Regional landbird monitoring: perspectives from the Northern Rocky Mountains

Abstract

Abstrac tThe Northern Region Landbird Monitoring Program (NRLMP) has been in place for nea r ly a decade. Based on our experience with this program, we offer thoughts on monitorin g goals, the need for regional programs, and the components we believe make count-based monitoring effective. The NRLMP includes a biennial bird survey conducted from perm a nently marked points for the purposes of long-term population-trend monitoring. Its pr i mary strength, however, emerges from the inclusion of habitat information at each surve y point, which allows rapid inference about land-use effects, and from an alternate-yea r focus on short-term management effects studies. Those who may be planning to initiate a regional monitoring program may want to incorporate some of the perceived strengths of , and methodology associated with, the NRLMP while avoiding some of the pitfalls we hav e encountered. The power to detect both population trends and management effects migh t then emerge not only from the efforts of individual, regionally based programs but also from the collective effort of a variety of similarly designed regional programs . Key word sadaptive management, habitat relationships, landbird monitoring, survey method s