George Fenwick, ABC’s Executive Director, forwarded this = to me and I thought it would of interest.

Donald R. Dann

Highland Park/Lake County

----- Original Message -----=20

To: Robert Perez (rperez@gvec.net) ; Brent Ortego (wk) (Brent Ortego (wk)) ; Carl Frentress (Carl Frentress) ; Gary Waggerman (Gary = Waggerman) ; John Burk = (jburk@sfasu.edu) ; Kevin Kraii (kevinkraai@aol.com) ; Vernon Bevill ; Bill Johnson ; Craig Farquhar ; Dave Morrison ; Jay Roberson ; Jeff Raasch ; John Herron ; John Maresh ; Paul Robertson ; Steve Cordts ; Steve DeMaso

Cc: Jim Neal (Jim = Neal) ; Randy Wilson (Randy = Wilson) ; Nathan Garner ; David Pashley (David Pashley) ; Ray Telfair = ; George Fenwick (George = Fenwick) ; Jason Singhurst ; Jeff Reid (Jeff = Reid) ; Ricky Maxey (Ricky = Maxey)

Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 1:10 PM

Subject: Bobwhite and Bachman's Sparrow in East = Texas

TPWD all-bird = folk, <= /p>

I thought this was worth = sharing. <= /p>

I just reviewed the galley of a = paper coming out soon. The study was done in the West Gulf Coastal Plain = (WGCP) of Texas (e.g., Angelina, Jasper, and San Augustine cos). All = species of birds were surveyed in mature pine forests on national forest land = occupied by Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (RCW) that were either: (a) managed with = prescribed fire to maintain a diverse grass-forb ground cover, or (b) fire = suppressed, thus included a dense hardwood midstory and understory (a.k.a. our "controls"). An equal number of plots of these two = habitat-types were surveyed.

Two ground-dwelling species in particular stood out in the results -- and it's no secret which = ones. You guessed it, the Northern Bobwhite and Bachman's Sparrow. Can you = now guess which habitat-type from the two choices above they both occurred in? Yep, you got it -- the one maintained with periodic = disturbance in the form of fire (see habitat a above). These two species were = completely absent from the controls (habitat b). <= /p>

I remember an article authored by = David Pashley and George Fenwick awhile back on what they called the "odd couples". The authors paired-up a game bird and a nongame = bird that both depended on the exact same habitat somewhere in the U.S. -- = syntopic species and a very neat exercise. The article demonstrated how = management for one species can benefit other species as well. It actually = appeared in print at least twice -- if memory serves me, it was first in the = American Bird Conservancy's magazine "Bird Conservation" and then in = the American Birding Association's magazine "Birding". The = authors included this quail and sparrow as one of these so-called "odd couples". Sharing the same habitat-type is well documented = across the Southeast where these two birds occur together. = <= /p>

The bottom-line is that these two = declining species benefit from management of the federally endangered RCW, but = ONLY if prescribed burning is employed in these pine forests. This, again, = was no mystery to most ecologists, but it needed to be tested in the = WGCP. Just a brief visit to these two forest-types would make it abundantly clear = to most bird biologists that this quail and sparrow would not select one of the = control sites as a place to call home. <= /p>

Unfortunately, there are = environmental groups who continuously preach anti-fire sentiments on public = lands. As if the contemporary suppression of fire across the country isn't = enough! John Burk wrote a great article on all this in the last issue of the TX = PIF FLYWAY Newsletter found here <http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/birding/flyway_news/index.htm>. Click on Volume 9 and scroll down = to page 13 -- it's worth reading, if you haven't done so already. = Sorry, John, Wild Turkeys were not found in the WGCP bird study. If they = had been, your money and my money would be on the turkeys occurring in the = burned, open habitat (seasonally, not annually).<= /p>

Now some recent, pertinent East = Texas data exist for the environmental groups who might mean well, but area = unknowingly assisting in the decline of many species dependent on the effects of = fire -- not to mention a whole host of other animals and micro-communities = (i.e., pitcher plant bogs) that are declining in the face of almost complete = fire elimination.

In case you're interested, the = full citation of the forthcoming paper is: Conner, R. N., C. E. = Shackelford, R. R. Schaefer, D. Saenz, and D. C. Rudolph. 2002. Avian = Community Response to Southern Pine Ecosystem Restoration for Red-cockaded = Woodpeckers. Wilson Bulletin 114(3):324-332. Watch for it to come out in a few = months.<= /p>

Feel free to pass this message = along to others who might be interested in the topic.

Cheers,

Cliff = <= /p>