Division of Bird Habitat Conservation

Birdscapes: News from International Habitat Conservation Partnerships

Partners

Reed it and Reap
by Carl Frentress, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

“Reed Wildlife Ranch” is the gate-sign inscription at the entrance to Jim and Judy Reed’s 1,780-acre property in north-central Texas. Encrypted in that sign is the secret to sustainable development, and it’s a secret worth sharing.

A few years ago, when Jim inherited the land from his father, he and Judy had just retired from their computer business. They found themselves at one of life’s crossroads: stay retired or make a go of the ranch. They ended up at the ranch.

With that decision made, they faced their first challenge. The ranch’s Trinity River-bottom vista reflected years of intensive struggle in cattle ranching. Both understood the risk in continuing with ranch operations as they had been and which often had pushed land and financial resources beyond reasonable limits. So, they began a search for a better way to sustain the land and their finances. They had a new life’s purpose: reclaim the vista.

Jim and Judy and their extended family began devising a long-range, comprehensive, land-management plan. In putting the pieces together, they happened upon the “holistic resource management approach” set forth by Alan Savory and Texas Holistic Resource Management. They adopted the approach’s goal-modeling process to develop their management plan.

Jim said, “The use of the holistic management approach is one of the major reasons we’ve made the progress we’ve made. When we’re trying to make a decision about whether to do something or not, we test our decision using the seven testing questions of the goal-model process.”

In their search for “a better way,” the Reeds found and took advantage of technical guidance and cost-sharing programs offered by agencies that would help enhance their land. The money they received from an Environmental Protection Agency grant was used to improve the forest species composition and wildlife value of elm-ash-sugarberry forests from which oak and pecan trees had been removed by exploitive logging many years ago. Small openings were cleared in the forests, those logs sold, and native oak and pecan seedlings planted.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) jumped into the reclamation project to help restore native range grasses, control erosion, and develop supplemental water sources for wildlife. The NRCS also provided survey and design assistance for a crawfish pond, both a food source for wildlife and a revenue source for the ranch. And the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (Department) East Texas Wetland Project is currently assisting with the development of a large wetland.

Outdoor recreation and land-management demonstrations are an integral part of the Reed’s master plan. Hunting, fishing, and camping allowed on the ranch are income generators. Hunting has even contributed to ranch-reclamation goals. Feral pigs were effecting serious damage to habitat; hog hunts eliminated the root of the problem. Jim and Judy also are evaluating birdwatching for its income potential.

So, now you know the secret to Jim’s and Judy’s success—and it’s an award winning secret at that. The Department presented them its Lone Star Stewards Award, because every day, the Reeds’ life work demonstrates that the principles of sustainable land management really do work.

For more information, contact Jim and Judy Reed, Reed Wildlife Ranch, 2209 Dartmouth Lane, Corsicana, Texas 75110, (903) 872-6836, oljim@reedfamilyranch.com, www.reedfamilyranch.com.

Canadian Authors Support Ontario Wetland Conservation
by Mark Stabb, Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund

Aldo Leopold wrote that conservation only counts “on the actual landscape of the back forty.” In Canada’s southernmost region, two Canadian authors are quietly demonstrating that actions do speak louder than words. Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson have joined a growing ecological restoration movement in and around Essex County, Ontario (geographically south of Detroit, Michigan). They are among scores of landowners bringing back wetland habitat to a landscape stripped of its natural state and drained of its moisture.

Much of the Essex region was once a dense swamp underlain by water-holding clay soils. Now the region contains less than 4 percent of its original natural forest cover and wetlands. Drains, roads, and invasive plant species such as purple loosestrife and reed canary grass affect remaining wetlands. Compounding this, much of the land is privately owned. Landowners needed to be part of the solution.

Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund (OWHF) biologist David Kraus encouraged clusters of landowners to participate, leading to synergistic improvements to wetland functions and wildlife habitat. Landowners are recreating wetlands and planting trees and shrubs up against existing fragments of swamp forest, in some cases doubling the forest area.

“Wildlife habitat is at a premium here. This private land stewardship work is extremely valuable,” said Kraus. “Waterfowl and other waterbirds will benefit from improved breeding, pairing, and feeding areas and, in the long run, the work will also help restore populations of native amphibians such as wood frogs and spring peepers to the area.”

The authors, both avid birders, originally planned to install a “wader scrape,” allowing shorebirds to feed. There were dowitchers on the property the first year because enough topsoil had been scraped off to allow mudflats to develop.

Margaret Atwood, whose father was a biologist, emphasizes the importance of native species and structural elements such as dead wood in these restoration projects. “If you’re interested in birds…it’s not enough to have a feeder in your back yard. You have to have places for them to live,” she said. “This is not gardening or landscaping at all. You do gardening or landscaping around a house to either eat the vegetables or look at the flowers. This is more like anti-landscaping to restore the things that landscaping would have removed.”

The OWHF makes it possible for the projects to be highly ambitious and useful. It also emphasizes the connectivity between conservation agencies and landowners. Landowners see the project and gain an understanding of how funding from conservation agencies benefits society and not just one individual.

“We are also linking these landowners’ projects with recovery plans for endangered species such as Canada’s prothonotary warblers and Blanchard’s cricket frogs, which will benefit from the restored wetlands decades from now,” said David Kraus.

