Pinyon-juniper management is a widespread tool for achieving important land-use goals in southern Utah, specifically sagebrush and grassland restoration. The goal of pinyon-juniper removal projects is to improve habitat for greater sage-grouse, other grassland birds of concern (e.g., sage thrasher, sagebrush sparrow), big game species, and grazing livestock. These habitat restoration projects are a priority through the Utah Watershed Initiative program, and >20,000 acres are currently being treated per year by the Bureau of Land Management Cedar City Field Office (BLM CCFO) on BLM administered lands. These land management restoration practices have renewed interest on the impacts to breeding bird communities in pinyon-juniper woodlands (Gallo and Pejchar 2016), particularly pinyon-jays (Boone et al. 2018). The pinyon jay has shown an estimated decline of 85% since the 1970s (Rosenberg et al. 2016, Johnson and Sadoti 2023). This decline has led to the pinyon jay being identified as a US Fish and Wildlife Service Species of Conservation Concern within the Southern Rockies/Colorado Plateau (Wiggins 2005), being put on the Watch List by Partners of Flight and National Audubon Society, and considered a BLM Sensitive Species in ID, NM, and NV. Additionally, it is currently being evaluated for addition to the Endangered Species List. There are several non-mutually exclusive hypotheses for the decline of pinyon jays. One is that extended drought is affecting the pinyon pine crop, which has also declined by 40% since the 1970s (Remond et al. 2012), limiting food resources for a species (Johnson et al. 2017) that will delay breeding when pine nuts are scarce (Ligon 1978). Another is that increased grazing, decreased fire, and clearing for mining has led to denser pinyon-juniper forests, and these closed canopy communities have a depressed pinyon pine nut crop due to competition over limited water supplies (Miller et al. 2019). And a third is that habitat conversion of pinyon-juniper is an additional limiting factor, as removal projects often occur at the sagebrush/pinyon-juniper transition that is used by the pinyon jay (Johnson and Sadoti 2023). It is important to understand the potential relative effects of each to make sound land management decisions.

To make sound land management decisions based on scientific evidence, this study aims to identify habitat preferences and movement patterns of pinyon jays in various stages of pinyon-juniper woodlands. The study design includes using satellite telemetry to monitor the large-scale movements of representative flocks across sites varying in habitat management histories and sites where future restoration is planned. These movement data will be integrated with remotely sensed climate and landscape variables, fire and management data, and data collected in the field, specifically data on pinyon jay habitat use and pinyon pine vigor and crop. There have been discussions about how to improve restoration projects to include pinyon jay success as an additional goal to habitat restoration projects. One approach may be to cut a transition zone to clear infill; in these sites a zone of trees of variable age classes would be left next to clearings made for sage grouse and livestock, rather than hard edges between closed canopy forests and open rangeland. This transition zone would ensure that all successional stages of the pinyon-juniper are preserved, including the more open, early to mid-successional stages where pinyon jay breeding colonies are more often observed in southern Utah (Bolus, personal observation). It is important to understand the habitat structure that pinyon jays use to better design this removal strategy.

The BLM-administered lands managed by the Cedar City Field Office are an important place to study the effects of pinyon-juniper removal on pinyon jays because there are plans to continue extensive management in the future, and this region is in the middle of the pinyon jay distribution, where they are found in relatively high densities relative to the range. Given the likely federal listing of the pinyon jay soon, this is one of the most important areas to test and implement new management strategies that include pinyon jay success as a goal.

A Conservation Strategy for Pinyon Jay was developed by The Pinyon Jay Working Group, which includes a comprehensive review of current knowledge of Pinyon Jays (Somershoe 2020).

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

BLM will work cooperatively and coordinate actively with Southern Utah University and UDWR throughout the implementation of the project. This will ensure that all partners have a clear path moving forward to accomplish the objectives that have been identified for the project.

