RGJV Monitoring Recap – 2024

December 12, 2024 | Posted in General News

Photo by Rebekah Rylander

The Rio Grande Joint Venture (RGJV) performs monitoring activities on private lands throughout its geography to understand how vegetation and/or bird abundance and diversity are changing in response to management actions designed to enhance and regenerate habitat. In 2024, we collected most monitoring data on properties enrolled in the South Texas Grassland Restoration Incentive Program (STX GRIP) and the West Texas Chihuahuan Desert Conservation Partnership (WTX CDCP). Additionally, other data were collected on riparian restoration areas along important creeks in the Trans Pecos, as well as in treated grasslands on private properties in Chihuahua, Mexico. RGJV Science Coordinator Rebekah Rylander hired, trained, and managed technicians with assistance from Jeff Bennett.

GEM & Bird Monitoring in South Texas

In May and June of 2024, three technicians assisted the RGJV with Grassland Effectiveness Monitoring (GEM) on 14 treatment sites across 11 properties in south Texas. (For more information on GEM, click here!) These technicians were students or recent graduates from various universities and brought a diversity of knowledge and experience to the field: Jessie Haudrich (Texas Tech University), Carolina Gutierrez (University of Arizona), and Karime Hernandez (Tarleton State University). Additionally, during the summer of 2024, one technician, Willy Hutcheson, performed point count surveys on 14 properties and 17 treatment sites in south Texas to assess bird abundance and diversity. Willy is a high school science teacher in Massachusetts but used to guide professional bird tours, including many in Texas. His knowledge was invaluable.

Bird Monitoring in West Texas

In west Texas during the month of June, two technicians performed riparian avian point counts along two creeks in Presidio County where the RGJV has stationed autonomous recording units (ARUs). The RGJV wants to learn more about how the data that ARUs collect compares to human point counts when it comes to bird species detections and abundance. Both of these technicians are graduate students at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas: David Tonnessen and Audrey Taulli.

Training

During late August of 2024, three partners from Mexico and two from west Texas were trained on GEM protocols for fall monitoring. Training occurred on a private ranch in Brewster County, and partners from Mexico assisted RGJV staff in translating protocols and survey forms into Spanish. Mexican partners who attended the training included Alicia Juárez and Sara Sáenz from Evaluación Integral y Restauración de Hábitat (EIRHA) and Rogelio Maciel from Pronatura Noreste. Alicia and her EIRHA team have surveyed almost 100 GEM points across 13 properties in Chihuahua, Mexico where grassland restoration projects have taken place. West Texas team Clif Ladd (with RainCrow Wildlife Consulting, trained this year) and Kelsey Wogan (Sul Ross State University, trained last year) have surveyed 6 treatment sites on 3 properties across the Trans Pecos.

Winter Bird Monitoring

Beginning in December, two additional technicians will begin winter bird monitoring for the RGJV in west Texas, Emily Blumentritt and Stephen Falick of Sul Ross State University. These winter bird surveys are crucial for understanding how management efforts to reduce shrub encroachment in grasslands are influencing bird populations that are dependent on the Chihuahuan Desert during the non-breeding portion of their annual cycle.

With all of the data collected across projects and in different geographies over the years, Rylander plans to begin statistical analyses in 2025. Results will hopefully assist biologists and conservation delivery specialists with recommendations on best management practices for restoring grasslands in south and west Texas, highlighting whether certain bird species are responding to treatments and increasing in abundance and also whether certain treatments should be limited to certain geographies across the Rio Grande Joint Venture.