The Siuslaw National Forest is planning to enhance meadow and early-seral habitat at an abandoned homestead near Marys Peak, Benton County, Oregon. Such habitat is becoming increasingly uncommon on national forest lands. The Oregon Wildlife Institute was selected by the U.S. Forest Service to collect two years of pre-treatment songbird data that will be compared to monitoring data following restoration operations in 2013. The study is designed to assess the response of three indicator species, the Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus), hermit warbler (Dendroica occidentalis), and the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) to habitat restoration. This information will help with adaptive management of the site. We are also collecting songbird data on a nearby site when a meadow restoration took place in 2010.
We are using the territory mapping method to record locations of indicator species and delineate occupied habitats at the two restoration sites. Territory mapping is especially well suited to songbird monitoring studies at sites too small for a sufficient number of stations for point count surveys, a more commonly used avian monitoring technique.
The final report for the pre-treatment monitoring study is now available.
Project sponsored by the Siuslaw National Forest.