Bird monitoring in the Mojave Desert on lands managed by the BLM, Ridgecrest Field Office

Alternate Titles

• Bird monitoring in the Mojave Desert on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest Field Office
• Effects of off-highway vehicles on the desert ecosystem

Description

In 2001, a Desert Monitoring Team was hired by the Bureau of Land Management to monitor the effects of Off-Highway Vehicles (OHV's) on the desert ecosystem. One of their tasks was to develop a monitoring protocol for birds and to begin that monitoring. After a year of pilot surveys and adjustments, a final protocol was completed in the fall of 2002. The protocol calls for 3 surveys each year: a December survey in the creosote scrub away from roads, a February survey in the creosote scrub away from roads, and a May survey in the same locations as the December survey. Each survey lasts for 2 weeks and is comprised of 70 transects. Half of these transects are in OHV areas (the Jawbone-Butterbredt ACEC and the Rand Mountain/Freemont Valley Management Area) and the other half are in non-OHV areas (the Golden Valley Wilderness, the Grass Valley Wilderness and Desert Tortoise Natural Area), which serve as controls. This document describes steps taken as well as the survey results.

Subjects