NFWF Chesapeake WILD: Avian Aquatic Invertebrates, and Pollinator Monitoring

Abstract. American Bird Conservancy, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the University of Kentucky have established a strong partnership centered on planning, implementing, and outcome assessment of landscape forest stewardship that restores biological communities, increases forest resilience, helps recover declining populations, and improves human access to and engagement in natural area stewardship. This proposal extends that partnership success story by expanding its previous forest stewardship projects via NFWF’s Central Appalachians and Delaware River Programs into the critical habitat restoration and community engagement efforts on Michaux State Forest in the southern reaches of NFWFs focal area in the state. Aspects of the project that University of Kentucky will participate in are related to monitoring the outcomes of increasing the large dead wood component in streams and streamside forest habitats to improve avian nesting habitat in riparian forests, in-stream macroinvertebrate habitat, and streamside forest canopy complexity and vertical structure. Increased woody structure in and along upper tributary systems will reduce downstream velocity and increase fluvial action across floodplain forest habitats, stabilizing both the erosive potential of high flow events and base flow and water temperatures during drought events due to improved infiltration and recharge. So overall water quality and aquatic system resilience should be enhanced in lower order streams as well. We aim to visit three steams where these conservation practices have been implemented and conduct two forms of sampling: 1. Macroinvertebrate surveys (conducted via kick-netting) and 2. Deployment of Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) for songbirds. Macroinvertebrates will be collected and held for later identification. The ARU data will be downloaded and archived at the University of Pittsburgh.