Project Details

Black Rosy-finches (Leucosticte atrata) are one of three species of Rosy-finch in North America. All three are experiencing apparent population declines. Utah has high proportional responsibility for Black Rosy-finch, as we are at the heart of their distribution. Black Rosy-finches only breed in rugged, mountain environments, and due to their limited distribution and inaccessible breeding habitat, they are one of the least-well understood birds in North America. The management of Rosy-finches is hampered by a lack of even basic information about the demography, distribution, and seasonal movements of this species. Filling crucial data gaps about the distribution and abundance of Black Rosy-finches is critical to ensure that their populations can be sustained in the face of habitat degradation and climate change.

Black Rosy-finches are identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a "Species of Concern" throughout their entire range and are a priority species for study and conservation (S. Somershoe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, personal communication, February 19, 2020). Partners in Flight classifies Black Rosy-finches as of "Highest Conservation Concern at the Continental Scale." In Utah, Black Rosy-finches are a "Sensitive Species" and "Species of Greatest Conservation Need." Utah's Wildlife Action Plan identifies the data gaps listed above as a threat to the species. Lack of data limits effective conservation actions and responses to potential listing petitions under the ESA.

A central premise of modern conservation is that there are greater opportunities to conserve species before they are in peril because management is more effective and much less costly when a species is still abundant. As such, the time to develop management strategies and avoid an ESA listing for the Black Rosy-finch is now. Filling in major data gaps allows managers using the information to create the best potential conservation outcomes for Black Rosy-finch. For example, the American pika (Ochotona princeps) inhabits similar habitats as the Black Rosy-finch and until recently also suffered from similar knowledge gaps regarding its distribution, abundance, and vulnerability to climate change. American pika was petitioned for listing under the ESA due to these data gaps. Intensive studies by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources -and funded by ESMF- helped fill these gaps and demonstrate that pika populations were larger and more widely dispersed than initially thought. As a result, the American pika avoided listing under the ESA. This study aims to be able to do the same for Black Rosy-finch.

To fill the data gaps that currently limit effective management of Black Rosy-finch populations, we have formed a partnership of state, federal, academic, non-governmental, and private organizations to develop this study in Utah. The study was piloted in 2019 and is currently in its first full year. To date, the work has been funded by Utah State University, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Tracy Aviary, and Wild Utah Project. In the second full year, we will maintain the existing radio frequency identification (RFID) network and continue volunteer bird surveys. The partnership, working with volunteer community scientists, provides an opportunity for non-consumptive users to contribute to a shared knowledgebase. This collaborative effort will benefit not only Black Rosy-finch, but also the interests of managers and other stakeholders by providing data to respond to a listing petition under the ESA.

Provide evidence about the nature of the problem and the need to address it. Identify the significance of the problem using a variety of data sources. For example, if a habitat restoration project is being proposed to benefit greater sage-grouse, describe the existing plant community characteristics that limit habitat value for greater sage-grouse and identify the changes needed for habitat improvement.

Provide an overall goal for the project and then provide clear, specific and measurable objectives (outcomes) to be accomplished by the proposed actions. If possible, tie to one or more of the public benefits UWRI is providing.

LOCATION: Justify the proposed location of this project over other areas, include publicly scrutinized planning/recovery documents that list this area as a priority, remote sensing modeling that show this area is a good candidate for restoration, wildlife migration information and other data that help justify this project's location.

TIMING: Justify why this project should be implemented at this time. For example, Is the project area at risk of crossing an ecological or other threshold wherein future restoration would become more difficult, cost prohibitive, or even impossible.

Utah's Wildlife Action Plan (2015-2025):
-Data Gaps - Inadequate Understanding of Distribution or Range. This study will provide a distribution of Black Rosy-finches in Utah.
-Data Gaps - Inadequate Understanding of Ecology and Life History. This study will provide demographic rates, abundance estimates, and coordinate results with other states to understand ecology and life history.

Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plans (2016):
-"Increased support is necessary to successfully recover these species and prevent additional listings. More targeted monitoring is needed to clarify urgency and evaluate actions." This study will clarify if the species is at risk, create a network of automated monitoring stations, and allow for recommendation of actions.
-"Because Black Rosy-finches are found predominantly on public lands, conservation will require Forest Service leadership." This study includes the U.S. Forest Service as a partner.

