Audubon Southwest Executive Director Jonathan Hayes discussed the challenges grassland birds face, and how local residents and ranchers can support their winter habitat, to a group of over 50 locals at the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch (AWRR) potluck dinner on April 4.
Hayes highlighted the importance of the Southwest—and local grasslands in particular—on bird populations.
“Sonoita grasslands, as a part of the larger Chiricahua Grassland, play a crucial role in supporting the fastest declining group of birds in North America,” Hayes said.
Hayes said researchers are seeing a pattern of decline that can lead to extinction.
”Every year the numbers of grassland birds such as meadowlarks, longspurs, sparrows and plovers are going down,” he said. “What we have seen across the board is a declining trend. In North America, population is down by three billion breeding birds since 1970.”
Drought, overgrazing and development have all taken a toll on the once-vast stretches of grassland in America, Hayes noted.
“Climate change-driven drought is becoming more and more prevalent,” he said.”It is a huge challenge for livestock producers who are trying to build and maintain a herd [when] it doesn’t rain that year. In Northern Mexico in the last decade or two, there has been large-scale conversion of rangeland to farmland, driven by illegal well drilling and things that are happening unsanctioned over there. It is a big challenge for bird survival.”
Hayes reassured the group that Audubon is committed to “creating a body of knowledge to help us all manage these grasslands. We are not only supporting habitat but we are supporting science and research to answer the questions we still have. We work in D.C. and the state capitals to advocate for agencies’ budgets that help deal with these issues.”
The Sonoita area boasts some of the best remaining grasslands. Hayes urged local ranchers to take advantage of the Conservation Ranching Program, which includes the Bird-Friendly Beef Certification.
“Just like bird-friendly coffee, people are buying certified bird-friendly beef,” he said. “The educated young consumer who wants to vote with their wallet and wants their values to be represented in their food choices will pay a premium for a certified product. That premium will be passed on to the producer.”
Hayes announced that funding is now in place to have Audubon staff here and in New Mexico who will “provide technical guidance and assist ranchers and livestock producers in finding funding and in helping write habitat management plans with them. The employees will also deliver our Conservation Ranching Program.”
Local ranchers who are interested in the program may contact AWRR Director Steven Prager at Steven.Prager@audubon.org
The next free potluck dinner lecture at the Research Ranch will be Friday May 9, 5-7pm, with a presentation entitled “Fireflies in Peril: The Southwest’s Hidden Gems and How You Can Help.” Visit the AWRR website to sign up: researchranch.audubon.org