“Building on the tradition of special interest in birds, Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society is organized to promote enjoyment and protection of natural environment through education, activism, and conservation of bird habitat.”
Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society hosts a Public Program Series with a featured speaker September through May on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Mayflower Congregational Church. Members, the general public and visitors to the Billings area who are interested in birds, bird habitat and conservation are invited to join us. YVAS sponsors birding field trips, ornithology classes, the Christmas Bird Count, a monthly newsletter, and various conservation and educational projects. Feel free to contact any Board or Committee member for more information.
For the latest news and updates, see the March 2024 newsletter, The Flyer.
Visit us on Facebook – the link is in the upper right-hand corner.
Join a birding trip – 2024 Bird Field Trip Schedule.
The YVAS mailing address is YVAS, PO Box 1075, Billings MT 59103.
RESTORING SAGEBRUSH ECOSYSTEMS: MANAGEMENT, PARTNERSHIPS, AND COLLABORATION
David Wood, Conservation Biologist and Sage-Grouse Program Lead for Montana Dakotas BLM, Speaker
March 18th at 7 p.m.
Across the western US, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages about 45% of the sagebrush ecosystem, home of the distinctive Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG). Montana has about 1/5 of the known GRSG population and around 1000 known leks. However, 64% of GRSG habitat is in private lands, and only about 20% is managed by the BLM, making partnerships and collaborations critical as GRSG conservation occurs across a patchwork of ownerships making an “all hands, all lands” critical to meeting objectives.
David Wood’s talk will include details of his work in sagebrush ecosystems, including BLM’s management approach, the multi-entity collaborations it takes to apply conservation at scale, and the restoration techniques the BLM applies. He will cover where and why the BLM preserves the most critical GRSG habitat and the collaborations with the State of Montana, other federal agencies, private landowners, and non-profit organizations.
David has been the Conservation Biologist and Sage-Grouse Program Lead for Montana Dakotas BLM since 2022. Prior to this position he has 16 years of professional experience working in landscape ecology, natural resource management, and sagebrush systems for the BLM and USGS. He has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from the University of Arizona in Fish and Wildlife Management and a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from Montana State University.
Coffee and cookies served at 6:30 p.m. at the Mayflower Congregational Church (corner of Rehbgerg and Poly). The evening’s program begins at 7:00 p.m. YVAS programs are free and open to the public.
Seeds of Success’ References & Resources List and Power Point Program Available
Following Wendy Velman’s January 15th presentation of ‘Seeds of Success,’ YVAS has received requests for her list of References and Resources included in her talk on restoring native habitat to public lands in Eastern Montana and the western Dakotas. Wendy, BLM Botany Program Lead, has given YVAS permission to post this list as well as her Power Point Presentation in PDF. Her list of resources are here and her Power Point here.
Upcoming YVAS Birding Field Trips 2024
Unless otherwise noted, field trips are open to the public and depart at 8:00 a.m. by car from the Rocky Mountain College parking lot on Rimrock Road next to Billings Studio Theater. Make transportation and carpooling arrangements ahead of time if possible.
March 24, Sunday – Big Lake: migrating swans, sandhills, water birds. Meet at 8 a.m. at Rocky. Sack lunch. Mike Weber, leader.
April 13, Saturday – Pryor Mountains: Search for the Sagebrush Sparrow. Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Bridger Park on the south end of Main St in Bridger. Sack lunch. Stan Heath and Susan Hovde, leaders.
Killing of Native Migratory Birds to Save Nonnative Fish
In 2018, the US Fish Wildlife Service began issuing Osprey Depredation Permits to the Miles City Hatchery allowing them to kill native migratory Ospreys that were eating their nonnative largemouth bass. With the approval of the US Fish Wildlife Service and the Dept. of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, the eastern most breeding population of Ospreys on the Yellowstone River was lethally removed by the MT Fish Wildlife & Parks’ Hatchery Division at the Miles City Hatchery in less than two years.
YVAS and others immediately protested this practice and the permit process (and continue to). Yet the Miles City Hatchery continues to apply for and receive Depredation Permits from the US Fish Wildlife Service to shoot Ospreys indiscriminately in order to protect nonnative fish.
The Hatchery’s brood stock of largemouth bass spend three summer months at the Miles City Hatchery before being hauled by trucks to the Bluewater Hatchery outside of Bridger, MT, for nine months. Due to an outbreak of invasive New Zealand mudsnails at the Bluewater Hatchery in 2021, the bass brood stock were destroyed in late 2021. In May 2022 another outbreak of the invasive snail occurred at the Bluewater Hatchery.
Still the Miles City Hatchery continues to apply for and receive Depredation Permits from the US Fish Wildlife Service to shoot native species of birds to protect nonnative fish. Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants and Canada Geese are also included in their Depredation Permits.
YVAS, Earthjustice and others are vigorously pursuing corrective measures to this lethal management of native birds and misguided permit process.
For more information see:
Journal of Raptor Research – Range Contraction of an Osprey Population Following Lethal Control at a State Fish Hatchery in Montana by Dr. Marco Restani
Billings Gazette – FWP’s Bluewater Hatchery contaminated by mudsnails 2nd time in 2 years
Shooting Birds at the Miles City Hatchery (070821) and Protect The Wild Fishing Birds Of Eastern Montana (121321).
We want your photos!
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