Tag: oak habitat

NEWS RELEASE: Local Oak Partnerships Build Resources for Private Landowners

Written by Elva Manquera on July 17, 2024. Posted in Klamath Call Note, Press Room.

CONTACT:
Jaime Stephens, Director of Conservation, Klamath Bird Observatory, jlh@klamathbird.org, 541-944-2890
Steve Denney, Coordinator, Umpqua Oak Partnership, stevedenn@mydfn.net, 541-671-1803

In partnership with the Umpqua Oak Partnership (UOP), the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network (KSON) has released version 3.0 of “Restoring Oak Habitats in Southern Oregon and Northern California: A Guide for Private Landowners”. The funding for this landowner guide was from the Secure Rural Schools Title II program administered by the Bureau of Land Management Western Oregon Resource Advisory Committee.

Our region holds onto Oregon’s largest remaining section of oak habitat. With the majority of it owned by private landowners. Since 2017, southern Oregon and northern California landowners have protected and restored more than 5,000 acres of oak and prairie habitat.

Northwest oak and prairie landscapes are among the most drought-tolerant, wildfire-resilient native habitats in North America and oak trees play a key role in the ecosystem. If they are not restored, protected, and maintained, important natural processes could be lost forever. With over 300 species of wildlife using oak habitats during their life cycle, continued habitat loss and degradation will result in more of these species becoming vulnerable. Currently, 45 of those oak-associated species are already considered to be ‘at-risk’. Additionally, overstocked and unmanaged oak stands present an increased risk of unnaturally severe wildfire which not only results in habitat loss but threatens residences and rural communities.

Conifer encroachment of oak trees on a nontreated landscape. Photo Credit Bob Altman

“As both a landowner located in the Umpqua Basin and one of the authors, I am excited to see this new version of the landowner guide for managing oak habitats. This version of the guide has been updated to include the latest information on managing and restoring oaks and will be a valuable resource for landowners whether you own less than one acre or thousands of acres”. – Steve Denney, Umpqua Oak Partnership Coordinator.

This landowner guide describes how to apply conservation practices for Oregon white oak and California black oak habitats on private lands in southern Oregon and northern California. The document discusses the importance and history of oak habitats across three ecoregions and provides detailed conservation guidelines for oak habitat restoration, integrating Western science and Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

A male Western Tanager sitting in an Oregon White Oak singing. Migratory birds like this Western Tanager depend on oak habitats for a variety of resources including food, nesting, and stop-over habitats during migration. Photo Credit Frank Lospalluto.

The guide includes supplemental resources for the restoration-minded private landowner, including a list of organizations that will assist with private land restoration as well as step-by-step instructions for monitoring birds on your land to track the return of wildlife following oak restoration activities. An exciting opportunity exists for landowners and conservation partners to work together to restore native oak systems and their diverse wildlife communities to reverse these trends.

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The Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network (KSON) is a regional collaboration between local agencies, tribes, and non-profit organizations that works to conserve oak ecosystems on private and public lands in southern Oregon and northern California. Since 2011, KSON partners have accomplished thousands of acres of strategic ecological restoration to enhance oak habitat, build climate resilience, bolster cultural resources, and reduce wildfire risk to the ecosystem and communities.

The Umpqua Oak Partnership (UOP) is a collaborative regional partnership of landowners, tribes, agencies, and organizations working together to preserve and promote healthy oak habitats in Douglas County. UOP’s mission is to work to bring people together around oaks, help keep farms and ranches in the family, connect landowners to programs and funding, and share information.

Altman and Stephens 2012 Land managers guide to oak ecosystem cover (72ppi 4x)

Land Manager’s Guide to Oak Ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest

Written by Elva Manquera on June 2, 2023. Posted in Resources and Links.

Land Manager’s Guide to Oak Ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest provides an overview of oak ecosystems. It discusses threats to these environments, focusing on the habitat relationships between birds and oaks.

News Release: Population and Habitat Objectives for Landbirds in Prairies, Oak, and Riparian Habitats of Western Oregon and Washington

Written by Elva Manquera on June 21, 2022. Posted in Klamath Call Note, KBO Partners, KBO Science, Press Room.