One pinyon jay will be captured in each of 10 study sites (n =10) using mist nests and or walk-in traps (Johnson et al. 2016) and fitted with 2g solar PTT satellite transmitters to remotely collect frequent location data. These movement data will be used to model habitat use and identify the location of breeding and caching sites in addition to those identified through systematic surveys on the ground, using methods recommended by the UDWR and Pinyon Jay Working Group. At each confirmed bird location, buffers will be made around each point in ArcGIS, and important climatic (e.g., precipitation, temperature, etc.) and landscape (e.g., slope, aspect, habitat type, fire history, management history, etc.) variables will be measured to summarize pinyon jay use. These buffers will be compared to randomly selected locations to assess habitat choice. This will help determine stand characteristics that pinyon jays prefer. At breeding colonies, stand characteristics will be measured using GIS and on the ground. At each active nest location, vegetation plots will be made around the nest tree, and at a location 100m away in a random location to evaluation nest site selection at a finer scale. In these plots, trees will be counted, measured (DRC, height, area, crown width), and estimates of ground cover, canopy cover, and shrub density will be made. Pinyon pines will be assessed for vigor and cone count. In addition, transects will be set up across the region to measure pine health annually, across stands that differ in density. These measurements will be correlated with annual weather and pinyon jay nesting efforts over time. Knowing habitat use at the within stand scale will help inform thinning strategies.

One pinyon jay will be captured in each of 10 study sites (n =10) using mist nests and or walk-in traps (Johnson et al. 2016) and fitted with 2g solar PTT satellite transmitters to remotely collect frequent location data. Pinyon jay breeding colonies will be located and monitored annually (we are currently aware of 12 past and present breeding colonies in the region), and habitat will be measured remotely and on the ground to inform plans for selecting stands for restoration and for designing transition zones of thinned trees adjacent to cleared areas. Habitat modeling and resource selection are important goals, especially in drought conditions and with respect to the potential pinyon jay sensitivity to climate change (Butler et al. 2013) to serve as information on future land management decisions in pinyon jay and other pinyon-juniper obligate species habitats.

This project will be supported either financially or conceptually by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and local landowners. Southern Utah University would also be a partner on this project. There is no known opposition to this project.

The data collected would provide guidance and suggestions in habitat restoration project designs. Additionally, information collected would provide managers information when making land management decisions within pinyon-juniper woodlands habitat. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act establishes federal responsibility for the protection of migratory bird resources, including providing habitat and minimizing impacts. Finally, modeling pinyon jay habitat selection under various scenarios would be valuable in future population monitoring efforts.

This monitoring will increase knowledge of pinyon jay distribution and promote population monitoring efforts. Pine nut monitoring will also help access pinyon-juniper resilience to management and/or climate change.

01/01/2021

12/31/2024

2025

Habitat Assessment: Landscape Level Scale. For the landscape level analysis, we have completed annual roadside surveys since 2021, identifying pinyon jay locations and 19 nesting colonies. At each confirmed bird location buffers will be made around each point in ArcGIS, and important climatic (e.g., precipitation, temperature, etc.) and landscape (e.g., slope, aspect, habitat type, fire history, management history, etc.) variables will be measured to summarize pinyon jay use. These buffers will be compared to randomly selected locations to assess habitat choice. This will help determine stand characteristics that pinyon jays prefer. We have made progress on data analysis of this dataset. The SUU Advanced GIS class performed a preliminary analysis to figure out protocols of data handling, and we have prepared layers for analyses of the study area. We have attempted to capture pinyon jays with mist nests and fit them with 2g solar PTT satellite transmitters to remotely collect frequent location data. Although we have captured 7 individuals, the tags were not working correctly and we need to capture more to achieve this objective. These movement data are to be used to model habitat use and identify the location of breeding and caching sites in addition to those identified through systematic surveys on the ground. Habitat Assessment: Nest Tree Selection Scale. At breeding colonies, stand characteristics have been measured on the ground. At each active nest location, 11.3m radius vegetation plots have been made around the nest tree, and at a location 100m away in a random direction to evaluation nest site selection at a finer scale. In these plots, trees have been counted, measured (DRC, height, area, crown width), and estimates of ground cover, canopy cover, and shrub density have been made. Pinyon pines have been assessed for vigor and cone count. Since 2021, we have measured 78 plots. Starting in 2023, we only collected data at known active nests (had eggs and/or young that year), as decision making for active nests may be different than dummy nests built early in the season and then abandoned. Of the 39 nests measured so far, 16 of them were active. We are working towards having a sample size of at least 30 active nests to have a publishable dataset.

