Assessment of Conservation Priority for Arizona IBAs: Bird Conservation Planning Using Geospatial Analysis and Threats Scoring Criteria

A Draft Report of theImportant Bird Areas Program

Audubon Arizona

byTice Supplee, Director of Bird Conservation

Lindsey Hendricks, GIS AnalystJennie MacFarland, IBA Coordinator

Draft date July 30, 2012****DRAFT CURRENTLY IN REVIEW, NOT FOR CIRCULATION****

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Abstract

Important Bird Areas are sites that provide essential habitat for one or more species of bird. IBAs include sites for breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds. IBAs may be a few acres or thousands of acres, but usually they are discrete sites that stand out from the surrounding landscape. IBAs may include private or public lands, or both, and they may be protected or unprotected.

Important Bird Areas Assessment is a key component of any conservation strategy since it is the method by which we track Important Bird Areas. The IBA assessment approach focuses on three essential elements – (1) conservation targets (birds & habitats), (2) threats (scope, severity, permanence), and (3) conservation activity (designation, planning, actions).

Audubon in Arizona has identified 42 Important Bird Areas over a ten year period. Of these eight have been given Global priority by National Audubon Society and 7 additional Arizona Important Bird Areas are being considered for global designation. Two additional sites will be evaluated by our IBA Science Committee in the fall of 2012 and we anticipate 2-3 additional sites in our list of 48 remaining potential areas will be considered in the next 2-3 years.

In order to provide a holistic, landscape view of the IBA process, we developed a spatial modeling approach that evaluates both priority habitats and distribution of bird Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) identified in the Arizona Game and Fish Department State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP). Our model is based on breeding bird distribution as mapped in the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas (Corman and Gervais-Wise 2004) and land cover data from the Southwest ReGAP Program a division of the National Gap Analysis Program – “Gap analysis” refers to a specific, stepwise method of assessing and mapping the level of biodiversity protection for a given area. The SGCN and habitats analysis for Arizona IBAs was completed by students enrolled in the Mesa Community College Geospatial Analysis certification program. Further refinement of these products will continue, beginning with those IBAs ranked as highest priority through an Arizona priority ranking analysis using these models and other inputs related to level of protection, threats and opportunities.

Each Important Bird Area was also “Scored” based upon the following criteria: presence of threats to the habitats or focal bird species, qualification of the IBA for Global or Continental importance, presence of unique habitats and/or assemblages of species groups (waterfowl, waterbirds, shorebirds, migrants, raptors, biome restricted assemblages), level of land protection, and capacity for conservation and monitoring activities.

Introduction

Arizona Game and Fish Department developed a scoring criterion for species occurring in the state to rank them into tiers of conservation importance. The resulting list are Arizona Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) presented in three Tiers and the top Tier 1 further split into “a” and “b”. National Audubon Society has identified species of birds at a global and continental

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scale that are in need of conservation attention and protection. These species are periodically updated into a Red and Yellow WatchList using trend data from Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). There is a high level of overlap between the two lists, although there are some species given priority by Arizona Game and Fish Department that are not on the Audubon Watchlist and the reverse. An approach for this project is to quantify Audubon WatchList species priorities at IBAs through the Global and Continental identification of IBAs. Appendix A. presents the list of Arizona SGCN and WatchList bird species that are considered for qualifying a site as an Arizona Important Bird Area. An objective of this project was to complete a spatial assessment that focused on identifying those IBAs that offer habitats for Arizona State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) Tier 1a and Tier 1b avian species.

The Arizona Bird Conservation Initiative has identified habitats of highest ecological importance for avian conservation in Arizona. The members of the Arizona Important Bird Area Science Committee agreed in October, 2012 that Arizona IBAs should be ranked in relative priority based upon the percent occurrence of these habitat types within the IBA. A second objective of this project was to calculate the percentage of each Arizona IBA that was composed of the following habitats: riparian, wetlands and associated open water, montane mixed conifer forest, sub-alpine conifer forest (aspen, spruce and fir), grasslands (plains, Great Basin, semi-desert, sub-alpine), Madrean pine and oak woodlands and savannahs, and Sonoran desert).