For more information, contact Mark Stabb, Program Manager, Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund, 7 Hinton Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4P1, (613) 722-2090 extension 252, mstabb@wetlandfund.com, www.wetlandfund.com.

Rancher Leaves Conservation Legacy
by Steve Wagner, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

An inspired man’s dream has become reality.

Bob Torstenson, a hunter, conservationist, and family man from Rockford, Illinois, dreamed that his beloved New Mexico ranch would always be a haven for wildlife and people who enjoy the outdoors. He dreamed that his land’s horizons would forever be unbroken and wild, a lasting icon of western romance. Cancer took Torstenson’s life last May. He was 51. Before he died, he selected the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (Foundation) to be the keeper of his dream––and his ranch––in perpetuity.

The Montana-based conservation group accepted Bob’s gift: the Double H Ranch. The property consists of 95,696 deeded acres plus a 39,433-acre New Mexico State Land Office lease—a total of 135,129 acres, or 211 square miles. The preliminary appraised value is $17.5 million. And Bob had more to give. He also left a $4 million cash endowment to help ensure the best possible stewardship of the ranch and its wildlife. With an estimated total value of $21.5 million, this is among the largest and most generous conservation gifts ever given by a single individual.

Bob’s friend, Rockford attorney Jan Ohlander, described the unusual vision that led to the gifting of the ranch. “Bob believed large tracts of unbroken land are slipping away. He wanted to change a mind-set among people of means and encourage them to consider similar opportunities to protect and pass on properties that provide a legacy for future generations. Bob wanted the Double H Ranch to be both an inspiration to other landowners and a challenge to the Foundation to expand its vision and capabilities for protecting larger and more critical chunks of habitat,” Ohlander said. “Bob was extraordinarily generous, and he had a knack for looking into the future and taking actions that would have magnified impacts years from now.”

The ranch is located in the arid high-country of west-central New Mexico between Magdalena and Datil, a 2-hour drive southwest of Albuquerque. The Double H is noted for its elk, especially its large-antlered bulls, but a raft of other wildlife also make their home there, such as mule deer, pronghorn antelope, mourning dove, three species of quail, Merriam’s wild turkey, and long-billed curlew. Waterfowl and shorebirds are sometimes present in impressive numbers during migration. The Foundation is considering public access issues in the development of management plans for the ranch. Although the habitat and resources don’t lend themselves to full public access, the Foundation is discussing ways in which organization members and others may experience the ranch through special drawings, hunt raffles, youth education programs, and other conservation and recreation activities.

Each of us has dreams. Sometimes those dreams reflect a hope that we will somehow make a difference on the planet. French satirist and Nobel laureate Jacques Anatole Thibault said, “To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” Bob Torstenson did just that, and his dream and actions will make a difference.

For more information, contact Steve Wagner, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, 2291 West Broadway, Missoula, Montana 59808, (406) 523-0242, swagner@rmef.org, www.elkfoundation.org.

A Short Story about Prairie Conservation
by Tim Sopuck, Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation

Funding from the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk has allowed the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC) to focus long-term conservation efforts on wetlands and native mixed-grass prairie. On Glendon Short’s farm, the program combination has protected a suite of native habitats for waterfowl, waterbirds, landbirds, and a number of species of concern.

Southwestern Manitoba’s landscape is lightly rolling country, dotted with prairie potholes and a mix of upland habitats. With over 95 percent of the land privately owned and farmed, securing significant tracts of native habitat is a challenge.

The Short family’s interest in wildlife-friendly land-use practices has spanned three generations. A great deal of native habitat still remains on the 1,000-acre farm that Glendon Short now operates. The farm includes one of the few significant parcels of mixed-grass prairie in the area. The prairie was never cultivated because the land is stony and covered with wetlands. The area is a high conservation priority because mixed-grass prairie is one of the region’s most “at risk” habitats and the wetland/grassland combination supports a wide array of birds.

“I approached Glendon because I knew he considered grazing and maintaining the native habitats to be the best agricultural use of that land,” said Roy Bullion, MHHC field representative in Shoal Lake. “I also knew that his grazing management practices encourage a diversity of native plants.”

After mulling over the merits of a purchased conservation easement to protect the prairie, Short came to the conclusion that it fit well with his future plans. Easement funds came from Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk.

The prairie is potential habitat for many grassland species, including species of concern like Sprague’s pipit. Short will continue to graze the pasture as he has in the past. The perpetual easement ensures that the native grassland habitat remains for generations to come.

The easement also complements an abutting 200-acre wetland project that was secured by Ducks Unlimited Canada two decades ago. The prairie provides nesting cover for ducks, shorebirds, and other wetland-associated species.

The conservation picture was also enhanced when Short signed an additional easement on wetland and associated upland habitats on the rest of his farm. The second easement was arranged through the Potholes Plus Program, which is supported by North American Wetlands Conservation Act funding and jointly delivered by MHHC and the Delta Waterfowl Foundation.

“When you look at the whole picture—the extent and the range of habitats protected—Short’s farm is about as good as it gets in this region,” noted Bullion. “The combined program funding available produced a tremendous outcome for migratory birds and for landscape conservation.”

For more information, contact Tim Sopuck, Manager of Operations, The Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, 1555 St. James Street, Room 200, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H 1B5, (204) 784-4357, tsopuck@mhhc.mb.ca.