Greenbelt Land Trust
$27,518

Range-wide declines in Oregon Vesper Sparrow (OVS) populations are due in part to the challenge of creating and maintaining suitable habitat. This Oregon Conservation Strategy Species and Federal Candidate sub-species prefers grasslands with heterogeneous vegetation heights and areas of sparsely-vegetated ground during its nesting season, which spans April – July in the Pacific Northwest. Greenbelt Land Trust’s Bald Hill Farm conservation property supports one of the largest populations of OVS in the mid-Willamette Valley, in habitat that has likely been grazed for over 100 years. The conservation objectives of our project are to continue long-term demographic monitoring of the site’s OVS population, track habitat suitability relative to OVS preferences in restored prairie and grazed pasture and use this information to adaptively manage and integrate these preferences with objectives for prairie restoration and grazing. The recreational objective of the project is to raise the awareness of Oregon Vesper Sparrow and its habitat for hikers, birders and other members of the public that recreate at Bald Hill Farm. While Bald Hill Farm includes miles of open public trails, the vesper sparrow habitat is not in an area not usually accessible to the public. This project will provide an opportunity for birders and other community members who recreate at Bald Hill Farm to participate in a guided tour of the site’s Oregon Vesper Sparrow occupied areas with the region’s foremost species expert, with an overview of Greenbelt’s approach to managing habitat for the species.