One of the global IBA criteria established and implemented worldwide by BirdLife International pertains to biome-restricted species assemblages. Through this criterion, IBAs are identified if a site is known or thought to hold a significant component of the group of species whose distributions are largely or wholly confined to one global biome (applies to groups of species with distributions of > 50,000km2, which occur mostly or wholly within all or part of a particular biome and are of global importance). This criterion relates to sites that support groups of species that may be common within the planning area (e.g. country), but are not widespread outside of the planning area. These species can be thought of as those for which the planning unit has responsibility for their long-term conservation. Applying this criterion at geographic scales smaller than the global scale requires stepping down to scale-appropriate components of the criterion. In North America, North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs; http://www.nabci-us.org/) are used as surrogates for global biomes. BCRs are ecological units derived for the purpose of planning and implementing bird conservation in North America; portions of four BCRs comprise Arizona (see Figure 1).

Important Bird Areas (IBA) AssessmentInitially, Important Bird Areas are selected as based on the particular species of bird(s) and the number(s) of individuals that occur at the site. As part of this identification process, data are compiled about the habitats, threats, landuse, and ownership of the site. These data provide an initial snapshot of the quality of the site and allow decisions to be made about the site’s merit as an Important Bird Area. While these data are critical in making the initial determination of a site’s status, for the long term conservation and management of the Important Bird Area the birds, habitat, threats and other site characteristics need to be periodically evaluated.

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Figure 1. The four Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) of Arizona

The data resulting from the assessment process can then be applied to conservation decision making. IBA Assessment data are used not just to determine what conservation actions may be appropriate to take, but also in evaluating the success of previously taken conservation actions. The Arizona Important Bird Area spatial analysis and assessment serves as an initial baseline for future evaluation of conservation accomplishments and status of sites identified as important for the conservation of birds in Arizona.

Methodology

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Overall Goal and Objectives

Overall goal: Identify the most important identified IBAs in Arizona for Conservation

Objective 1a: Analyze the Breeding Bird Atlas SGCN Tier 1a and Tier 1b overlay with the 42 Arizona identified IBAs

a. Develop GIS analysis for each Tier 1a and Tier 1b avian SGCNb. Develop GIS analysis layer for identified Arizona IBAs,c. Create and apply ranking system to combine information from a and b.

Objective 1b: Score all IBAs for the number of Tier 1a and Tier 1b species that occur at each IBA and have additional state qualifying criteria for species assemblages of state significance including concentrations of species (raptors, waterbirds, waterfowl, and migration bottlenecks).

a. State Tier 1a Species: 3 points per speciesb. State Tier 1b Species: 1 point per species c. Species Assemblage (Sonoran desert species, hummingbirds, warblers)

and Species Concentration (raptors, waterfowl, waterbirds, and migration bottlenecks) : 2 points each

Objective 2: Analyze the percent presence of priority vegetation and habitat types using vegetation coverage from Southwest ReGap as edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The vegetation types identified as priority for avian species in Arizona are: Riparian, Marsh, Wetlands, Aspen, All grasslands, Madrean oak woodlands, Upper and lower Sonoran desert, and both Montane and Subalpine conifer forests. Scores are assigned to each IBA from 1-5 based on percent of these habitats represented within the IBA.

a. Develop vegetation community maps for each of the 42 Arizona IBAs.b. Create and apply a vegetation community ranking system

Objective 3: Score each identified Arizona IBA for threat vulnerability, Global and Continental Watch List bird species importance, level of land protection, and current capacity for conservation and monitoring activities.

a. Score each IBA for threats vulnerability levelsb. Score each IBA for Global and Continental species valuesc. Score each IBA for level of land protectiond. Score each IBA for conservation and monitoring capacity

a. Each IBA was scored by evaluating the level of identified threat using Conservation Open Standards analysis looking at three factors; scope of threat – is it pervasive throughout the IBA or limited to a portion of the IBA; intensity of the threat – are the impacts minor or severe; reversibility of the threat – if abatement action is taken can the threat be easily reversed. A value could also be assigned to identified future threats related to the immediacy of the threat – is it likely to occur in the short term or at a more distant unknown time.

