Region 1
Region 2
Region 3
Region 4
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In 2001, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
began a partnership to monitor bird populations on USFS lands. The count-based survey
protocol is designed to provide statistically rigorous long-term trend data for
populations of most diurnal, regularly occurring breeding landbird species. In the
short term, these programs provide information needed to effectively manage and
conserve bird populations on National Forest Service lands, including bird species’
spatial distribution, abundance, and relationship to important habitat characteristics.
In addition, these cooperative projects support individual management units’ efforts
to comply with requirements set forth in the National Forest Management Act and
other statutes and regulations.
National Grasslands provide valuable habitat for endemic grassland species within
a deteriorating and fragmented landscape. Before the initiation of RMBO’s National
Grassland monitoring programs, there were no long term bird-monitoring programs
for National Grasslands. RMBO’s National Grassland programs aim to understand population
trends of grassland birds and underlying factors contributing to such trends, which
will help direct management actions for the preservation of bird populations and
their grassland ecosystem.
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(Baird’s Sparrow photo by John Carlson)
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