Waterbird use and food availability on wetland reserve program easements enrolled in the migratory bird habitat initiative
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The Natural Resource Conservation Service implemented the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative (MBHI) in summer 2010 to mitigate potential loss of wetland habitat caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The goal of the MBHI was to improve wetland habitats on private farmlands, catfish ponds, and Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) easements in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) to provide additional habitats for wintering and migrating waterbirds. Improving habitat on WRP easements is particularly important, given that landowners are not required to provide additional management after initial enrollment and restoration. Priorities for WRP wetlands enrolled in the MBHI included addressing waterbird food habitats, providing habitat structure, and additional management activities such as planting and/or disking on seasonal wetlands. Although WRP sites have been designated as critical wildlife habitat, little research has been conducted to evaluate management on WRP easements or quantify the effects on wildlife use and wetland habitats in the LMAV. My main objectives were to evaluate factors influencing waterbird density and species richness by making relative comparisons between MBHI wetlands and reference wetlands with differing management activities, food biomass, and surrounding landscapes. I conducted bi-weekly waterbird surveys and collected seed and invertebrate samples on randomly selected conservation easement lands enrolled in the MBHI (n=13), traditional WRP sites (n=12), and intensively managed publicly owned wetlands (n=7) in the LMAV of Arkansas and Missouri to quantify food availability and habitat use from August-September 2011 and November 2011-February 2012 by fall migrating shorebirds (Charadriiformes) and wintering dabbling ducks (Anatinae). Additionally, I quantified habitat surrounding each study wetland in terms of proximity to, percent area and interspersion of WRP easements within different spatial scales, based the distance shorebirds (1.5km) and dabbling ducks (3.5km, 10km) fly between
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M.S.