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Threat Scores: High impact: score 8–12; Medium impact: score 6–7; Low impact: score 3–5. High impact threats were multiplied by 3 times and Moderate impact threats were multiplied by 2 times.

b. Global and Continental IBAs were scored the same at 5 points for the designation and 2 extra points for each additional global or continental qualifying species. Both currently recognized global and continental IBAs and nominated IBAs entered into the National Audubon Society database were scored under these criteria. IBAs that have both a global and continental designation were assigned 10 points. Details about the qualifying criteria for the named species are located in Appendix XXX. Global Designation : IBA has sufficient population of the following qualifying species: California Condor, Black Rail, Spotted Owl, Pinyon Jay, Bell's Vireo, Bendire's Thrasher, Chestnut-collared Longspur and concentrations of Yuma Clapper Rail, Sandhill Crane, Neotropic Cormorant, Clark's Grebe.Continental Designation: IBA has sufficient population of the following qualifying species: Scaled Quail, Montezuma Quail, Clark's grebe, Yuma Clapper Rail, Long-billed Curlew, Elf Owl, , Blue-throated Hummingbird, Costa's Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon, Lewis's Woodpecker, Arizona Woodpecker, Gilded Flicker, Willow Flycatcher, Mexican Chickadee, LeConte's Thrasher, Virginia's Warbler, Lucy's Warbler, Grace's Warbler, red-faced Warbler, Abert's Towhee, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Brewer's Sparrow, Black-chinned Sparrow, Lark Bunting, McGowan's Longspur.

c. Protection Level Scoring (Low numbers equal high level of protection): 1= National Park, Preserve (State or Private), National Wildlife Refuge; 2=National Monument, National Conservation Area, Wilderness Area, State Wildlife Area, Conservation Easement; 3=State, County, City Parks, USFS, BLM, DofD, Tribal and Communal Lands with designated management for natural resources; 4=State Trust Lands, Private Lands, Tribal and Communal Lands; 5=lands identified for development.

d. Stewardship and/or monitoring was assigned scores of 1=very low capacity where there is no current monitoring and poor eBird coverage; 2=medium capacity with available data sources from eBird, CBC, or other structured surveys (marshbirds, sandhill cranes, winter waterfowl, agency surveys); 3=high capacity with an active Audubon or Friends group conducting IBA avian surveys, University or agency research or inventory, or high quality contributing data to eBird.

Study Area

The study area of this project was the 42 identified Important Bird Areas in the state of Arizona as of January 2012.

Methods

Data & Software Overview:

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• BCR – Bird Conservation Region North American Bird Conservation Initiative

– ArcView Data - Vector

• SWReGap – Southwest Regional Gap Analysis - USGS– Landcover

• ArcView Data – Raster– Project to UTM Zone 12 N, meters

– Stewardship• ArcView Data - Vector

– Project to UTM Zone 12 N, meters

• Audubon Arizona Important Bird Area – Audubon AZ & MCC– ArcView Data - Vector

• Vegetation• Rivers• Elevation• Roads• County

• BBA – Breeding Bird Atlas – AZ Game & Fish

• Access Database, without Native American lands• Join with quads

IBA Priority Scores are relative to each other. Scores include favoring sites with existing stewardship and monitoring capacities (up to 3 additional points). The highest scoring IBAs are sites with best combination of factors for focused conservation work. IBAs Highlighted in Gray have a current commitment of IBA Program Resources.

