Backyard Bird Population in Decline Due to Non-native Invasives

A new study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute has linked the decline in backyard birds with the abundance of non-native plants.  Song birds depend on insects to feed their young and insects need native hosts for their caterpillars.  Just like the monarch butterfly needs milkweed, all native insects have a native host plant.

The study was conducted in the Washington DC area and focused on  Carolina Chickadees in the which depend on caterpillars to feed their nestlings.  The authors found a significant decline in the population in yards that were predominately landscaped with non-native flowers and shrubs.   The only yards that were able to produce enough chickadees to sustain a stable population were those with a plant composition made up of more than 70 percent of native plants.

We know that there is a decline in native song birds when invasives take over the parks, but this is the first study that directly links the decline to non-native landscaping. 

Take away - plant natives!  Montgomery County has a  program that will pay you to do conservation landscaping.  Check out RainScapes.org  for more information.

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Press Release:
New Smithsonian Study Links Declines in Suburban Backyard Birds to Presence of Non-native Plants

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/10/16/1809259115

Findings Give Landowners a Simple Roadmap To Provide Essential Habitat for Breeding Birds

Insect-eating birds that depend on the availability of high-calorie, high-protein cuisine—namely caterpillars and spiders—during the breeding season to feed their young are finding the menu severely lacking in backyards landscaped with even a small proportion of non-native plants, according to a new study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. This reduction of food availability has led to a decline in the breeding success and population growth of the Carolina chickadee, the study found.

“Landowners are using nonnative plants in their yards because they’re pretty and exotic, they’re easy to maintain, and they tend to have fewer pests on them,” said Desirée Narango, a graduate student researcher at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and first author of the study published October 22 in PNAS. “But it turns out that a lot of those insects they see as pests are actually critical food resources for our breeding birds. For landowners who want to make a difference, our study shows that a simple change they make in their yards can be profoundly helpful for bird conservation.”

The study is the first to directly link the decline of a common resident bird species to the lack of insect prey that results from the use of nonnative plants in landscaping. Narango and colleagues placed nest boxes in more than 160 yards in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and collected data from homeowners monitoring the nest boxes weekly for Carolina chickadee nests, eggs and nestlings. In those same yards, they also studied adult and juvenile survival by gathering data from the homeowners on individually marked birds they had resighted.

The researchers found that the only yards that were able to produce enough chickadees to sustain a stable population were those with a plant composition made up of more than 70 percent of native plants. Because more than 90 percent of herbivorous insects will only eat one or a few native plants, the use of these plants in landscaping is essential to ensure breeding birds have enough insect prey to eat. For the same reason, native plants are also likely critical for other resident birds, endangered species and migratory species—and not just in backyards on the East Coast.

“These novel, artificial suburban landscapes are found across the country,” Narango said. “But a gingko that you plant in D.C. and a gingko that you plant in L.A. are doing the same thing for bird conservation—nothing. By using native plants, we can provide food for not only our common North American species, but we’re also providing vital stopover habitat and resources for migratory birds during their perilous journeys.”

Because more than 80 percent of land in the contiguous United States is privately managed, conservationists are trying to get a handle on the ways these human-dominated landscapes threaten wildlife—and how they can be managed in a way that can help. The study’s authors will continue to guide landowners in their landscaping decisions by next looking at whether some native plant species are disproportionately important for supporting insect prey to breeding birds.

This study was conducted in partnership with the University of Delaware and funded by the National Science Foundation. It relied on data collected by landowners participating in the Smithsonian’s Neighborhood Nestwatch program, a citizen-science program that engages communities in monitoring the annual survival and reproductive success of specific bird species.

“Urbanization is one of the primary ways we’re losing natural habitat around the world, and it remains essential that we figure out how we minimize our impacts while maximizing the protection of biodiversity,” said Pete Marra, director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and co-author of the paper. “By working together with citizen scientists participating in the Neighborhood Nestwatch program, people actually living within the urban matrix, we have collectively found a solution that’s good for birds and also for people.

 Resources on native plants can be found online at Audubon’s Native Plants Database, National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute plays a leading role in the Smithsonian’s global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. SCBI spearheads research programs at its headquarters in Front Royal, Virginia, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and at field research stations and training sites worldwide. SCBI scientists tackle some of today’s most complex conservation challenges by applying and sharing what they learn about animal behavior and reproduction, ecology, genetics, migration and conservation sustainability.

The paper’s third author is Douglas W. Tallamy with the University of Delaware.

Testimony in Favor of Full Funding for Montgomery Parks

Montgomery County is in the middle of budget hearings for FY 19 Operating budgets.  Our Executive Director, Sarah Morse, presented to following in support of fully funding Montgomery Parks both for operating budget for FY 19 and for Capital Improvement Projects for FY 19-24.  The Council is still taking comments.  Send your thoughts to county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Testimony

Sarah Morse

Executive Director, Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Thursday, April 12, 2017

Montgomery County Council hearing on FY19 Operating Budget 

and amendments to the FY 19-24 CIP

I’m Sarah Morse, the Executive Director of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance, an environmental stewardship group for Little Falls Branch, the Willett Branch and surrounding area.  We are  located in lower Montgomery County in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area.  We have over 2,000 members and work closely with the community on projects and issues affecting the natural areas in our neighborhood.  We are lucky to have many parks in our watershed;  the largest is the Little Falls Stream Valley Park with 4 miles of trails, and also there is the Capital Crescent Trail which cuts through the watershed.  

