Conservancy Ecoregion Plans) should be evaluated for potential support of landbird conservation as recommended in this document.



Adaptive Management



All conservation actions implemented on the basis of recommendations described in this document should include a monitoring and/or research component. This will be necessary not only to test the effectiveness of management actions, but also to evaluate assumptions upon which many of the biological objectives are based. The direct outgrowth of monitoring and research conducted as part of this strategy will be adaptive management. Monitoring and research are an integral part of the adaptive management component of this document, and will function to increase our knowledge base and provide scientific data to revise biological objectives as necessary.



The Future



This is the first version of what is intended to be a "dynamic" document with continual revisions and expansions as new information becomes available. Future versions will likely include an expansion of the number of species addressed, and additional habitat and population objectives. As additional species are added and biological objectives are updated, a more complex ecosystem management plan will be formulated. Ultimately, we envision a regional landscape of Bird Conservation Areas where integrated conservation for multiple species is being implemented as part of ecosystem management.



Acknowledgments



We would like to extend appreciation and thanks to the many individuals who contributed their time and expertise in the development of this plan. I especially thank members of the Columbia Plateau Working Group of the Oregon-Washington Partners in Flight chapter who provided input and review for all aspects of plan development. These people include: John Alexander, Jon Bart, Roger Borine, Chris Carey, Wendy Connally, Mike Denny, Tim Dring, Corey Dubenstein, Bob Flores, Ron Friesz, Rick Gerhardt, Don Haley, Neal Hedges, Randy Hill, Gary Ivey, Karen Kronner, Matt Mahrt, Russ Morgan, Mike Rule, Carl Scheeler, Todd Thompson, Matt Vander Haegen, Dick Vanderschaf, and Kent Woodruff. Funding was provided by the American Bird Conservancy through a grant from the Packard Foundation. Jenny Valdivia prepared the cover artwork, Dan Battaglia provided Figure 1, and Dick Vanderschaf wrote portions of Chapter 2.