KBO Science

The Upper Applegate Watershed, located south of Ruch in Jackson County, Oregon, is a 52,000-acre USFS and BLM planning area among the region’s highest priorities for forest restoration. As part of a new project led by Rogue Forest Partners, over 18,000 acres of forested lands in the Upper Applegate Watershed are receiving restoration treatments over the next few years. Project benefits include improved forest health, protecting the surrounding communities from wildfire, and supporting climate resilience to mixed conifer forests that host many species of plants and animals.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Forest Ecology Working Group, National Conservation Training Center, and Migratory Bird Program have developed a 12-part monthly lecture series to address the 50-year decline of 3 billion birds through partnerships, conservation science, and forest management.

The Klamath Bird Observatory is seeking seasonal field technicians from May 2nd through July 15th (some positions available through July 29th), to complete point count surveys throughout the diverse and beautiful regions of southern Oregon, eastern Oregon, and/or northern California. Technicians will work for multiple projects consisting of monitoring effects of oak and stream restoration […]

A popular free outreach publication authored by Klamath Bird Observatory and Lomakatsi Restoration Project that provides guidance for private landowners interested in implementing oak habitat restoration on their land, originally published in 2015 , has been re-printed with some minor updates and is available now. The document, entitled Restoring Oak Habitats in Southern Oregon and Northern California: A Guide for Private Landowners, emerged from a collaborative project involving a suite of private and public conservation partners, including the Bureau of Land Management (Medford District), US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Klamath Basin Audubon Society, Oregon State University, American Bird Conservancy, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Understory Initiative, and Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network.

Rogue Forest Partners are working across public and private lands to reduce risks of unnaturally extreme wildfires, promote climate adaptation, and restore resilient landscapes in the Rogue Basin. Klamath Bird Observatory is working with Rogue Forest Partners to apply science using birds as ecological indicators to inform restoration planning and measure ecological response. The partnership aligns with Klamath Bird Observatory’s mission to advance bird conservation and specifically aligns with our work to halt and reverse the decline of western forest birds.

KBO is seeking applicants for two new full time positions — 1) Restoration Ecologist and Partnerships Coordinator and 2) Science Delivery, Communications, Outreach, & DEI Program Manager. We encourage applicants who are interested in science-driven conservation and who want to become a contributing member of our collaborative team of kind, loyal, passionate, supportive, dedicated, and understanding colleagues. 

The North American Chapter of the International Association of Landscape Ecology has selected a paper by KBO Research Biologist Kate Halstead and colleagues, published in the journal Landscape Ecology, as the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Paper in Landscape Ecology Award. The nominator for the award recognized the paper as outstanding for several reasons, one of which is the fact that it grapples with one of “the most salient and fundamental questions in landscape ecology and conservation science: the relative importance of habitat loss vs. fragmentation on species richness”. The work was carried out in the Rouge Basin watershed of the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion, and the nominator noted that the author’s “methodology is rigorous, innovative and powerful”. Click to learn more.

A recent article in BirdWatching Magazine by Oregonian Marina Richie features high-tech bird tracking projects, including KBO partnership projects that track Vesper Sparrows and Lewis’s Woodpeckers with Motus technology. Click to learn more.

Camas National Wildlife Refuge protects over 4300 hectares of land in the high desert of eastern Idaho. In parts of the Refuge, native sagebrush plant communities are being overtaken by non-native Crested Wheatgrass, an invasive species that is degrading the imperiled sagebrush-steppe ecosystems that span the North American Great Basin. In a recently published paper, a research team including KBO scientists demonstrates how Refuge data that identifies suites of indicators and the HABPOPS tool are used to meet conservation design objectives that have been prioritized for large-scale, multi-partner efforts to restore and protect sagebrush-steppe habitats in the United States.

The Bureau of Land Management is excited to announce that KBO has been selected to receive the BLM’s national Conservation Partner Award. KBO has partnered with the BLM Medford District for more than 20 years and has been instrumental in applying avian science to inform public lands management and conservation. Click to learn more about KBO’s award-winning work!