Montana’s streams and wetlands face many threats due to human activities including dewatering for irrigation, overgrazing by cattle, clearing of riparian vegetation, and mining operations. Yet to date, the status of the state’s small and ephemeral streams and wetlands is unknown. By monitoring biological communities, we can evaluate the overall health of the water body in which they live. Bird communities can serve as indicators of ecosystem health because they reflect an integration of a broad array of ecological conditions, including water quality, productivity, landscape integrity and vegetation structure and composition. Furthermore, many bird species associated with riparian habitats are in decline across the West, and we must identify the factors affecting these species.

In 2003, in cooperation with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the Avian Science Center conducted bird surveys along streams that encompass a range of conditions in southwestern Montana. We focused on small-order streams dominated by willow (though we hope to add additional wetland types at some point in the future). We examined how factors at multiple scales, from number of roads and mines in the watershed to severity of grazing in the riparian zone, influence bird distributions. We also explored how natural disturbance from beaver activity alters the riparian zone and the associated bird community. This study should help provide an integrated assessment of the biological health of Montana’s streams, while also contributing to a better understanding of the region’s riparian bird populations.

Objectives: 1) Determine the relationships between riparian bird communities and factors influencing stream condition, 2) determine the influence of beaver activity on stream characteristics and bird distributions, and 3) develop a tool to use birds to assess and monitor wetland condition.

Funders: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

Project duration:  2002-2005

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Contact:  Anna Noson, 243-2035 or anna.noson@mso.umt.edu