The newly released conservation plan, Population and Habitat Objectives for Landbirds in Prairies, Oak, and Riparian Habitats of Western Oregon and Washington (Rockwell et al 2022), provides quantitative and multi-scaled population and habitat objectives for 26 focal and seven imperiled bird species. As the title suggests, the plan focuses on prairie, oak, and riparian habitats in the Puget Lowlands, Willamette Valley, and Klamath Mountains ecoregions of western Oregon and Washington. This document was prepared for the Oregon-Washington Chapter of Partners in Flight (PIF), Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service.

This document is an updated version of the Conservation Strategy for Landbirds in the Lowlands and Valleys of Western Oregon and Washington (Altman 2000). Among PIF bird conservation plans, this plan like its predecessor has quantitative and prescriptive objectives that were established for habitat attributes important to landbird species.

“This important document provides both land managers and bird conservationists answers to the essential questions of how much, where, and by when,” says Bob Altman of the American Bird Conservancy “it sets a new threshold for conservation standards in regional planning.”

Recommendations included are intended to guide planning efforts and management actions of land managers, direct expenditures of government and non-government organizations, and stimulate monitoring and research to support landbird conservation. The recommendations are also expected to be the biological foundation for developing and implementing integrated conservation strategies for multiple species at multiple geographic scales to ensure functional ecosystems with healthy bird populations.

“Partnerships are the backbone of Joint Ventures. A primary role of Migratory Bird Joint Ventures is to step-down continental habitat priorities for waterfowl, waterbirds, landbirds, and shorebirds to each Joint Venture region. This plan and the unique partnership between Pacific Birds, Klamath Bird Observatory, and PIF fills this gap; it frames conservation delivery strategies, sets the stage for working towards collective goals, and helps us meet our federal mandate,“ says Sara Evans-Peters U.S. Assistant Coordinator, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture.

The section on imperiled species is unique to this Oregon-Washington PIF plan. Imperiled species were selected based on a population estimate of <2,000 individuals in any of the three ecoregions; a high degree of association with prairie, oak, and riparian habitats; and a historic anecdotal baseline as a relatively common species. The focal species approach assumes that the suite of focal species will cover the habitat requirements of imperiled bird species, but this may not hold true for imperiled species that are ecological specialists. In this region, we are fortunate to have uniquely detailed data regarding the population status and conservation needs of many of our imperiled species. To ensure their conservation, imperiled species were recognized and given their own biological objectives and habitat attributes, as well as integrated where appropriate as species to benefit from conservation actions directed towards focal species. Highlighted below is the Oregon Vesper Sparrow.

This document is intended to complement the goals, objectives, and strategies in several other planning and conservation processes and initiatives by filling a niche that is usually absent in those efforts: quantitative, prescriptive recommendations for habitat conditions most suitable for individual and suites of landbird species at several geographic scales (e.g., regional, subregional, site). The use and implementation of these recommendations can be done independently for landbird-specific conservation, or complementarily within the context of broader conservation goals to support and strengthen other plans.

You can view the whole conservation plan here.

Oak Habitat Conservation Projects

Written by KBO on October 16, 2014. Posted in Conservation Science Projects.

Central Umpqua Mid-Klamath Oak Habitat Conservation Project

KBO has been collaborating with a diverse group of partners through the Central Umpqua Mid-Klamath Oak Habitat Conservation Project, a Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funded Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative, to understand better bird-habitat relationships and the response of birds to restoration in oak woodlands.

We are working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Lomakatsi Restoration Project to implement and monitor oak restoration on private lands in Douglas and Jackson Counties in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. Around 2,000 acres have been restored, and we completed pre-restoration monitoring in 2012. The US Department of the Interior honored this collaborative project with the Partners in Conservation Award.

Quercus and Aves

KBO contributed to a new publication on birds and oaks as part of our role in the American Bird Conservancy’s Quercus and Aves project. Click on the highlighted text to access the well-received Land Manager’s Guide to Bird Habitat and Populations in Oak Ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest and its Appendix of Oak Bird Species Accounts. We also coordinated a private landowner field day during which landowners spent the morning outside with restoration practitioners, agency managers, and wildlife biologists, discussing oak restoration in the Rogue Basin, opportunities for private land restoration, and the benefits of restoration to birds and other wildlife. KBO worked with Oregon State University in support of Kate Halstead, a Master’s student who used the data collected from this project for her thesis.