USFS Region 4 Forest Plans:
In the U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region, the Ashley and the Manti La-Sal Forests are currently undergoing Plan Revisions and five more Forests will begin revisions before 2021. The Black Rosy-finch is or is expected to be a Species of Conservation Concern in all these Forests and results of the Black Rosy-finch project are timely for these revisions. The newly-acquired data will be used in the Plans in several ways: 1) to ensure the Forests provided the ecological conditions to support viable populations of Rosy-finches; 2) inform project impact analyses during the National Environmental Policy Act process; and 3) inform Monitoring Plans and adaptive management. 
The U.S. Forest Service Partner Lead expects this community-based Black Rosy-finch project to benefit the management and conservation of this species and others, as there is potential for vegetation management activities to impact habitat. Based on the partnerships forged in the development of this project, we predict the Black Rosy-finch project will be a model for community-based research and monitoring of other U.S. Forest Service Species of Conservation Concern.

List management plans where this project will address an objective or strategy in the plan. Describe how the project area overlaps the objective or strategy in the plan and the relevance of the project to the successful implementation of those plans. It is best to provide this information in a list format with the description immediately following the plan objective or strategy.

If applicable, detail how the proposed project will significantly reduce the risk of fuel loading and/or continuity of hazardous fuels including the use of fire-wise species in re-seeding operations. Describe the value of any features being protected by reducing the risk of fire. Values may include; communities at risk, permanent infrastructure, municipal watersheds, campgrounds, critical wildlife habitat, etc. Include the size of the area where fuels are being reduced and the distance from the feature(s) at risk.

Describe how the project has the potential to improve water quality and/or increase water quantity, both over the short and long term. Address run-off, erosion, soil infiltration, and flooding, if applicable.

Description of efforts, both completed and planned, to bring the proposed action into compliance with any and all cultural resource, NEPA, ESA, etc. requirements. If compliance is not required enter "not applicable" and explain why not it is not required.

Study Design:
Our research has two main components: (1) maintaining our network of RFID-enabled bird feeders to record feeder use by marked birds; and (2) conducting community science-based feeder counts. These methods are cost-effective in uniquely identifying and recording individual bird encounter data using automated systems.

Sampling Methods:
Individual birds will be captured using mist-nets or feeder traps. Birds will be banded on their leg with a small passive integrated transponder tag and then released unharmed. The tag provides a unique identification code for each bird that is read automatically by the RFID-enabled feeders, much like fish PIT tags are read in aquatic systems.

Feeder counts will be conducted with support from volunteer, community scientists using two methods: standardize counts and opportunistic counts. Standardized counts of Black Rosy-finches at feeders will serve as the link between where and when Black Rosy-finches are seen. Opportunistic counts can also provide useful data to contribute, no matter when the finches show up at feeders.

Data Analysis:
RFID feeder data and count data will be combined to estimate spatial and temporal variation of Black Rosy-finches winter abundance in Utah. Data will be analyzed using a modified "superpopulation" model (Lyons et al. 2016). The objective of the model is the use information collected across the sampling occasions to estimate population size.

Count data provides information on total abundance of Black Rosy-finch (Royle 2004) and the proportion of marked individuals in the population. When combined, the encounter histories and counts provide robust estimates of population size (Lyons et al. 2016).

Total abundance will be modeled as a function of site-specific covariates. Within each sampling occasion, feeder use will be modeled as a function of sample-specific covariates, including date, time of day, and weather conditions. The estimated relationships between abundance and site attributes will allow us to map the winter distribution of Black Rosy-finch.

Literature Cited:
Lyons, J. E., Kendall, W. L., Royle, J. A., Converse, S. J., Andres, B. A., & Buchanan, J. B. 2016. Population size and stopover duration estimation using mark--resight data and Bayesian analysis of a superpopulation model. Biometrics, 72(1), pp.262-271.

Royle, J.A., 2004. N-mixture models for estimating population size from spatially replicated counts. Biometrics, 60(1), pp.108-115.

Describe the actions, activities, tasks to be implemented as part of the proposed project; how these activities will be carried out, equipment to be used, when, and by whom.

Describe plans to monitor for project success and achievement of stated objectives. Include details on type of monitoring (vegetation, wildlife, etc.), schedule, assignments and how the results of these monitoring efforts will be reported and/or uploaded to this project page. If needed, upload detailed plans in the "attachments" section.

List any and all partners (agencies, organizations, NGO's, private landowners) that support the proposal and/or have been contacted and included in the planning and design of the proposed project. Describe efforts to gather input and include these agencies, landowners, permitees, sportsman groups, researchers, etc. that may be interested/affected by the proposed project. Partners do not have to provide funding or in-kind services to a project to be listed.

Detail future methods or techniques (including administrative actions) that will be implemented to help in accomplishing the stated objectives and to insure the long term success/stability of the proposed project. This may include: post-treatment grazing rest and/or management plans/changes, wildlife herd/species management plan changes, ranch plans, conservation easements or other permanent protection plans, resource management plans, forest plans, etc.

Potential for the proposed action to improve quality or quantity of sustainable uses such as grazing, timber harvest, biomass utilization, recreation, etc. Grazing improvements may include actions to improve forage availability and/or distribution of livestock.