I’m here to advocate for the Park budget.  The County Executive’s proposed operating  budget is $5 million less than the Planning Board deemed necessary to support our extraordinary park system.  And the recommended Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget falls $26 million less than the Parks’ request. 

It’s especially significant that these hearings are in April as the County is getting ready to celebrate Earth Day,  a day of environmental activism where we recognize the obligation that humans have to be stewards of the planet.  The park system in Montgomery County is an essential part of our stewardship to the environment.  As the County becomes more and more developed, as trees and meadows give way to commercial and residential units, these parks become more and more important as the last green areas. 

While the environmental obligation is compelling in itself, there are also economic and health benefits from having a robust park system.  Many studies show that housing prices rise the closer a property is to a park – some studies say properties are as much as 70% more expensive if they are located park-side.  Mental and physical health improve from park use.  More and more doctors are touting the mental health advantages of simply walking in the woods.  In Japan  “forest bathing” is a  part of its national health program.  And of course, everyone recognizes the benefits that a daily run or walk on park trails brings.  Healthier citizens are also an economic plus for the County.

With all this in mind, the little Falls Watershed Alliance requests that the Council fully fund Montgomery Parks moving forward and restore the entire $5 million to their operating budget for FY19,  as well as fully fund their Capital Improvement Program budget for FY19-24.  We need  parks and we need them to be fully funded.  

The Little Falls Watershed Alliance has a close partnership with Montgomery Parks and we have seen how they get a lot of bang-for-the-buck from community volunteer efforts.  We work with Tenley Wurglitz and Carole Bergmann on the Weed Warriors Program hosting almost weekly events to restore native plants.  These two remarkable Park employees have developed a nationally recognized program that utilizes thousands of volunteers to combat non-native invasives that are killing our native trees and plants.  Volunteers in their program spent over 5,700 hours last year on behalf of the Parks – the equivalent of almost 3 full time employees.  Almost 100,000 volunteer hours have been logged since the program began in 1999.  Yet, the Weed Warrior program is just staffed part-time, with 2.25 employees.  Think of what could be leveraged if the staffing was doubled.  Think of what a loss it would be if this program was cut due to budget concerns.

Parks  is already operating on a lean budget.  The trails in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park are in terrible shape.  They are buckling, sinking, and crumbling.  Because we are located in a densely urban area, our park is well used by mothers pushing strollers, children playing in the creek, dog walkers, joggers, bird watchers and a surprising number of elderly residents out for fresh air.  The park is an important part of our lives.  But when we ask for trail renovation, we are told that there isn’t the money for it at this time.  In partnership with the Weed Warriors Program, we restored a meadow in Norwood Park.  Native wildflowers grow where there was once a wasteland of dead trees and vines, but when we inquired about doing another meadow, the same response - no budget for it. 

Money is also needed for stormwater management in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park.  Every time it rains, we have considerable flooding making the trails impassible to anyone who is not able to wade through two or three inches of water.  Where storm drains flow unchecked onto park land, huge canyons are forming sending silt downstream into the creek.  Again, when we ask for retrofits to mitigate these issues – we are told that there isn’t money at this time.

To cut the Park operating budget means that these and other projects will not come to fruition.  To cut the budget means that the infrastructures will suffer - not only park amenities like playgrounds and tennis courts, but projects like stream protection and pollution prevention that are key to our stewardship of the environment.  We cannot expect to continue to have a nationally recognized park system without the budget to maintain it.  We cannot meet our obligation to the environment that the County celebrates every Earth Day without the budget to maintain our Parks.  And we cannot expect to reap the economic benefits that the County realizes from properties located park-side if the parks are allowed to fall into disrepair. 

Montgomery County has long been a leader in environmental stewardship with one of the strongest stormwater management permits in the Country, the best park system in the Country.  Our quality of life is second to none and the County is one of the most desirable places in the Country to live.  Help us maintain this standard of excellent and fully fund the Park.  

Effects of Road Salt on our Creek

All over the snowy regions, scientists are finding that road-salt runoff poses an increasing threat to aquatic ecosystems. Although, the salt keeps the roads safer by lowering the melting temperature, there is an environmental cost.  With the rain, the salt washes into creeks and rivers and raises the salinity of the water.  Fish and other stream life cannot live in the salty water.

The Izaak Walton League has a program for citizen scientists to track the impact of road salts on local streams.  We would love to have a tester in the watershed.  Please contact Little Falls Watershed Alliance at stormwater@LFWA.org if you are interested.  

The Izaak Walton League of America will send you free chloride test strips to take to your stream: one for a baseline reading, one for a reading after salt has been applied, and a couple more for readings after warm weather or storm runoff has washed the salt into the stream. You then upload your results through the Water Reporter app to a map. More information is HERE.

For a lot of good information on what northern states are doing to minimize the effect of road salt, visit the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services at https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/was/salt-reduction-initiative/impacts.htm

And here's some information about how Minnesota DOT is cutting back on salt use.  https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/03/31/mndot-cutting-back-road-salt