1. Avian Monitoring to Inform Natural Resource Management March 14, 2019
Please mute your phones.
Audio Dial-In: DoDNaturalResources.net
Participant Code:

2. Avian Monitoring to Inform Natural Resource Management
Nick Van Lanen – Avian Ecologist,
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
and
Clark Jones - Natural and Cultural Resource Manager, US Army Pueblo Chemical Depot,
US Fish and Wildlife Service

3. Legacy Program
Project Number (14-768)

4. Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR)
Designed to meet partner needs at multiple scales
Second largest breeding bird monitoring program in the nation
Directly addresses NABCI’s “Opportunities for Improving Avian Monitoring” 2007

5. NABCI “Opportunities for Improving Avian Monitoring”
Goal 1: Integrate monitoring into bird management and conservation practices.
Goal 2: Coordinate monitoring programs among organizations and integrate them across spatial scales.
Goal 3: Increase the value of monitoring information by improving statistical design.
Goal 4: Maintain bird population monitoring data in modern data management systems. 5

6. 15 states!

7. Stratification in Wyoming
37 strata make up wy in 2014

8. Sampling Units

9. Point Count Methods Visit 1 grid cell per day
Attempt to survey all 16 points
Ocular vegetation data collection
6 minute point count
1 minute intervals
Measure distances to each bird detected

10. Population Metrics Density Occupancy Easily interpreted
More sensitive for common species
Data “hungry”
Occupancy
Good for rare species
Can look at species interactions
Can be integrated in multi-species metric (richness)

11. Analytical Methods – Population Metrics
Estimate density
Distance sampling
Buckland, S. T., D. R. Anderson, K. P. Burnham, J. L. Laake, D. L. Borchers, and L. Thomas Introduction to distance sampling: estimating abundance of biological populations.
Estimate occupancy rate
Combined removal and occupancy modeling
Pavlacky, D. C., Jr., J. A. Blakesley, G. C. White, D. J. Hanni, and P. M. Lukacs Hierarchical multi-scale occupancy estimation for monitoring wildlife populations. Journal of Wildlife Management
76:

12. Analytical Methods – Habitat Relationships & Density Maps

13. Advantages of Using IMBCR Design
Cost efficiencies
Data leveraging
Regional context
80 detects per spp -> few stand-alone projects would be able to track more than a handful of the most abundant spp rigorously
Regional context is huge w/ multiple, large-scale factors at play like habitat loss on stop-over and wintering grounds, a changing climate, etc.

14. Monitoring Thru Legacy
9 strata in CO
US Air Force Academy
Fort Carson
Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site
Pueblo Chemical Depot
1 stratum in WY
Camp Guernsey
Based upon discussions w/ NR managers re: mgmt ?’s

15. Results – Avian Monitoring
Sampled 117 sample units in 2015
Averaged ~68 species estimates per installation
(Mean of 67 species est/installation)

16. Results – Population Metrics
Determine current status
Compare installations to regional estimates
Evaluate impact of training activities
Compare across years
Installation
Density N
Camp Guernsey
11.83
3314
Fort Carson
1.12
445
Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site
11.01
6780
Pueblo Chemical Depot
US Air Force Academy

17. Results – Habitat Relationships
Identifying thresholds
Determine actions needed to alter habitat to support species
4 Goals:
Integrate monitoring into bird management and conservation.
Coordinate monitoring among organizations and spatial scales
Increase statistical rigor of monitoring program designs
maintain data in high quality Database

18. Results – Predictive Density Maps
4 Goals:
Integrate monitoring into bird management and conservation.
Coordinate monitoring among organizations and spatial scales
Increase statistical rigor of monitoring program designs
maintain data in high quality Database

19. Secure Data Storage via the Rocky Mountain Avian Data Center

20. Achieving CBM Recommendations
DOD CBM Goal
NABCI Goal
IMBCR Achieves?
Incorporating monitoring in mgmt 1
Yes
Maximize scientific validity 3
Rigorous, unbiased field methods
Meta-data available 4
Efficient, secure data storage
Results published
Legacy supports monitoring
Determine spp of concern on installations
Integrated and large-scale program 2

21. IMBCR Partnership
We could not conduct this large of an effort without the IMBCR partnership, which is made up all these agencies and organizations.

