IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS

WASHINGTON’S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
Audubon Washington released the initial results of its Important Bird Area program in June 2001 with the publication of Important Bird Areas of Washington. This 170-page book describing the first 53 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) was widely distributed to government agencies, land managers, planners, regulators, libraries, the media, and other conservation organizations, as well as Audubon chapters.

The search for additional IBAs is continuing, and nominations are still being accepted. Work sessions involving local experts are being held around the state in an effort to fill gaps in the database. An update to Important Bird Areas of Washington will be published in 2003.

Audubon Washington is coordinating conservation efforts with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, local land trusts, and other member organizations of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative.

FEATURED IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Fitzner-Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve
State: Washington
County(ies): Benton County
Nearest Community: Richland

Site Description: The Arid Lands Ecology Reserve, in Benton County, is one of the few large, contiguous blocks of shrub-steppe habitat in the Northwest still retaining a dominant pre-European settlement ecology and physical character. The site was closed to public access in the early 1940’s, which preserved the native shrub-steppe ecosystem in a quantity and quality not found elsewhere in the Columbia Basin. Managed as a wildlife reserve and environmental research area, this site has a long history of biological and ecological studies, beginning in the 1950’s. The area’s diversity of habitats—from a windswept treeless sub-alpine ridge at 1,060 meters of elevation, to bunchgrass grassland, shrub-steppe, and riparian habitats at 130 meters—supports a wide array of unique plant and animal species. Biological inventories conducted in the 1990’s yielded 20 new plant varieties and 50 species of insects previously unknown in Washington.

Ornithological Summary: The Reserve supports an extraordinary assemblage of breeding birds associated with grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems, including Ferruginous Hawk, WatchListed Long-billed Curlew, Burrowing Owl, Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher, WatchListed Brewer’s Sparrow, WatchListed Sage Sparrow, and Grasshopper Sparrow. The site supports one of Washington’s largest breeding populations of Sage Sparrows (up to 200 adults), a candidate species for state listing. Breeding populations of Brewer’s and Grasshopper Sparrows number as high as 300 and 1,000, respectively. Two other state candidate species, Loggerhead Shrikes and Sage Thrashers, commonly breed here; and as many as six Ferruginous Hawks, a state-listed threatened species, have been recorded during breeding season. Two year-round springs support extensive riparian areas that provide breeding habitat for flycatchers, warblers, orioles, and other neotropical migrants.

Conservation Issues: In late June 2000, a massive wildfire swept through nearly all of the Arid Lands Reserve. In many places, mature sagebrush was destroyed, but native grasses are expected to recover quickly. Disturbance of soil by fire-fighting equipment left the ground vulnerable to invasion by non-native plants. Although infrequent fire is a natural part of the system, there is a concern that cheatgrass will quickly re-colonize some areas, thus leading to more frequent fires which, in turn, limit the growth of sagebrush. Reserve managers have estimated that $600,000 will be needed to restore the areas damaged by fire-fighting equipment and to prevent the rapid spread of invasive exotic plants. Even before the fire, invasive exotics were a conservation threat. Airborne pesticide drift from nearby agricultural land is also a cause for concern.

WEST VIRGINIA’S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
West Virginia’s Important Bird Areas Program has been active for two years with a steering committee and a web site that hosts nomination forms, site forms, and county contacts. Phase one of the IBA program, site identification, is moving forward with selection of a technical committee and solicitation of site nominations. Efforts are also underway to establish close ties with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, West Virginia Audubon Chapters and other interested individuals and organizations.

CANDIDATE IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Guyandotte (Bolt) Mountain
State: West Virginia
Counties: Raleigh, Wyoming, Boone, and Logan Counties
Nearest Community: Bolt, and Beckly, West Virginia

Site Description: The Guyandotte (Bolt) mountain range is located within the Allgheny Plateau Physiographic Province of southern West Virginia. The range is bordered on the east by the town of Bolt, on the west by the city of Beckley, Slab Fork Mountain to the southwestern, Coal River Mountain to the northeast, Paint Creek Watershed to the north, and Guyandotte River on the western edge. Ivy Knob is the highest place in the Guyandotte Mountain range (3620 ft.). While this area is composed of many habitat types some of the tree species occurring here include: poplars, oaks, maples, hickories, box elder, intermingled among red spruce, Virginia pine and pitch pine, among others. It is the combination of these and other habitat variables, high elevations (2600-3620 ft.), 40-60 year old contour mines, steep sloped terrain, and gaps among mature forests, that provide habitat for many birds species at high densities.

Ornithological Summary: This area has been studied long-term since 1989, primarily for WatchListed Golden-winged and WatchListed Cerulean Warblers. Golden-winged Warblers have a density of 79 males per 100 ha., highest known for the species in the state. This area has also been labeled a transition zone, where high elevation species overlap with low elevation species. For example, Winter Wren, WatchListed Black-throated Blue Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak can be found singing adjacent or near Acadian Flycatcher, Hooded Warbler, and WatchListed Kentucky Warbler. In addition, old field and edge species are almost as equally abundant as forest interior species. Golden-wings occurring with Cerulean Warblers, Black-and-White Warblers, Ovenbirds, Yellow-breasted Chats, Blue-winged Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos, and WatchListed Wood Thrushes, all on the same study plots. This area harbors the highest avian species diversity and density of any statewide point count.

Conservation Issues: Given the large area covered by the Guyandotte (Bolt) Mountain range it faces numerous challenges and threats. Balancing the many demands for natural resource use and extraction will always be a conservation issue. In particular the area is used for: surface mining (especially mountaintop removal and valley fill), logging, gas pipelines, and powerline rights-of-ways. One of the most significant threats is suburban sprawl; spreading in from all directions, especially from the east out of WV’s fastest growing city Beckley.

While the area does face significant conservation issues it has been so rich in avian diversity because of its seclusion. Guyandotte Mountain harbors the Three Rivers Migration Observatory and the Southern West Virginia Bird Research Center. It will be through research centers and organizations like these; as well as, by working with other interested parties and stakeholders that conservation issues will be addressed.

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