[Denveraudubon] Volunteer to Support Bird Conservation at Pawnee National Grasslands

Fri May 4 08:14:29 EDT 2007

Please Let Use Know if You Want to Help with These Important Bird Area Conservation Projects at Pawnee National Grasslands 

  Please let me know if any of these projects appeal to you and if you want to participate in anyway.  Please contact me with any questions you may have.  All of these projects support bird conservation efforts at the Pawnee National Grasslands.

  1.      May 12 PNG Clean Up:  Same great event as last year when we cleaned up target shooting sights so they will remain closed.  See details below.

  2.      Raptor Surveys to Determine Impact of Wind Energy:  This project has grown in importance as this data will help the PNG determine the impact of wind energy sites on PNG lands.  We need another 2 to 4 surveyors for surveys every 2 weeks in May and June.

  3.      Mountain Plover Surveys on Prairie Dog Towns:  This data will help determine impact of prairie dog management on mountain plovers.  See details below.   This is not likely to take place until next year with some preliminary work this year.

  Important Bird Area Pawnee National Grasslands Clean Up on May 12  

  Background:  Though the impact of recreational target shooting on birds and wildlife has not been quantified, we are certain that the noise and practice of target shooting scares away birds from their habitat, increases lead in the ground and water supply, and sometimes results in the destruction of trees and other bird habitat directly.

  What the Pawnee National Grassland is Doing:  They are closing 18,000 acres from target shooting use in order to protect some special areas on the Pawnee National Grassland.  They also continue to consider methods of reducing target shooting to one or two locations within the Grasslands.

  On May 12, 2007 (2nd Annual Target Shooting Area Clean Up Day):  

  On this day, we will reshape the landscape where target shooters have set up large items (and everything you can imagine) to shoot at and reclaim these areas for wildlife.  WE ARE NOW CLEANING UP AREAS WHERE WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE VERSUS THOSE AREAS OVERWHELMED BY CURRENT TARGET SHOOTING PRACTICES.  We will haul out items as large as refrigerators, and as small as tin cans, and including kitchen sinks and plastic Darth Vader heads.  12 persons are needed to donate 3 to 6 hours of time.  Last time we had over twenty persons show up and made an immense impact, but we still had plenty of work to do.

  Work starts at 9 AM and lasts til 3 PM.  We give you four options for joining us.

  ·        First, at 7 AM a group will meet at Crow Valley Campground for some bird watching.  At 8:30, this group will head toward the clean up site.

  ·        Second, if you want to car pool form Denver.  Meet at 7:30 AM at the Commerce City Recreation Center (at 6060 East Parkway Drive in Commerce City).  From I-25 (close to downtown), go east on I-70.  Then from I-70 going east, get off at the Colorado Boulevard exit north.  Keep going north on Colorado, past I -270 to 60th Avenue.  There's a Wal-Mart there at 60th Avenue and Colorado.  Turn right (east) on 60th and go about 1 block to the Recreation Center parking lot which will be on your left, behind the Kentucky Fried Chicken.    We will meet in the corner of the parking lot closest to Kentucky Fried Chicken.

  ·        Third, many folks will meet in Ault at the corner of Highway 14 and Highway 85 at 9 AM.  Folks can meet at the small city park on the north east corner of this intersection.  This group will then car pool to the clean up site.  Look for the US Forest Service Truck and ask for either Annie or Sarah.

  ·        Fourth, you can always just drive to the clean up site.  The clean up site is at CR 102 and CR 41 in the Pawnee National Grasslands.  Take US-85 to CR 100 and go east on CR 100 about 5.5 miles.  Then go north and left on CR 41 about one mile until you get to the junction of CR 102 and CR 41.  Kay Drissell will be the onsite coordinator so look for her.

  ·        We would also like to organize a Fort Collins carpool so please RSVP.

  Please RSVP by emailing me back at charles at sharenature.org (or just reply to this email at charlesetk at yahoo.com) or by calling 303-777-7588.  Better yet, RSVP to Sarah Proctor at the U.S. Forest Service.  Sarah can be reached sproctor at fs.fed.us or 970-346-5000.

  Mountain Plovers in Prairie Dog Town Survey:  Help Needed

  As part of the Important Bird Area project at the Pawnee National Grasslands, Polly Reetz is coordinating an effort to monitor Mountain Plovers at these locations.  Mountain Plovers have not been surveyed at these locations in the past so this information will be important to assess the impact of Prairie Dog management on Mountain Plovers.

  We will likely need about 8 to 12 well-trained volunteers for one or two days each.  The observation protocol is somewhat complicated so it will take some training.  We also need to be careful that our surveys do not result in Plovers flying off their nests.  Spotting scopes will be required.  Please contact me at charles at sharenature.org if you are interested in participating in these surveys.  This will involve 1 or 2 full days in either late May or late June.

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