Habitat Restoration & Monitoring

Facing large declines in bird numbers and biodiversity, conservation efforts are directed to providing critters places to live and thrive. Consequently, habitat restoration work is an important component of Spokane Audubon Society’s hands-on wildlife conservation work. Our chapter purchases seeds and seedlings, partners with agencies and other non-profit organizations to plan and prepare restoration projects, recruits volunteers for planting and monitoring habitat restorations, and donates to conservancy land purchases.

Eastern Washington’s Columbia Basin shrub steppe is a biologically rich and highly threatened ecosystem that receives much of Spokane Audubon’s habitat restoration focus.

To protect and improve shrub steppe and other important regional ecosystems through habitat restoration and monitoring, the chapter partners with:

• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)

• Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

• Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)

• Friends of Turnbull NWR

• Inland Northwest Wildlife Council

• Pheasants Forever

• Back Country Hunters and Anglers

• Ducks Unlimited

• The Lands Council

Examples of restoration projects include riparian shrub and tree plantings at Turnbull NWR, upland bird winter habitat plantings on WDFW and BLM lands, and shrub plug plantings after wildland fires on WDFW and adjacent private lands.

Monitoring

Monitoring habitat restoration is an important component for success. Wildlife use of habitat restorations provides important monitoring measures, especially assessing trends over time.

Birds can be a beacon of ecosystem health.

Volunteers with Spokane Audubon Society projects use their birding skills to do surveys to monitor presence and use of critical habitats.

Examples of monitoring projects with Spokane Audubon Society participation include breeding bird and waterfowl surveys at Turnbull NWR, migratory waterfowl counts coordinated by Ducks Unlimited, forest breeding bird surveys at WDFW Sherman Creek Wildlife Area, shorebird counts for the Intermountain West Shorebird Survey, and lek surveys to monitor state-endangered prairie grouse populations. These various surveys provide data about restorations or critical habitats to protect.

Get Involved

As an organization dedicated to the conservation of birds and other wildlife, Spokane Audubon Society is proud of its long tradition of leadership and partnership in habitat restoration, monitoring, and protection. The efforts require “all hands on deck” and interested conservationists are invited to watch for volunteer opportunities to participate.