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ITEM: |
CONSENT
CALENDAR |
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4. |
CONSIDER
AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS TO CONTRACT WITH VENTANA WILDERNESS SOCIETY FOR CARMEL
RIVER AVIAN HABITAT MONITORING |
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Meeting
Date: |
April
19, 2004 |
Budgeted: Yes |
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Staff
Contact: |
Thomas
Christensen |
Program/Line
Item No.: 2.1.3-B |
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Cost
Estimate: $15,600 |
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General
Counsel Approval: N/A |
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Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this
item on April 13, 2004 and recommended approval pending receipt of additional
information from staff. |
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CEQA
Compliance: N/A |
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SUMMARY: The Board will consider authorizing staff to retain
the Ventana Wilderness Society (VWS) to continue the District’s avian (bird)
habitat monitoring program on the Carmel River during calendar year 2004. This
work will continue the monitoring of bird life along the river conducted since
1992, including the collection of data on the use of the Carmel River riparian
corridor during bird migration and breeding seasons. Work will be as shown in Exhibit 4-A.
RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the General Manager to enter into
a contract with the Ventana Wilderness Society for avian habitat monitoring
work along the Carmel River at a cost not to exceed $15,600. The Administrative Committee considered this
matter at its April 13, 2004 meeting and recommended approval pending receipt
of additional information from staff.
IMPACTS ON STAFF AND RESOURCES: Funds to conduct the District’s 2004
wildlife monitoring program are proposed to be included in the draft FY
2004-2005 budget under Project Expenditures for Program 2.1 (Riparian Habitat
Mitigations, Wildlife monitoring).
Estimated costs for the scope of work as shown in Exhibit 4-A total
$15,600. Mileage expenses are included
in this not-to-exceed amount. This work will be performed under the direction
of the District’s Riparian Projects Coordinator.
BACKGROUND:
Avian (bird) use of riparian habitat provides an excellent indicator of
wildlife habitat value. In 1992, the
District established permanent sampling locations for avian species monitoring
at several sites along the Carmel River.
The purpose of this program is to
measure bird use at the monitoring sites, thus providing an indication
of changing patterns of habitat values in the District’s restoration project
areas. Information on bird populations
and avian species diversity collected as part of the District’s Mitigation
Program has assisted in documenting trends in the response of wildlife
populations to habitat enhancements implemented by the District. Locations of the monitoring sites are shown
in Exhibit 4-B. An example of the
data collected from 1992 through 2003 at the Schulte Restoration Project is
shown in Exhibit 4-C. The two major dips in bird counts that can
be seen in the graphs are likely the result of the reduction and disturbance of
riparian habitat caused by the high river flows and erosion in 1995 and
1998. The higher bird counts following
the two dips indicate a recovery of the extent and health of the riparian
habitat. The District’s riparian
vegetation planting and irrigation activities promote growth and health of
riparian vegetation, and are a likely reason for the higher bird counts.
In addition to continuing the bird counts and
avian species diversity index monitoring protocols established in 1992, the VWS
will continue monitoring a series of mist netting sites within District
riparian habitat enhancement areas. The
VWS sampling will span the spring, summer and fall migration and breeding
seasons for a comprehensive look at patterns of wildlife use in District
planting areas. Long-term monitoring of
the same sampling locations provides an indication of the overall changes in
wildlife habitat values resulting from the District’s planting, irrigation, and
erosion protection efforts.
Administrative Committee Requests and Responses
Requests:
At
the April 13, 2004 Administrative Committee meeting, the Committee members
requested responses to three questions:
Response to Question 1. Exhibit 4-D includes the names and
qualifications of the Ventana Wilderness Society avian biologists who will
perform the work.
Response to Question 2. Avian survey and
census techniques, such as mist-netting and banding passerines (the majority of
bird species) and conducting area searches, require highly trained individuals
and a crew of two to three people. Crew
leaders typically have a minimum of 2 years of mist-netting and banding
experience, and it is preferred that the individual has previously been in a
mist-netting and banding supervisory role.
The individuals must be adept at following MAPS (Monitoring Avian
Productivity and Survivorship) protocols, handling birds according to
the Bander’s Code of Ethics, and identifying, aging, and sexing all North
American passerines to a high degree of accuracy using the book, The Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part I, by Peter Pyle.
Individuals must also be able to identify all Western birds by sight and
sound and record observational data on a standard area search data sheet.
The specialized
background required to conduct the monitoring and reporting would make it
difficult for the District to recruit two to three qualified graduate students
and coordinate their schedules so that they could work as a team. The monitoring protocols are time-sensitive,
with the spring surveys commencing each year on about May 1, and a second set
of surveys done in late summer/early fall.
The field activity is followed each year by the preparation of a
detailed report of the results. It
would require significant amounts of District staff time to recruit, hire and
supervise a team of graduate students to perform the required surveys and
prepare the summary report. The VWS
already has the staff trained for this work and is familiar with the District’s
monitoring program.
Response to Question
3. There are a
number of reasons why it is important to conduct avian surveys on an annual
basis, rather than every other year.
Neotropical and other migrants who breed in this area can be strongly
affected by weather patterns both in wintering areas and on their breeding
grounds. If the District were to
operate MAPS stations and survey along transects only every other year, we
could miss crucial information about the impact of events such as the El
Nino/La Nina and Southern Oscillation weather effects. Similarly, the full effects of natural and
human-caused disasters such as floods, habitat degradation, droughts, fires,
groundwater pumping, pollutant spills, etc. might be missed if staff were to
reduce the avian monitoring efforts to every other year. One of the primary goals of the MAPS program
is to detect long-term trends in breeding bird populations; these trends are
more difficult to detect with precision when data is not collected every
year.
The District already
has the foundation in place for a strong data set, with 12 years conducting the
Avian Guild Species Diversity Program (based on visual and sound detection of
birds at specified locations), and three years conducting the Carmel River
Avian Monitoring Program (includes mist net surveys). The avian guild project tracks species diversity, abundance, and
richness along the western expanse of the Carmel River from deDampierre Park to
the Carmel River Lagoon at the mouth of the river. Analyses in 2003 revealed a positive trend in species diversity
at the District’s Schulte Restoration Project site, where restoration efforts
have proven fruitful since its completion in 1987. The continuation of this monitoring effort is paramount in
forecasting future wildlife and vegetation interactions, as they relate to the
District’s recent riparian habitat restoration efforts. Operating MAPS stations
in conjunction with conducting area searches provides: (a) annual indices of
adult population size and post-fledgling productivity; and (b) annual estimates
of adult survival rate, adult population size, proportion of residents in the
adult population, and recruitment into the adult population, in addition to
determining bird/habitat relationships over time. Monitoring once every two years would save money but would be detrimental
to the clear and precise collection of Carmel River avian species data and
would diminish the efforts that have been made in the past.
Copies of the two
reports prepared by VWS for last year’s monitoring results are being provided
to the Board members under separate cover.
The reports are titled “Carmel River Avian Monitoring Program, Summer
2003” and “2003 Analysis of Avian Guild Species Diversity in the Carmel River
Riparian Corridor”.
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