Sagehen Creek Field Station

24 May, 05 PM - 29 Jun, 05 PM

Montane riparian and wet meadow vegetation types are some of the most productive and imperiled habitats for biodiversity in western North America. Despite the recognized importance of these habitats, there is relatively poor information for establishing priorities for conservation, management, and restoration of montane meadows. For example, the direct effects of livestock grazing – thought to be the primary threat - on landbird populations, native plants and their pollinators and other biodiversity of meadows and riparian habitats in the Sierra Nevada are relatively poorly known. Understanding the effects of habitat management on bird population dynamics in these habitats is a goal of the Region 5 Regional Monitoring Plan for Neotropical Migratory Birds. Achieving this goal will require carefully designed studies. Ideally, such studies should leverage opportunities to study existing and proposed grazing practices with appropriate before, after, and control data sets on bird populations. Because the Tahoe National Forest has a diversity of meadow and riparian environments, existing bird monitoring programs and data sets, and a range management program open to new approaches, it provides a model environment for carefully designed experiments regarding the effects of meadow condition, trend and management, including grazing, on landbird populations. We propose to continue an ongoing study of the effects of different meadow characteristics and existing and proposed management practices on bird populations by monitoring of bird populations of montane riparian and meadow habitats of the Tahoe National Forest. The study will proceed in phases over four years: in Years 1 and 2 (2001 & 2002), we collected bird point count census, vegetation, and grazing data at over 220 point count stations in a set of over 50 meadows to characterize and select meadows for further study. Meadows varied in size, vegetation, grazing history, current grazing practices, and various characteristics related to condition and trend. These data are being used to stratify further meadow sampling based on meadow characteristics. After analysis of these data, statistical comparison of meadow characteristics, and consultation with USFS personnel, we selected an equal number of meadows of different sizes and different proposed grazing practices (season-long grazing, late-season-only grazing, and no grazing), for further data collection. Additionally, in 2002 we began monitoring birds in a set of meadows slated for future restoration. Data collection on bird abundance (number of individuals counted) and diversity (species richness, species diversity and evenness, and coefficients of community similarity) and vegetation condition and trend will continue in Years 3 – 4 to incorporate a range of variation in precipitation and other annual parameters. Year 4 (2004) will involve completion of meadow and bird monitoring and final reporting. Because of extreme differences in meadow condition and productivity in wet and dry years, multiple years of data collection are essential to understanding the natural range of variation in bird populations and to the overall success of the study. Using this design, the effect of meadow characteristics, condition, trend and grazing treatment and their interaction on bird populations may be tested to provide land managers with information to improve meadow management and restoration for biodiversity. This study also integrates information long-term constant-effort bird monitoring stations operated continuously in the region since 1991 as well as studies initiated by San Francisco State University on native plants and pollinators of mountain meadows. These data will be used to investigate the covariation among meadow characteristics and diverse taxa to develop indexes of biological integrity for mountain meadow to prioritize the meadow conservation efforts of The Nature Conservancy and the US Forest Service. The study area includes over 200 census stations and vegetation plots within 50 meadow systems located north of Truckee, California on land owned by the Tahoe National Forest, The Nature Conservancy, or private individuals. The project has permission to work on all meadows in the study. The censuses are observational and non-destructive. The study also includes operation of long-term constant-effort mist-netting stations at Sagehen Creek Field Station and adjacent meadows operated since 1991 (including Sagehen Meadow near Mason Fen, Taylor Meadow and Kiln Meadow near the Sagehen Campground). Birds are banded and released as part of the ‘Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship’ program of the Institute for Bird Populations. All necessary permits for this work with the USGS BRD Bird Banding Lab and Animal Care Committee of San Francisco State University are current. It is not anticipated that this work will impact any classes or other research projects.

Visit #1430 @Sagehen Creek Field Station

Approved

Under Project # 1193 | Research

The Nature Conservancy, San Francisco State University -

professional - The Nature Conservancy

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 5 Research Assistant (non-student/faculty/postdoc) May 24 - Jun 29, 2003 (37 days)

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Leopold Cabin (Past Upper Camp) 5 May 24 - Jun 29, 2003
Meadow Cabin (Lower Camp) 5 May 24 - Jun 29, 2003
West Cabin (Lower Camp) 5 May 24 - Jun 29, 2003