The primary goal of the project is to inform management that maximizes the success of livestock, game, and non-game species such as the Pinyon Jay. The Pinyon Jay has been identified as a vulnerable species that has declined an estimated 83.5% of its population size since 1967 (Somershoe et al. 2020, Boone et al. 2018). Breeding Bird Survey Data suggests that southern Utah Pinyon Jays are found in relatively high densities yet are experiencing relatively high declines compared to other parts of the range, but this is the only data source currently used for this determination (Somershoe et al. 2020). Very few published studies have been conducted in Utah; most research on Pinyon Jays has been conducted in Arizona (e.g., Stotz and Balda 1995, Marzluff 1988), New Mexico (e.g., Johnson et al. 2018, Petersen et al. 2014), and Nevada (e.g Boone et al. 2018, Witt 2015). Therefore, studying this potentially locally abundant yet vulnerable species in southern Utah, the heart of its range where very little is known, is important for ensuring its success. Past and current pinyon-juniper management practices in Utah were intended to increase grassland and shrubland to improve rangelands for domestic herds (Clary and Jameson 1981), decrease fuels for fire (Young et al. 2013), mitigate sagebrush steppe habitat loss (Suring et al. 2005) and increase available habitat for the Greater Sage Grouse (Baruch-Mordo et al. 2013). However, increasing grassland and shrubland likely negatively affects the species that rely on the increasingly removed pinyon-juniper habitat, such as the Pinyon Jay (Boone et al. 2018). Pinyon Jays rely on pinyon pines for food, nesting, and roosting sites, especially during the breeding season (Somershoe et al. 2020). Breeding colonies and nearby pine nut cache sites are often located in pinyon-juniper woodlands located near shrubland, such as the sagebrush flats found adjacent to lower elevation stands, the same habitat edges that are often managed. Refining management strategies at these edges to benefit livestock, big game, and native birds would reduce conflict between stakeholders that have different management priorities (Boone et al. 2018). One of the goals of the landscape-level analysis is to identify the forest structure of breeding colonies to inform management. At a BLM meeting in the spring of 2024, foresters presented an idea for thinning edges of projects, in contrast to the current practice of creating unnatural hard edges between managed and unmanaged habitat, a recommendation endorsed by biologists and has shown to be beneficial for pinyon-juniper birds in Arizona and New Mexico (Johnson et al. 2024). In southern Utah, pinyon jays' breeding colonies are often near the interface between pinyon juniper and nearby sagebrush steppe (Bolus and Christensen, unpublished data), in edges that have open canopy between trees. If we can better understand pinyon jay habitat usage, then we can better inform management decisions, including identifying stands for treatment and designing thinning for the benefit of pinyon jays, big game, and other edge preferring species.

To achieve the goals of providing data-driven management recommendations, additional data need to be collected. We have been collecting data suitable for analyses of pinyon jay habitat use at both the landscape and within stand scales by collecting survey data of pinyon jay presence, finding pinyon jay colonies, and measuring vegetation around nests. We plan to affix satellite tags to a subset of birds to better understand larger spatial scales than the nest colonies, and also need to better characterize the stands. Therefore, we propose to collect the following data in the future to get a full picture of pinyon jay habitat use: 1. Continue to conduct road-side surveys and nest searching to identify pinyon jay presence and breeding colonies. 2. Continue to collect vegetation plot measurements to determine nest tree site selection. 3. Use Automated Recording Units (ARUs) to collect spatial and temporal data of use adjacent to planned treatment areas before and after treatment. 4. Use GIS approaches to model landscape level determinants (e.g., elevation, slope, aspect, soil type, distance to water, distance to treatments or fire, etc.) of pinyon jay habitat use. 5. Collect aerial photography of breeding colonies to characterize tree species composition, tree densities, and spatial configuration of trees used by pinyon jays, suitable for informing pinyon-juniper thinning protocols along the edges of management areas. 6. Monitor large scale movements of individuals using satellite telemetry.