Projects designed and carried out by the Landbird Monitoring Program are ever changing, as the needs of our sponsors evolve and science advances. Here we describe first our recent endeavors and our other projects emphasizing management effects:

2007 Bird Monitoring Projects

1) Dry Forest Old Growth.  We conducted point counts in stands considered old growth (Greene et al.) on 5 National Forests in Region 1:  Bitterroot, Helena, Kootenai, Lolo, and Nez Perce.  If you want to see where we did and did not detect Pileated Woodpeckers click HERE. We'll have more results and a report posted here soon.

2006 Bird Monitoring Projects

1) The LBMP conducted an assessment of the landbird community in beetle infested areas on 5 National Forests in Region 1. We were particularly interested in whether Black-backed Woodpeckers were found in recent beetle outbreak sites. We conducted both standard point counts and playback surveys using broadcast callers to locate Black-backed Woodpeckers. We only found a few Black-backed Woodpeckers in the beetle outbreak areas (all on the Nez Perce NF), and our detection rates paled in comparison to our concurrent post-fire study.  We did detect plenty of Three-toed Woodpeckers and other interesting bird species! 

Download the final report (.pdf).

2) We piloted off road, grid-based point count sampling on 3 National Forests and 1 BLM area.  We surveyed for birds and collected habitat relationship data using a few different grid designs, namely Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) based intensified grids and another grid design based on the USFS Multiple Species Inventory and Monitoring Protocols.

These were successful pilot projects and have generated a number of ideas and issues for discussion.  Download and read our

2006 Grid-based Sampling Report (.pdf).

2005 Bird Monitoring Projects

In 2005 we embarked on single-species monitoring.  We designed and carried out a project on the presence and non-detection of Flammulated Owls.  Protocols and results are posted HERE.  Mapping of the detections are posted on our mapping service.

The Avian Science Center also helped organize and train technicians for the Region-wide survey of Northern Goshawks.  You can see the distribution of the survey areas and the Goshawks detected through our mapping service.  You can read about this project and the results via the Final Report.

Management Effects Studies

During the first ten years of the LBMP, we visited the long-term monitoring transects every second year, freeing us to use the intervening years to investigate the effects of management activities. These alternate-year monitoring efforts have been designed to put management-oriented results into the hands of managers and biologists in the short term, so potential problems can be anticipated and planning can be improved long before we may discover a declining trend.

At present, we are focusing more of our efforts on monitoring for habitat relationships, and our year-to-year "schedule" is more flexible.  However, in 2007 we did return to this focus with our investigation of bird populations in old growth forests within the wildland-urban interface (above).

Previous LBMP projects have included:

Dry Forest Restoration: 2001-2003

Structure and Grazing in Tall-Willow Riparian Communities: 2001-2003

Effects of partial-cut timber harvesting on landbirds in the northern Rocky Mountains: 1997

The effect of grassland structure on the abundance of landbirds in the northern Great Plains: 1996

We plan to have reports and data available here early in 2008. 

For more information, contact Jock Young