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Table 1. Assemblages of responsibility species for priority habitat types within Arizona Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) Southern Rockies/Colorado Plateau (BCR 16) Southern Rockies

Sonoran and Mohave Deserts(BCR 33) Sonoran & Mohave

Sierra Madre Occidental(BCR 34) Madrean

Sierra Madre Occidental(BCR 34) Continued

ForestDusky GrouseNorthern GoshawkGolden EagleMexican Spotted OwlNorthern Pygmy OwlLewis’s WoodpeckerGray JayOlive-sided Flycatcher MacGillivray’s WarblerRed-faced Warbler Olive-sided Flycatcher MacGillivray’s WarblerEvening GrosbeakPine Grosbeak

AspenCavity nesting assemblage

GrasslandMountain PloverFerruginous HawkWestern Burrowing OwlCommon NighthawkSavannah Sparrow

Riparian Woodland and StreamsSW Willow FlycatcherPacific WrenAmerican DipperBlack-billed MagpieSwainson’s ThrushLincoln’s Sparrow

Wetland and Open WaterBald EaglePeregrine FalconAmerican Bittern

Sonoran DesertGolden EagleSnowy PloverGila WoodpeckerGilded FlickerElf OwlCactus Ferruginous Pygmy OwlWestern Burrowing OwlBlack-capped GnatcatcherDesert Purple MartinLeConte’s ThrasherRufous-winged Sparrow

GrasslandCassin’s SparrowRufous-winged Sparrow (semi-desert grasslands)

Riparian WoodlandBald EagleMississippi KiteWestern Yellow-billed CuckooBroad-billed HummingbirdThick-billed KingbirdSW Willow FlycatcherBell’s VireoYellow WarblerLucy’s WarblerAbert’s Towhee

Wetland and Open WaterClark’s GrebePeregrine FalconCalifornia Black RailYuma Clapper RailLong-billed CurlewSandhill CraneSprague’s Pipit (winter)

ForestNorthern Goshawk (Apache)Golden EagleNorthern Pygmy OwlMexican Spotted OwlMagnificent HummingbirdOlive-sided Flycatcher MacGillivray’s WarblerRed-faced WarblerOlive-sided Flycatcher MacGillivray’s WarblerYellow-eyed JuncoEvening Grosbeak

AspenCavity nesting assemblage

GrasslandScaled QuailMasked Bobwhite QuailWestern Burrowing OwlCommon NighthawkAzure BluebirdChestnut-collared Longspur (winter)McGowan’s Longspur (winter)Brewer’s Sparrow (winter)Arizona Botteri’s SparrowArizona Grasshopper SparrowWestern Grasshopper Sparrow

Riparian WoodlandViolet-crowned HummingbirdElegant TrogonBroad-billed HummingbirdBlue-throated HummingbirdThick-billed KingbirdSW Willow FlycatcherSulphur-bellied FlycatcherRose-throated BecardBell’s VireoWestern Yellow-billed CuckooSwainson’s ThrushGray CatbirdYellow WarblerLucy’s Warbler

Madrean Oak WoodlandMontezuma QuailGould’s TurkeyMexican Spotted OwlWhiskered Screech OwlCommon NighthawkMexican Whip-poor-willBuff-collared NightjarMagnificent HummingbirdBlue-throated HummingbirdArizona WoodpeckerDusky-capped FlycatcherBuff-breasted FlycatcherMexican ChickadeeFive-stripped Sparrow

Wetland and Open WaterWood DuckSandhill CraneSprague’s Pipit (winter)

Chihuahuan Desert (BCR 35)

GrasslandScaled QuailWestern Burrowing OwlAzure BluebirdChestnut-collared Longspur (winter)McGowan’s Longspur (winter)Brewer’s Sparrow (winter)Arizona Botteri’s Sparrow

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Because some Species of greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) are relatively common in Arizona, we were not looking to score an IBA at every site where a SGCN occurs. Rather, we took a reserve design approach and sought to identify IBAs where high priority identified habitats supporting SGCN occurred at significant percentages. A scoring and ranking system was developed using the calculated percentage of priority habitats occurring in each IBA. We defined “most important” as sites with the largest, most intact (e.g. least fragmented) patches of habitat that support the highest richness of responsibility species comprising each assemblage and with the greatest chance of long-term protection.

