Avian Community Responses to Mechanical Thinning of a Pinyon-Juniper Woodland: Specialist Sensitivity to Tree Reduction

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Natural area managers in regions of the semi-arid west, particularly on the Colorado Plateau, are presently dealing with expanding pinyon (Pinus spp. Engelm.) — juniper (Juniperus spp. Engelm.) woodlands on rangelands. Increased equipment costs associated with ‘chaining’, and dangers associated with prescribed fires, have resulted in more instances where mechanical thinning of woodlands is being used. Our 2005 to 2006 study within Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah, examined responses of breeding birds to the mechanical reduction of pinyon-juniper woodlands within a randomized 4-block design that incorporated 11 control and nine treatment bird count stations. We surveyed birds within 3.1-ha bird-count stations (n = 20) prior to, and following, pinyon-juniper mechanical reduction treatments. Thinning in April 2006 removed a mean of 92% (+ 6.4% SE) of live trees from treatment blocks. The avian guild most greatly influenced by mechanical thinning included pinyon-juniper obligate spe...