Impact of prescribed fire and grazing management on grassland plant and songbird communities

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The goal of this proposal is to quantify bird-habitat relationships to inform management of vegetation at the Nature Conservancy of Canada Old Man on His Back Conservation area. Understanding how conservation grasslands can be managed to maintain high quality Species at Risk habitat is critically important for Canada to meet its obligations under the Species at Risk Act. We have three objectives: 1) determine the long-term impacts of prescribed fire on songbirds by comparing songbird abundances and habitat metrics between areas burned by prescribed fire in 2018 and 2019 and adjacent control areas, 2) compare plant community diversity, productivity, and structure between three grazing regimes (summer bison grazing, winter bison grazing, and summer cattle grazing), and 3) compare songbird abundance between the three grazing regimesThis project has importance both directly for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and more broadly for the western Canadian livestock industry. NCC has a mandate to manage and maintain the ecological integrity of their land base and to that end receives substantial federal funding. Grazing is critical to maintain the conservation value of grassland ecosystems; this proposal will provide clear answers to guide specific grazing management decisions on Mixed grass prairie. More broadly, managing the impacts of grazing on grassland species at risk is critical for the livestock industry. Identification of best management practices that maintain both economic viability of ranching operations and mitigate effects of grazing on species at risk are essential for livestock producers.