References

Boykin, K.G., L. Langs, J.Lowry, D. Schrupp, D. Bradford, L. O’Brien, K. Thomas, C. Drost, A. Ernst, W. Kepner, J. Prior-Magee, D. Ramsey, W. Rieth, T.Sajwaj, K. Schulz, B. C. Thompson. 2007. Analysis based on Stewardship and Management Status. Chapter 5 in J.S. Prior-Magee, ed. Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Final Report. U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Program, Moscow, ID. Available on-line at: http:// fws-nmcfwru.nmsu.edu/swregap/ .

Brown, Dave. 1994. Biotic Communities: Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Burger, M., Halperin, J., Liner, J., Draft 2004. Identification of IBAs: Bird Consevation Planning Using GAP Analysis Data. Audubon New York.

Corman, T., Latta, M., & Beardmore, C. 1999. Arizona Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan. Technical Report 142. Nongame and Endangered Species Program, Arizona Game and Fish Department. Available on-line at: http :// www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/w_c/partners_flight/APIF%20Conservation%20Plan.1999.Final.pdf

Esri. 1999. Environmental Systems Research Institute. Redlands, CA.

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). 1980. World conservation strategy: living resource conservation for sustainable development. IUCN-UNEP-WWF. Gland, Switzerland.

Liner, Jillian. Summer 2004. Audubon Uses GIS to Identify Important Bird Areas in New York State. ESRI, ArcNews Online. Available on-line at: http :// www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer04articles/audubon-uses.html

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Appendix A. Data sources.

Dataset Originator Publication date

Title Acquired from

Type Projection

Arizona-GAP land cover

USGS Raster UTM Zone 18 north, meters

AZ-GAP species distributions

USGS Raster same

SW-GAP stewardship lands

Jan. 2001 USGS Vector same

SW-GAP Ecozone Coverage

USGS Vector same

ArizonaWildlife Habitat Fragmentation

Arizona Game and Fish Department

June 1999 NYS Route System

AGFD HabiMap

Vector same

Important Bird Areas

Audubon Arizona

June 2012 Important Bird Areas of Arizona

Audubon Arizona

Vector same

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Appendix B. Flowchart of data analysis.

GAP LandcoverGAP Predicted Bird Species

Distributions for Assemblage X

Richness within a Bird Conservation Region (BCR)

Combine

Reclassify

Major Roads

Areas of potentially

unbroken habitat (Blocks)

Convert to gridAnd

Reclassify

Combine

Total habitat area index (Eq. 1), % habitat area index (Eq. 2),Patch density index (Eq. 3)

Join tables and

Calculate(per block)

Mask

Area-weightedmean richness index (Eq. 4)

Calculate(per block)

Block Index Value(BIV, Eq. 5)

The top-ranking blocks need to include at least 30% of all the habitat within the BCR/Ecoregion.

*

Potential IBA habitat

Select* ;Use blocks as Mask

Major unfragmented

habitat patches (>10 ha)

Habitat for Assemblage X within a BCR

Richness within defined habitat

Richness within blocks

Combine

Blocks ranked by BIV

GAP LandcoverGAP Predicted Bird Species

Distributions for Assemblage X

Richness within a Bird Conservation Region (BCR)

Combine

Reclassify

Major Roads

Areas of potentially

unbroken habitat (Blocks)

Convert to gridAnd

Reclassify

Combine

Total habitat area index (Eq. 1), % habitat area index (Eq. 2),Patch density index (Eq. 3)

Join tables and

Calculate(per block)

Mask

Area-weightedmean richness index (Eq. 4)

Calculate(per block)

Block Index Value(BIV, Eq. 5)

The top-ranking blocks need to include at least 30% of all the habitat within the BCR/Ecoregion.

* The top-ranking blocks need to include at least 30% of all the habitat within the BCR/Ecoregion.

