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Use of Standardized Visual Assessments of Riparian and Stream Condition to Manage Riparian Bird Habitat in Eastern Oregon

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Abstract

The importance of riparian vegetation to support stream function and provide riparian bird habitat in semiarid landscapes suggests that standardized assessment tools that include vegetation criteria to evaluate stream health could also be used to assess habitat conditions for riparian-dependent birds. We first evaluated the ability of two visual assessments of woody vegetation in the riparian zone (corridor width and height) to describe variation in the obligate riparian bird ensemble along 19 streams in eastern Oregon. Overall species richness and the abundances of three species all correlated significantly with both, but width was more important than height. We then examined the utility of the riparian zone criteria in three standardized and commonly used rapid visual riparian assessment protocols—the USDI BLM Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) assessment, the USDA NRCS Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP), and the U.S. EPA Habitat Assessment Field Data Sheet (HAFDS)—to assess potential riparian bird habitat. Based on the degree of correlation of bird species richness with assessment ratings, we found that PFC does not assess obligate riparian bird habitat condition, SVAP provides a coarse estimate, and HAFDS provides the best assessment. We recommend quantitative measures of woody vegetation for all assessments and that all protocols incorporate woody vegetation height. Given that rapid assessments may be the only source of information for thousands of kilometers of streams in the western United States, incorporating simple vegetation measurements is a critical step in evaluating the status of riparian bird habitat and provides a tool for tracking changes in vegetation condition resulting from management decisions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Bureau of Land Management, the Packard Foundation, the Natural Resources Conservation Service Wildlife Habitat Management Institute, and the Wildlife Conservation Society North America Program. In-kind, logistical, and financial support was also provided by the Bureau of Land Management Prineville District. Wayne Elmore and the National Riparian Service Team were instrumental in the development of this research and we benefited greatly from their expertise and experience. For guidance and/or comments on earlier versions of the manuscript we would like to thank K. Farris, T. L. George, J. Hilty, J. Liebezeit, C.L. Mahon, E. Richardson, W. D. Ritts, B. Sharp, and several anonymous reviewers. We thank D. Humple, V. Eurs, J. Hoffman, A. Holmes, K. O’Hearn, S. Quinlan, and A. Simard for assistance in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. North America Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, 718 SW Alder Street, Suite 210, Portland, OR, 97205, USA

    Hilary A. Cooke & Steve Zack

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, CW405 Biological Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E9

    Hilary A. Cooke

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  1. Hilary A. Cooke
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  2. Steve Zack
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Correspondence to Hilary A. Cooke.

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Cooke, H.A., Zack, S. Use of Standardized Visual Assessments of Riparian and Stream Condition to Manage Riparian Bird Habitat in Eastern Oregon. Environmental Management 44, 173–184 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9160-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9160-0

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