22. Applying IMBCR on Pueblo Chemical Depot and DOD Installations Along the Front Range
Clark D. Jones
USFWS / Pueblo Chemical Depot
Colorado Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office
March 14, 2019

23. 2015 Sampling Sparks et. al 2016 76,000 acres 18,500 acres

24. USFWS - DOD Migratory Bird MOU “…to promote the conservation of migratory bird populations while sustaining the use of military managed lands and airspace for testing, training, and operations.”
Prior to initiating any activity likely to affect populations of migratory birds DoD shall
Identify the migratory bird species likely to occur in the area of the proposed action and determine if any species of concern could be affected by the activity, and
Assess and document, using NEPA when applicable, the effect of the proposed action on species of concern.
Without monitoring, we have no way of measuring the effects our actions have on bird populations. Without population estimates and an understanding of natural variation in populations, we can’t achieve our goals. It’s about knowing not only where species occur, but having objective habitat relationships and being able to predict how different actions might affect bird populations.
By following these procedures, DoD will minimize the possibility for a proposed action to unintentionally take migratory birds at a level that would violate any of the migratory bird treaties and potentially impact
mission activities. In addition, implementing conservation and monitoring programs for migratory birds
supports the ecosystem integrity necessary to sustain DoD’s natural resources for the military mission.

26. IMBCR on DOD Installations
Enables comparisons between installations.
What about comparisons off the installation?
In order to understand what is happening on the installation, it’s important to compare with what is happening off the installation as well.
Sparks et. al 2016

27. Regional comparisons http://rmbo.org/v3/avian/
“We have really good Brewer’s Sparrow habitat”…compared to what?

28. Regional comparisons
Clark Jones / USFWS
Without monitoring, we have no way of measuring the effects our actions have on bird populations. Without population estimates and an understanding of natural variation in populations, we can’t achieve our goals.

29. Regional comparisons
Arthur Morris / VIREO
“We have really good Brewer’s Sparrow habitat”…compared to what?

30. Regional comparisons
Doug Wechsler / VIREO
“We have really good Brewer’s Sparrow habitat”…compared to what?

31. Regional comparisons
Gregg Lasley / VIREO
Without monitoring, we have no way of measuring the effects our actions have on bird populations. Without population estimates and an understanding of natural variation in populations, we can’t achieve our goals.

32. Regional comparisons
Lark Bunting

33. Regional comparisons – Nomadism on the prairie
Several species of birds in the western plains exhibit low rates of site fidelity and local populations fluctuate from year to year depending on climatic conditions.
Lark Bunting
Cassin’s Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
This creates a problem when trying to determine population estimates and trajectories without a regional context (especially when surveys are not conducted every year).
2015
2018
“We have really good Brewer’s Sparrow habitat”…compared to what?
Gregg Lasley / VIREO
eBird.org
eBird.org

34. Regional comparisons
Gregg Lasley / VIREO
“We have really good Brewer’s Sparrow habitat”…compared to what?

35. Regional comparisons
Doug Wechsler / VIREO

36. Predicting Impacts to Bird Populations

37. Predicting Impacts to Bird Populations
Difficult to quantify impacts of military actions on bird populations
IMBCR also quantifies habitat relationships
Allows estimates of impacts to be made
Example: effects of munitions clearance operations on Cassin’s Sparrow
Clark Jones / USFWS

39. Predicting Impacts to Bird Populations - Occupancy
Cassin’s Sparrow

40. Predicting Impacts to Bird Populations - BASH
Habitat modification goals:
Reduce BASH
Decrease take near airfields
Buckley AFB (Aurora, CO)
There is a need to assess the success or failure based on changes in local density and occupancy in a statistically defensible manner.
It is a small installation. Obtaining sufficient detections is difficult, but IMBCR addresses this by pooling detections.

41. Biological Investigations
Colorado State University – Pueblo
Communities to Build Active STEM Engagement (CBASE)
Funded by Title III grant
“Primary goals of increasing retention and graduation rates of undergraduate STEM students, with emphasis on students from underrepresented backgrounds.”
Students conduct field work on a variety of taxa including birds, reptiles, plants, and mammals.
IMBCR predictive maps used to select plot locations. 

42. Students participate in point counts, vegetation surveys, nest monitoring, and genetic sexing of young.
Lark Bunting Demography Plots

43. - Conclusion - Limitations of the legacy project
Only one year* of sampling since Legacy project.
It’s not a silver bullet. Not all species are detected such as nocturnal species, habitat specialists, very rare species.
2015 was a wet year. We need more variability in the data to make better predictions.
Unlike the BBS/CBC, IMBCR is not free. However, results are far more informative.

44. - Conclusion - Strengths of the IMBCR program
We can pool detections for small installations with few detections.
Detections can also be pooled for rare species and Bayesian methods need fewer detections.
Comparisons to locations/regions off the installation helps explain the status in a given year.
Occupancy and population size. Not an index!
Annual monitoring in all locations is not necessary.
IMBCR can help NRMs and biologists assess effects of activities and measure success of habitat modification projects (e.g., BASH)

45. Questions? Nick Van Lanen, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
(970) x28
Clark Jones, USFWS, Pueblo Chemical Depot
(719)