*

Potential IBA habitat

Select* ;Use blocks as Mask

Major unfragmented

habitat patches (>10 ha)

Habitat for Assemblage X within a BCR

Richness within defined habitat

Richness within blocks

Combine

Blocks ranked by BIV

GIS Dataset

Flowchart key

Tabular Data

Index ranking(ordinal scale)of GIS Data,based on Tabular Data

Landscape level

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Convert to gridand reclassify

Combine

Find distance and reclassify*

Combine

Area-weightedmean distance

Area-weightedmean distancePatch area

Patch Index Value(PIV, see Eq. 6)

Join by Patch ID

Potential Important Bird Areas

Select

Lands in state forest or conservation status

Current Important Bird Areas

Unfragmented habitat patches

(> 10 ha)

Conservation distance classes

IBA distance classes

Patches ranked by PIV

Areas of potentially unbroken habitat

within blocksPotential IBA habitat

Minor roads

Convert to gridand reclassify

Combine

Find distance and reclassify*

Combine

Area-weightedmean distance

Area-weightedmean distancePatch area

Patch Index Value(PIV, see Eq. 6)

Join by Patch ID

Potential Important Bird Areas

Select

Lands in state forest or conservation status

Current Important Bird Areas

Unfragmented habitat patches

(> 10 ha)

Conservation distance classes

IBA distance classes

Patches ranked by PIV

Areas of potentially unbroken habitat

within blocksPotential IBA habitat

Minor roads

Patch level

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Appendix C. Ecoregional stratification of potential Important Bird Area Hot Block assessment.

Hectares is the area of assemblage habitat within each ecoregion. % of Grand total is the ecoregion habitat hectares divided by the Grand Total. Ecoregions with % of Grand total not in bold were dismissed from further analysis.** Bird Conservation Region and ecoregion boundaries do not always coincide. Therefore, some ecoregions were fragmented by the BCR boundaries and had relatively little area. In BCR 13, the St. Lawrence, Lake Champlain, and northern portions of the Adirondack ecoregion were joined together to make one ecoregion we termed the 'Northern Tier'.

BCR 28 ShrubAppalachian

PlateauCatskill

MountainsHudson Valley

Lower Hudson

Mohawk/Black River Valley

Grand Total

Hectares 438,256 23,397 16,482 1,408 757 480,302% of Grand total 0.91 0.05 0.03 < 0.01 < 0.01Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 138,701% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.32Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 2,700

BCR 28 GrasslandAppalachian

PlateauCatskill

MountainsHudson Valley

Lower Hudson

Mohawk/Black River Valley

Grand Total

Hectares 730,264 66,001 44,119 2,831 3,339 846,556% of Grand total 0.86 0.08 0.05 < 0.01 < 0.01Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 207,136% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.28Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 0

BCR 28 ForestAppalachian

PlateauCatskill

MountainsHudson Valley

Lower Hudson

Mohawk/Black River Valley

Grand Total

Hectares 1,545,242 757,906 219,198 122,301 3,071 2,647,720% of Grand total 0.58 0.29 0.08 0.05 < 0.01Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 452,783 464,102% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.29 0.61Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 26,559 18,230 28,852 12,706

BCR 13 ShrubAppalachian

PlateauGreat Lakes

Plain/SW Tug HillHudson Valley

Northern Tier

Mohawk/Black River Valley

Grand Total

Hectares 249,166 533,475 11,652 295,491 93,472 1,183,258% of Grand total 0.21 0.45 0.01 0.25 0.08Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 79,178 264,742% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.31 0.50Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 2,050 23,400 43,463

BCR 13 Grassland Appalachian Plateau

Great Lakes Plain/SW Tug Hill

Hudson Valley/

Northern Tier

Mohawk/Black River Valley

Grand Total

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CatskillsHectares 432,825 930,181 124,297 219,038 263,370 1,969,712% of Grand total 0.22 0.47 0.06 0.11 0.13Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 130,808 401,055 52,756 81,059% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.30 0.43 0.24 0.31Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 0.00 26,205.93 21,471 0.00

BCR 13 ForestAppalachian

PlateauGreat Lakes

Plain/SW Tug Hill

Hudson Valley/

CatskillsNorthern

tierMohawk/Black

River ValleyGrand Total

Hectares 441,925 616,030 587,250 466,476 372,342 2,484,023% of Grand total 0.18 0.24 0.23 0.18 0.15Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 174,382 261,654 430,057 159,330 152,126% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.39 0.43 0.73 0.34 0.43Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 2,733 0 12,614 23,390 0

