Project Overview
In California’s Central Valley, many partners came together in 1998 to form the Lower Clear Creek Floodway Rehabilitation Project with the goal of restoring the riparian system that was degraded through over 100 years of mining. PRBO joined the restoration team in 2000 to help guide and evaluate restoration efforts towards high quality riparian bird habitat.
Project Goals
- Guide habitat restoration efforts on Clear Creek with a bird’s eye view.
- Measure effects of restoration by monitoring bird response over time, and share information with partners throughout California to enhance our understanding of the status and needs of riparian birds.
- Provide outreach to educate the local community about birds and the benefits of restoration and conservation of riparian zones.
Birds as Indicators of Restoration Success
By monitoring the breeding birds, we are learning the key habitat components necessary to ensure diverse and productive populations at Clear Creek. We have identified plant species such as Mugwort, California Blackberry, and Elderberry as having positive effects on avian abundance and nest success.
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Black-headed Grosbeaks and Song Sparrows are responding positively to restoration efforts. At 5 to 8 year-old restored sites, these species are now nesting and raising young in greater densities compared to sites that have not been restored.
However, some focal species have not yet colonized restoration sites. Our ability to link key habitat attributes to nest success and breeding densities has helped identify key habitat attributes to manage for to ensure the full compliment of species will be represented in future restoration sites. Birds have been able to teach us
what is needed to create better habitat that will ensure their
long-term survival as well as the ecosystem as a whole.
Project Partners
The following partners make the work of this project possible:
Bureau of Land Management
CalFed Bay Delta Program
California Department of Fish and Game
Tehama Environmental
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Western Shasta Resource District
Learn more about the objectives and history of the Clear Creek Project.
Clear Creek's Songbird Focal Species
Black-headed Grosbeak
Song Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
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Clear Creek: Neotropical And Resident Songbird Populations In The Lower Clear Creek Floodway Restoration Project
Project Summary
Considerable attention is currently being given to ecological restoration and floodplain management of riparian areas in California. As such, the need for data on various taxa that occupy a range of localized environments within an ecosystem is essential to restoration activities. A restoration project that uses ecological information on plant communities, aquatic species, and songbirds will better capture the needs of the entire ecosystem. These same data can provide a feedback mechanism whereby the success of restoration and management activities can be measured and improved upon in agreement with the concept of adaptive management described by Walters (1986).
PRBO established a riparian songbird monitoring program at Clear Creek, Shasta Co. California in 1999, and support from our partners has allowed us to continue this project to the current date.
Clear Creek is a foothill stream that was severely mined. It is currently recovering both passively as well as with the help of a major salmonid restoration project funded by CALFED. True to it name, the waters of Clear Creek run cool and clear. The vegetation at Clear Creek is riparian and consists of various willow species, white alder, valley oak, and Fremont Cottonwood. The upland habitat consists of gray pine, interior live oak, and manzanita.
In order to aid in the restoration process at Clear Creek, PRBO is collecting data on songbird abundance, diversity, and breeding productivity. Because management activities at Clear Creek are primarily focused on salmonid restoration, measuring the response of songbirds to such activities fills an information gap.
We used three standardized monitoring techniques: (1) Point counting (2) Mist-netting, and (3) Nest searching.
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Project hypotheses:
Breeding productivity for riparian associated songbirds (e.g., Song Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat) are at levels high enough to maintain viable populations at Clear Creek and serve as "source" populations for other riparian areas in the Sacramento River watershed.
Salmonid restoration activities (which include improved channel-to-floodplain connectivity, increased native riparian vegetation, and reduced exotic vegetation) will positively influence the riparian bird community. This assumes that restoration design incorporates the habitat requirements of riparian birds.
Restoration activities that do not attempt to mimic or restore natural processes may have negative long-term effects on the bird community; i.e., the loss of early successional riparian vegetation may have negative effects on breeding Yellow Warblers.
Project objectives:
- To contribute to restoration and management design and implementation using current “state-of-the-science” knowledge of the requirements of birds in riparian habitats based on 6 years of data collection at Clear Creek and over a dozen years experience throughout the Cal Fed area.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of restoration activities in creating high quality riparian bird habitat as part of a functional and sustainable ecosystem.
- Provide information (“targets”) on the amount and proportion of each type of riparian habitat necessary to maintain a diverse and healthy bird community.
- Provide outreach to educate the community about conservation, restoration, and the specifics of the Clear Creek project.
Contact: Ryan Burnett
