Whether you grow tomatoes, irrigate rice, sell sod, raise cattle, tend orchards, own forest, cut timber, run a hunt club or feed wildlife, in some way you manage habitat. “Best management practices” (BMPs) are available to assist landowners with planning, implementing and managing their land.
Developed by experienced practitioners, and management and research organizations, these management tools are based on the best available science. BMPs will often save landowners money in the long term even as they improve conditions for wildlife in the short term.
The following are a selection of BMPs culled from various national, regional, state and local sources. Each is available for download as a pdf.
By:
Cary BlakeThe Montna farming family of Dingville, Calif., successfully integrates commercial rice production on its 3,000 acres of land with habitat enhancement practices which benefits waterbirds, thanks to a partnership with California's NRCS. Read More »Discusses grass, 3-zone, 2-zone, wildlife, urban and naturalized buffers and recommendations for how to choose, establish and cost-share.
Read More »Defines riparian buffers and discusses various benefits, including property value, wildlife habitat, timber, and recreational/aesthetic/spiritual values.
Read More »This 26-page booklet introduces the Stream-A-Syst system to help landowners assess and manage their streams. It contains a worksheet, action plan with recommended steps and sources of information to address various issues, and a visual (photographic) assessment guide.
Read More »A practical guide to ways agricultural producers can profit from the growing environmental marketplace from
American Farmland Trust, 2010. An in-depth 55-page handbook that introduces and surveys the types of environmental markets, how to get involved including evaluating financial returns and assessing risks, and what farmers and ranchers can do to encourage these markets.
Read More »From The Heinz Center, this 2008 lengthy publication is targeted to land managers who practice adaptive management.
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American Bird Conservancy (ABC), in cooperation with the American Forest Foundation, Forest Restoration Partnership, and several other partners, is working with private landowners to implement bird conservation
measures in ponderosa pine habitat throughout the western United States. Our partnership seeks to help family forest owners restore open, mature stands of ponderosa pine habitat to meet the needs of cavity- nesting bird species of conservation concern, nota- bly the Flammulated Owl, Lewis’s Woodpecker, and White-headed Woodpecker.
We have been working with landowners on large and small tracts of ponderosa pine forest to encourage the implementation of ponderosa pine restoration and conservation measures such as thinning, fuels reduction, and snag management. Our program also includes activities such as the preparation of management plans, field demonstration days hosted by private landowners, development of education and outreach materials, initiation of nest box programs, and the collection of inventory and monitoring data that describe habitat conditions and assess the presence and habitat suitability for priority bird species.
Read More » a 4-page publication from the SC Dept. of Natural Resources, tells how to provide food and improve habitat through standard management practices.
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Bibby et al.’s (1992) review of bird census techniques opens with the statement that ‘birds are counted for a wide variety of reasons by a bewildering range of methods’. In the southeastern United States, a number of different survey techniques and protocols are used. Some form the foundation of regional, national and international avian monitoring programs, while others have the potential to do so. In order to promote awareness of what programs and protocols are available, this guide summarizes popular, multi-species bird monitoring programs and protocols that are currently used, or could be used, within the Southeast Partners in Flight region.
Audience - Graduate students and biologists who are looking for ways to collect data that can be analyzed using current methods and are compatible with other data sets in clearinghouses such as the Avian Knowledge Network.
The guide is meant as a starting point for individuals seeking out information to assess the pros and cons of various protocols in addressing their project objectives. In those cases where the protocols are inextricably linked to a broader monitoring program, the program itself (e.g., North American Breeding Bird Survey) and/or the sampling scheme (e.g., Strategic Multi-scale Grassland Bird Population Monitoring) is summarized along with the protocol. Our focus was primarily on those protocols designed to measure abundance and demographic parameters.
Suggested citation: Laurent, E.J., J. Bart, J. Giocomo, S. Harding, K. Koch, L. Moore-Barnhill, R. Mordecai, E. Sachs, T. Wilson. 2012. A Field Guide to Southeast Bird Monitoring Programs and Protocols. Southeast Partners in Flight. http://SEmonitoringguide.sepif.org
Read More »A Prescribed Fire Association is a group of landown- ers and other concerned citizens that form a partnership to conduct prescribed burns. Prescribed burning is the key land management tool used to restore and maintain native plant communities to their former diversity and productivity for livestock production and wildlife habitat. Native prairies, shrublands, and forests supply the majority of livestock forage and much of the wildlife habitat in the U.S. Without fire, many native plant communities become dysfunctional and unproductive. Research has clearly shown that there is no substitute for fire.
Many forest and grassland ecosystems are fire dependent and not burning is poor land management. Why do not more people use prescribed fire to manage their land? First, fire was not part of the European culture that settled in post-Columbian America. Fire exclusion and fire suppression has been engrained in our society for years and popularized by the very successful Smokey the Bear ad campaign. The result has been a rapid decline in the quality of our natural resources, along with costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year to fight wildfires and the many other nega- tive consequences of fuel build up.
article adapted from Oklahome Cooperative Extension Association
Read More »This 40-page document provides detailed information on the biology of wild pigs, how to recognize their presence, the type of damage they can cause to agriculture and natural areas and a wide range of management techniques, including hunting. It applies to just about anywhere in the U.S. where wild pigs are found.
Read More »Landowners share their experiences of managing for bird species and other wildlife values on their lands throughout the West, including ponderosa pine, the Oregon outback and forests of the Pacific Northwest.
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CP-33 Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds is available under the United States Department of Agriculture Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP). CP-33 enrollment is capped at 350,000 acres in 35 states within the primary range of the northern bobwhite. Under continuous signup CRP, there is no deadline for producers to submit acreage for enrollment and eligible acres offered are automatically accepted. All CP-33 contracts require a 10-year enrollment period. This article comes from Mississippi State University CP33 website.
Read More »The Center for Irrigation Technology has published an exhaustive Landowner's Manual for
Managing Agricultural Irrigation Drainage Water, A guide for developing Integrated On-Farm Drainage Management Systems.
Read More »The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) strongly recommends, first and foremost, compliance with all cave1 closures, advisories, and regulations in all Federal, State, Tribal, and private lands. However, where such closures are not required or recommended, the following protocol outlines the best known procedures to help reduce the transmission of the fungus Geomyces destructans (G.d.), believed to be the cause of white-nose syndrome (WNS), to important bat habitat and populations. WNS is responsible for significant bat mortality in eastern North America, and threatens bat populations across the continent.
Read More »Lists toxicities of many different chemicals and how to reduce the risk of pesticide drift.
A list of all Southern Regional Aquaculture Center factsheets (more than 150) are available at
https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/viewAllSheets/ Read More »Defines and discusses management of nutrients, pests, tillage, harvest, and edge/buffers to benefit waterbirds. Also provides crop-specific BMPs for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice.
Read More »Unlocking Bird Conservation Plans to Create Education Programs that Work
Do you want to connect your audiences to conservation messages but don’t know where to start? Conservation plans, based on extensive biological research, will help prioritize your efforts.
This resource sheet will help you:
- Link your education programs to priorities in bird conservation plans;
- Find relevant bird conservation plans in your area of focus;
- Extract key information to guide education program development; and
- Involve scientists in the development of your education programs.
BMPs oriented more specifically toward water quality, farming & agriculture, energy efficiency and invasive & native species are also available on this site.