Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced 40 grants to conservation organizations working in 16 U.S. states, 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Puerto Rico to support neotropical migratory bird conservation. The grants total $3.8 million and will be matched by $16 million in contributions by partnering organizations.
In the Midwest, grants totaling more than $136,000 were awarded for projects in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. These funds will be matched by some $587,000 in partner contributions. In addition, a project with Ohio and Venezuela received a grant of $57,204, with a partner match of $171,612.
There are 341 species of nearctic-neotropical migrants, birds that breed in the United States and Canada, and winter in Latin America. Nearctic-neotropical migrant species include plovers, terns, hawks, cranes, warblers and sparrows.
“ The conservation of neotropical migratory birds extends beyond our borders and depends on partnerships with other nations as well as states, tribes, conservation organizations and many others here at home,” Secretary Norton said at a meeting of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, where she announced the grants. “Through these grants, the Interior Department is supporting cooperative conservation projects from Maine to Argentina.”
The Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 2000 establishes a matching grants program to fund projects that promote conservation of neotropical migratory birds in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. The money may be used to protect, research, monitor and manage these birds populations and habitats, as well as to conduct law enforcement and community outreach and education. By law, 75 percent of the money goes to projects in Latin America and Caribbean countries while 25 percent goes to projects in the United States.
“ Neotropical migratory birds are important for our ecosystems,” Norton said. “They work as natures pest controllers and pollinators and provide many hours of enjoyment for birdwatchers and outdoor enthusiasts.”
Grant projects in the Midwest are:
Michigan
“Variables Associated with Avian Mortality from Collisions with Communication Towers” by Joelle Gehring, Ph.D. will match $198,960 to $38,500 in grant funds. This project involves 20 counties in Michigan, where over the next two years, project partners will collect data on avian deaths resulting from collisions at 24 state-owned communications towers during the peak of spring and fall bird migration. This research, based on a pilot study conducted at six sites in 2003, will include tower variables such as lighting (strobe versus solid, high- versus mid-level, red versus white light), height (380 to 480 feet versus 1,000 feet), and support structure (guy-wires versus none). Using advanced radar-ornithology technology, partners will gauge the density of migrating birds moving past the study sites in order to discern the relative number of bird deaths, not just the total number.
Project results will help designers and managers of communication towers create or adjust these structures in ways that minimize or prevent avian mortality due to collisions.
Partners in this project include Central Michigan University and the State of Michigan.
Minnesota. Grassland Songbird Use of Conservation Buffers in Southwest Minnesota by the Wildlife Habitat Management Institute will match $112,277 to $6,542 in grant funds. In Brown, Cottonwood, Jackson, Nobles and Watonwan counties, project partners will evaluate grassland-dependent songbirds’ use of Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) filter strips.
Their research, now in its second field season, will assess species richness and abundance as well as nest density and nest success in relation to filter strip width, vegetative structure and composition, and surrounding landscape features. Results will facilitate a better understanding of how filter strips can be optimized for the benefit of songbirds. Under the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, state and local partnerships help private landowners to protect, restore, and manage grasslands. Establishing buffers called “filter strips,” 30- to 120-foot-wide bands of grass or grass mixtures along waterways, is one of the more popular CREP conservation practices among participating farmers and holds much potential for benefiting breeding grassland songbirds.
Wisconsin
Glacial Lake Grantsburg Bird Habitat Initiative by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will match $277,100 to $92,300 in grant funds. Project partners will acquire fee title to 173 acres of pine/oak barrens habitat and protect it for grassland/shrubland-dependent bird species; they will also restore 300 acres of pine/oak barrens and jack pine/oak stands. Partners will enhance 4,500 acres of pine/oak barrens to promote prairie grass and forb diversity and early successional species. Some two miles of permanent firebreaks will be created to facilitate seasonal prescribed burning on 2,600 of these acres. Partners also will manage and maintain 1,500 acres of sedge marsh via prescribed burning. All land acquisition will be in Burnett County. Efforts will support the bird habitat goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan’s Upper Mississippi River-Great Lakes Region Joint Venture.
Ohio
Venezuela. Demography of Cerulean Warblers on Breeding & Wintering Grounds by the Ohio State University will match $171,612 to $57,204 in grant funds. This project will occur in Ohio’s Athens, Vinton and Jackson counties and in Venezuela In Ohio, project partners will evaluate how arrival date, density, reproductive success, site fidelity, and condition of cerulean warblers are related to forest management practices at multiple spatial scales. In the Andean forests of Venezuela, the wintering grounds of cerulean warblers, partners will compare density, sex and age segregation, condition, and site fidelity of warblers in primary forest and in shade-grown coffee plantations within the Venezuelan Andes Montane Forests Ecoregion.
Project summaries for all grants may be found at <http://birdhabitat.fws.gov>.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
