Project summary

An exciting new riparian bird monitoring project has been initiated in 2002 between PRBO and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR).  USBR's funding for this project is through the San Joquin River Riparian Habitat Restoration Program (SJRRHRP) which is directed by the following Managment Team representatives: Natural Resources Defense Council, Friant Water Users Authority, San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USBR.  The goal of this project is to gather baseline data on songbird abundance distribution and productivity in riparian areas along the San Joaquin River from Friant Dam to the confluence of the Merced River. Apart from a series of bird surveys (point counts) conducted in 1998 as part of PRBO's California Partners In Flight breeding bird inventory, no extensive or intensive songbird monitoring has occurred in these riparian areas along the San Joaquin River. Riparian habitat along the San Joaquin River has been greatly reduced as a result of human-induced change including water diversions, channelization and conversion to agriculture grazing, urban development, and recreational activities. Public and private organizations are investing millions of dollars in riparian restoration, with thousands of acres slated for restoration along the San Joaquin River and its tributaries. Successful ecosystemrestoration will create the conditions necessary for maintaining and restoring the full complement of riparian bird species.

The project is designed to provide results that will guide the planning of restoration efforts (cultivated and/or physical process-based) in an adaptive management framework. The fact that so many once-abundant breeding bird species such as Yellow Warbler and Pacific-Slope Flycatcher are now extirpated from large portions of the San Joaquin River is both a cause for alarm and a research dilemma. Our best hope for reconstructing factors that led to the decline and demise of breeding riparian bird species is to study multiple species of extant breeders. These results can be used to guide restoration efforts, with the dual goal of creating conditions favorable to the re-colonization and successful nesting of declining riparian bird species along the mainstem, and of preventing future listings of extant breeders.

Objectives

• Collect baseline data to determine current distribution, breeding status and health of songbirds in remnantriparian habitats.
• Develop a systematic monitoring program and GIS overlay of riparian bird species utilizing the San Joaquin River, primarily from Friant Dam to the confluence with Merced River.
• Conduct intensive songbird demographic monitoring at key riparian sites to determine reproductive success and viability of these populations. Investigation of focused questions such as effects of predation on songbird reproductive success will also be conducted at these sites.
• Determine effects of current management practices on riparian breeding songbirds, and make recommendations to enhance bird populations through adaptive management.
• Contribute to national and regional conservation efforts by providing information to the California Partners In Flight and RHJV Riparian Songbird Conservation Plan regarding riparian songbird populations in the San Joaquin Valley.

For more information, contact Jeanne Hammond or Julian Wood.