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Conservation Planning for Waterbirds
The myriad wetlands that make the Prairie Pothole Region valuable to waterfowl also make it valuable to waterbirds, and the Prairie Pothole Region harbors a large proportion of the total population and breeding range for many North American waterbird species. Information on waterbird populations is notoriously poor, but it is estimated that the proportion of the continental breeding population found in the Prairie Pothole Region is > 60% for Franklin’s Gull; > 50% for Pied-billed Grebe, American Bittern, Sora, American Coot, and Black Tern; and approximately 30% for American White Pelican and California Gull.
High numbers of waterbird species and individuals in the Prairie Pothole Region indicate the importance of the Prairie Pothole Region to continental waterbird conservation, but until recently, little attention has been given to the conservation needs of waterbirds. The Bismarck HAPET Office helped develop the Northern Prairie & Parkland Waterbird Conservation Plan, which includes the area covered by the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture in the U.S. and the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture in Canada. The Northern Prairie & Parkland Waterbird Conservation Plan identifies conservation and information needs for 40 species of waterbirds in the Prairie Pothole Region. In addition, the Plan lays the groundwork for landscape-level conservation of waterbirds (Figure 1) that follows the approach successfully used by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
Figure 1. Predicted landscape suitability in east-river North Dakota for Black Tern in 1995. Model based on geo-referenced BBS data, NWI wetland information, and upland habitat data from classified LandSat imagery.
The following file contains further information about conservation planning for waterbirds:
Niemuth, N. D., G. W. Beyersbergen, and M. R. Norton. 2005. Waterbird conservation planning in the Northern Prairie & Parkland Region: integration across borders and with other bird initiatives. Pages xx-xx in Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference 2002, C.J. Ralph and T.D. Rich, eds. USDA Forest Service GTR-PSW-xxx, Albany, CA. (in press).
Niemuth, N. D., and J. W. Solberg. 2003. Response of waterbirds to number of wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, U.S.A. Waterbirds 26:233-238.
For more information about waterbird conservation in the Prairie Pothole Region, contact
Neal Niemuth
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Region 6 Habitat and Population Evaluation Team (HAPET)
3425 Miriam Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58501
701-355-8542