BCR 14 ForestAdiron-dacks

Great Lakes Plain

Hudson Valley

Lake Champlain

Mohawk/Black River Valley

St. Law-rence Tug Hill

Grand Total

Hectares 2,146,546 7,791 119,807 38,428 22,194 2 243,381 2,578,150% of Grand total 0.83 < 0.01 0.05 0.01 0.01 < 0.01 0.09Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 878,269 243,381% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.41 100.00Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 123,965 3,000

BCR 30 Forest Lower Hudson Coastal Lowlands Grand TotalTotal hectares 67,733 93,022 160,755% of Grand total 0.42 0.58Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 30,998 17,334% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.46 0.19Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 1,505 12,030

BCR 30 Shrub Lower Hudson Coastal Lowlands Grand TotalTotal hectares 2,416 105,851 108,268% of Grand total 0.02 0.98Habitat in Hot Blocks (ha) 61,453% Habitat in Hot Blocks 0.58Habitat in Hot Block IBAs 38,367

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Appendix D. Complementarity Assessment

Percentages are the percent of a species' predicted breeding distribution within all potential IBA sites of the particular ecoregion.

BCR 28 Shrub Appalachian PlateauAmerican Woodcock limited habitat 697 ha (9%)

Whip-poor-will* limited habitat 113 ha (1%)BCR 28 Grass Appalachian Plateau

all speciesBCR 28 Forest Lower Hudson

Black-throated Blue Warbler not predicted in Lower Hudson Hudson ValleyBlack-throated Blue Warbler not predicted in Hudson ValleyHooded Warbler not predicted in Hudson ValleyWorm-eating Warbler* not predicted in Hudson ValleyCatskillsHooded Warbler not predicted in CatskillsLA Waterthrush limited habitat 6,000 ha (5%), only

predicted w/in 100 m of hydrologic features

Cerulean Warbler* not predicted in CatskillsWorm-eating Warbler* not predicted in CatskillsAppalachian Plateauall species

BCR13 Shrub Appalachian PlateauCommon Snipe* limited habitat 37 ha (0.3%)American Woodcock limited habitat 100 ha (0.8%)Willow Flycatcher limited habitat 430 ha (3.7%)Great Lakes PlainCommon Snipe* limited habitat 124 ha (2%)American Woodcock limited habitat 237 ha (4%)Northern TierBlue-winged Warbler not predicted in St. Lawrence ecoregionAmerican Woodcock limited habitat 200 ha (0.4%)Willow Flycatcher limited habitat 471 ha (1%)

BCR13 Grass Great Lakes PlainCommon Snipe* 168 ha (1.5%)Appalachian PlateauCommon Snipe* no predicted habitatUpland Sandpiper* limited habitat 213 ha (7%)Henslow's Sparrow* limited habitat 213 ha (7%)Northern Tierall species

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BCR13 Forest Appalachian PlateauCommon Snipe* 80 ha (0.3%)Great Lakes Plainall speciesHudson ValleyCerulean Warbler* not in Ashokan/Catskills or Moreau

potential IBA sitesCommon Snipe* limited habitat 187 ha (0.4%)Northern TierBaltimore Oriole not predicted in Adirondacks, sufficient

coverage in St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain

BCR14 ForestAdirondacksRuffed Grouse limited habitat 498 ha (0.2%)American Woodcock limited habitat 2568 ha (1%)Tug HillBicknell's Thrush* no predicted habitatBlackpoll Warbler* no predicted habitatRuffed Grouse limited habitat 617 ha (3%)American Woodcock limited habitat 642 ha (3%)

BCR30 Forest Coastal Lowlandsall required speciesno bonus species not predicted on Long IslandLower Hudsonall species

BCR30 ShrubCoastal LowlandsBrown Thrasher not predicted in pitch pine habitat, but

sufficiently covered in Long Island Pine Barrens IBA

American Woodcocklimited habitat 1,000 ha (3%),sufficient coverage in other Long Island IBAs

* denotes bonus species (see text).

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