SRI works with landowners to inventory and map the abundance and distribution of certain habitats and species of concern. We then provide management guidelines for their long-term conservation.
Ranches in the American West often support numerous habitat types, from grasslands to wetlands, from spruce bogs to whitebark pine forests. Many of these large, intact habitats also represent some of the last best refugia for many species of concern; yet on large private tracts of land, many species and habitats can go unnoticed.
One recent systematic inventory on the Sun Ranch yielded eight small, previously undiscovered wetlands, many of which produced healthy populations of native amphibians, including three previously undocumented populations of the enormous tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum). Further inventories indicated that the Sun Ranch is also home to six bird species recognized by the National Audubon Society as being of global concern, and another 18 species of national concern. Once the ranch management understands the habitat needs of these important animals, it can accommodate and protect them through systematic management plans.
SRI and Montana Audubon have initiated a formalized survey of Brewer's sparrows to nominate the vast sagebrush acreage for international designation as an Important Bird Area. We are also employing citizen science to search the remainder of the ranch and inventory other avian species of concern that SRI has detected on the ranch.
In 2007, we began a similar formal inventory of the 6,800-acre Schroeder Ranch (south of Missoula, MT) for other species and habitats of concern. There, SRI will focus on boreal toads, northern goshawks, flammulated owls, white-tailed jackrabbits, and a possible population of pygmy rabbits. SRI is also currently inventorying and assessing the condition of aspen groves and cold springs on the Schroeder, as well as assessing the value of the property to serve as a possible reintroduction site for Columbian sharp-tailed grouse.
Such work on these two ranches and other properties contributes critical input to land planning and management strategies.
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