What Species?

We assume this workshop is primarily focused on secretive marshbirds, as defined in the 1998 workshop.But in some (many?) areas, implementation will be part of implementing general programs for waterbirds, shorebirds and even waterfowl.So we will consider other aquatic species when doing so is relatively easy (e.g., in the discussion of management issues to be addressed and sampling plan to be used).

Primary Species

Pied-billed grebe; least and American bitterns; sora; clapper, king, Virginia, black and yellow rails; American coot (?); purple gallinule; and common snipe (?)

Management Issues the Marshbird Monitoring Program

Will Help Us Address

…and how identifying them now may help us design the marshbird

monitoring program

Preview

• Identify how marshbird monitoring data is likely to be used

• Describe different views on using this information to design the marshbird monitoring program

• Offer a recommendation based on work in the intermountain west

How is Marshbird Monitoring Data Likely to be Used?

• Considered marshbird issues; also reviewed how BBS data has been used

• Answer: In LOTS (dozens, maybe hundreds) of ways.

Quote on Monitoring from Paul Schmidt

• “Where would conservation be without monitoring programs? It’s hard to imagine. They provide scientists, wildlife officials, private organization and industry leaders, and the public with essential information to make scientifically based decisions to improve bird conservation and management. They provide information to determine which species are in the greatest need of conservation and management and to establish priorities for allocation of limited resources. They also help scientists and managers evaluate bird response to habitat manipulation and regulate game bird harvest. In fact, monitoring and evaluation should be integral components of all on-the-ground projects and population management decisions. Such adaptive resource management is just good business and helps keep us accountable for the work we do.”

Identifying Species at Risk

• Wetlands are declining; wetland species probably are too.

• Species of concern: yellow rail, black rail, limpkin, little blue heron, reddish egret, sedge wren, Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow, saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow, seaside sparrow, and LeConte’s sparrow

• Others on BCR lists

Monitoring Population Size

• Waterbird, shorebird, and landbird initiatives have adopted accuracy targets for trend estimation.

• Large-scale, long-term programs are the only way to achieve these accuracy targets.

• Products will probably include both standardized trend estimates and numerous analyses published in the peer reviewed literature

Setting Harvest Limits

• Seasons for most secretive marshbirds in both the US and Canada.

• Agencies have requirements – unmet at present – to obtain reliable information on which to base the harvest regulations.

• The marshbird monitoring program will provide the needed information.

Designing and Evaluating Management and Conservation

Programs

• Marshes face numerous threats (drainage, ditching, dredging, nutria, pollutants)

• Reveal habitat relationships, regional differences in trends, and more complex interactions (e.g, between species)

• Dozens of examples from the BBS literature

Documenting Progress Towards Population Goals

• Increased pressure to document progress (e.g., from OMB in the US)

• The long-term, large-scale, multi-species programs provide the only way to do this.

Investigating Basic Biology

• Relationships at the regional to rangewide scale.

• Habitat studies mentioned above.• Examples from BBS

– ID sub-populations and interactions– Dispersal and population growth– Models to predict distribution– Outlets: Science, Nature, Ecol. Appl., Condor,

Oecologia

Helping Managers Address Local Issues

• Sampling plan, field protocols, analytic methods may all be useful

• Data may be stored in the continental database (as in “999” BBS routes)

• For this program, data from local efforts may also contribute to continental program, thus enhancing the value of local projects.

Summary: LOTS of Ways• Identifying Species at Risk • Monitoring Population Size • Setting Harvest Limits • Designing and Evaluating Management and

Conservation Programs• Documenting Progress Towards Population

Goals• Investigating Basic Biology• Helping managers address local issues

How to Use This Information in Designing the MMP

• Formal Power Analysis– Could provide quantitative basis for design and

sample size estimation.– Requires one, or a very few, quantitative objectives

(e.g., 80% power…).– Thus requires prioritizing potential uses and ignoring

all but a few.– Hard for a continental group to include local priorities.– Requires advance estimates of variance components

which would be difficult for secretive marshbirds

Design a series of local and regional projects to address specific management issues

• Avoids the problems in doing a power analysis• Sampling effort may be uneven – or even

discontinuous – in time and space• Issues for which long-term, large-scale data are

needed may not be addressable• Differences in sampling plans and protocols may

arise• Summary: this approach doesn’t yield a

continental plan.

A Compromise

• Consider the potential management issues the mmp can help address in selecting the design

• Build a continental infrastructure that doesn’t ignore any of the potential uses of the data– Make target and sampled population as similar as

possible– Assess effects of differences between them– Consider ways to estimate detection rates– Collect environmental information, both regional GIS

layers and field data

A Compromise - 2

• Populate the infrastructure by learning where the good areas are, which are being surveyed, and by investigating which good but non-covered areas might be surveyed.

• Consider spending a few years on an inventory and assessment program prior to designing the long-term survey.

An Example: The IW

• Interviewed regional and local biologists throughout the IW to learn where good sites are, what concerns exist about these sites, what surveys are being done, and what surveys might be done.

Information About the Areas

• 424 sites

• Detailed site descriptions for 34%

• Species, surveys being done, difficulty of adding surveys for all

• Local contacts for all

Survey Aerial Water-

fowl

Ground-based

waterbirdSecretive Marshbird

Migrating Shorebird

Breeding Colonies

All surveys

Existing survey 117 119 44 29 79 388

No survey at present 28 112 73 93 64 370

Volunteers could conduct

7 30 40 30 34 141

Volunteers could help 0 13 4 5 4 26

Staff would conduct 0 46 23 42 24 135

Survey would be difficult 21 23 6 16 2 68

Information lacking 263 191 293 276 242 1265

1. 44 secretive marshbird surveys at present2. Opportunities for 73 more3. Volunteers could do 40 of them4. Staff would need to help or do all of 27 surveys5. Only 6 would be difficult

Summary

• Describe general purposes of the survey• Create the needed infrastructure

– Good sites and species at each– Site descriptions– Current and potential surveys– Data management system– Organizational support

• Identify initial areas of emphasis (e.g., 3-5 year inventory and assessment)

• Implement the survey

Recommendations

• Important to think broadly about possible uses of data that will, or could, be collected.

• Formal power analyses would be difficult and may not be too useful due to the large number of uses of the data.

• Suggest creating an infrastructure that will support data collection to address all major management issues.

• Make sample size decisions using professional judgment based on existing surveys, new surveys that could be implemented easily, and initial priorities at the continental level.

• Adjust these recommendations to meet local and regional needs.

• Defer decisions on a long-term program for a few years.