How To

Using Big Tools for Big Jobs
by Dawn Browne, Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

Not so long ago, when you read a conservation article about "big tools" being used, you could almost smell the diesel and hear the lowboy chugging down the road to the project site. Today, the mention of big tools brings images of colorful maps and integrated databases to mind.

Last year, through its Large-scale Watershed Restoration Initiative, the U.S. Forest Service provided support to help develop some tools to facilitate the work of restoring habitat in the 26-million-acre Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Eighty to 90 percent of this ecosystem is highly altered, either by loss of native vegetation or changes to hydrology. "How much of this system can be restored to improve wildlife habitat and water quality, while allowing for some areas to continue in the production of both food and fiber?" is a big question.

The good news is that Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) Joint Venture biologists have developed a number of geographic information system (GIS) tools to address the challenges. These tools provide critical information to landowners and managers to consider when making land-use decisions. To complement the Joint Venture's work, the Forest Service and Ducks Unlimited, Inc.'s, Southern Regional Office are developing a Soil Moisture Index (Index).

The intent of the Index is to identify areas of potentially wet or hydric soils. These areas tend to be the most marginal of farmlands—prone to frequent flooding and difficult to drain completely. Landowners are more likely to embrace wetland restoration in such parcels. Also, because of their soil characteristics, the wetland functions of these areas are more easily restored. However, complete soils data in digital format for use with GIS is not currently available for the LMV. Using 1999 satellite imagery, the Index will characterize the surface soil moisture on fallow agricultural fields and other exposed bare-soil areas. Typically, soils that are saturated, clayey, and highly organic absorb incoming solar energy strongly in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This characteristic is recorded by satellite sensors and can be isolated through image processing techniques.

Recently, the Shorebird Habitat Working Group of the West Tennessee Comprehensive Planning Project ground-truthed the Index's area map. The Index proved extremely accurate in delineating wet soils in this region. As part of an integrated planning approach, the Index will be used by project partners to target areas best suited for restoration of shallow-wetland habitat for shorebirds and other wildlife.

Partners are pleased with the "test drive" of this new tool, and anticipation is high for its completion. The Index will help all conservationists to have a better understanding of how to participate in restoring and sustaining the LMV ecosystem.

For more information, contact Jerry Holden or Gary Young, Ducks Unlimited, Inc., 193 Business Park Drive, Suite E, Ridgeland, Mississippi 39157, (601) 956-1936, jholden@ducks.org or gyoung@ducks.org.

Bats and Ducks under One Roof
by Mark and Selena Kiser, Bat Conservation International

"Whatever makes my bats happy, makes me happy," said Bill Holloway, a retired boilermaker and an active Research Associate in Bat Conservation International's ongoing North American Bat House Research Project. Surrounded by forest and wetlands, Holloway's property on Toledo Bend Reservoir near the Louisiana-Texas border is an ideal place to attract bats and many other types of wildlife. The fact that wood ducks share some of the same housing with bats makes his story even more interesting.

Convincing wood ducks to use his standard duck boxes was not difficult, as successful designs had been around for many years. However, when he first experimented with bat houses mounted on pine trees in 1994, only flying squirrels moved in. After joining the Bat House Research Project in 1996, he began building larger and better houses and installing them on poles in sunnier locations. Bats have been calling his boxes home ever since.

"I think I did something right," explained Holloway. By 1998, 580 Brazilian free-tailed bats and big brown bats were inhabiting his four homemade bat houses, and with his other duck boxes also occupied, he thought he soon might have a housing shortage on his hands. Back in his workshop, he constructed a back-to-back pair of combination boxes for both bats and ducks. Although not a new idea, his design may be the first "approved" by both mother bats and ducks.

Holloway's 48-inch-tall boxes are taller than previous duck/bat combo designs. While the top 18 inches resemble a typical wood duck box, the bottom 30 inches are devoted solely to bats. Each box has seven roosting chambers spaced 3/4 inches apart, which helps keep bats protected from predators. Several 48-inch-tall chambers between the pair of boxes are also available to bats. Six-inch landing areas provide easy access to all chambers.

After installing this new pair, Holloway waited to see what would happen. As many as 20 free-tailed bats moved in within the first few months, but suddenly departed when a female wood duck began nesting in one of the boxes in May 1999. The hen successfully raised her nestlings, which left in July, but the bats did not return until September. Curious if the boxes were truly compatible for both bats and ducks at the same time, he decided to leave the wood duck nesting compartments open for another year to continue his experiment.

In spring 2000, Holloway discovered his design was right on target. Hundreds of bats had filled the crevices the previous fall and winter, and when wood ducks nested in both combo houses in May, the bats stayed put. Perhaps initially, the bats just needed some time to get used to their noisier upstairs neighbors, for they have been getting along quite amicably ever since.

For more information, or to obtain plans for Holloway's successful combo box, contact Mark Kiser, Bat Conservation International, North American Bat House Research Project, P.O. Box 162603, Austin, Texas 78716, (512) 327-9721, mkiser@batcon.org, www.batcon.org/bhra.

Planning for Integrated Bird Conservation
by Dean Demarest, Partners in Flight

Building on its vision and past work of integrated bird conservation, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan's Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture partners embarked on an all-bird conservation effort for the West Gulf Coastal Plain Bird Conservation Region (West Gulf).

The inaugural meeting of the West Gulf Conservation Planning Team convened in Nacogdoches, Texas, in April. Representing 11 private, state, and federal entities, 29 regional experts on birds and biological diversity met for 2 days to discuss issues and lay the groundwork for the development of a comprehensive conservation plan for the region.

Drawing on experience gained through delivery of an integrated bird conservation program in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, the team had a proven model to facilitate plan development for the West Gulf. Team members defined a set of near-term tasks and information needs based on the Joint Venture's model of "3 Spheres of Conservation: Biological Foundation, Conservation Design, and Conservation Delivery."

The biological foundation is comprised of the data and premises on which a plan is based—the ingredients of a conservation recipe. Priority species, status of habitats, and population-habitat relationships were among many critical biological elements assessed. To address information gaps, landbird, waterfowl, and shorebird technical committees were organized and charged with assembling scientifically credible planning information for the West Gulf. Where important data remain unavailable or unreliable, committees will acknowledge their assumptions and recognize limitations of planning with an imperfect biological basis.

Conservation design describes the process of using the biological foundation to define desired future conditions. For example, detailed land-cover data and population-habitat relationships can be used to develop spatially explicit acreage goals for longleaf pine ecosystem restoration in the region. The team identified needs corresponding to development of a West Gulf Coastal Plain Conservation Planning Atlas. This geospatial modeling capability will help in apportioning plan objectives while simultaneously directing resources and programs toward priority areas for protection, management, enhancement, and restoration.

Conservation delivery connotes the development of management practices, prescriptions, and implementation strategies designed to change the landscape in accordance with plan objectives. Although development of a West Gulf conservation plan will lend direction regarding the activities needed to achieve plan objectives, the process will take time, and on-the-ground delivery cannot remain idle in the interim. Thus, the team reviewed existing activities and programs and their current and future potential to deliver management practices likely to effect desired changes to the West Gulf landscape.

The expertise and cooperation exhibited by members of the team made it clear that the concept of "regionally based, biologically driven, landscape-oriented partnerships" would be central to achieving an effective bird conservation strategy for the West Gulf. At its fall meeting, the team hopes to further engage other traditional and non-traditional partners while continuing to act on needs critical to the early planning stages.

For more information, contact Bill Uihlein, Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture, 2524 South Frontage Road, Suite C, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39180, (601) 629-6604, bill_uihlein@fws.gov.