Avian Inventory and Monitoring Needs for Gateway National Recreation Area: A Review of Available Literature and Data

Mizrahi, David

Avian Inventory and Monitoring Needs for Gateway National Recreation Area The Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program ensures that the approximately 270 park units with significant natural resources possess the resource information needed for effective, science-based managerial decision-making and resource protection. One of the many goals of the I&M Program is to gather all of the existing natural resource information for each of the I&M parks and compile it electronically in order to make it easily accessible and available for park management purposes. For park managers to develop effective strategies to maintain the viability of avian populations they must know which populations occur in their parks, their status, and potential threats. New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS), under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service (NPS), conducted a comprehensive review of existing avian information for Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE) and Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), two parks within NPS's Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network. Generally, we found the NPSpecies database was missing significant amounts of information and contained many inaccuracies for avian species occurring at GATE. After careful review of current documents and data sets, and with a working knowledge of avian abundance and distribution patterns in the region immediate to the park, we completed all fields in the GATE database and corrected inaccuracies. Our review of NPSpecies also revealed apparent data gaps of a general nature suggesting that baseline inventory work should be conducted for the Staten Island unit, and possibly the Breezy Point portion of the Jamaica Bay/Breezy Point unit. We used NatureBib and other bibliographic databases to identify information sources and data sets to use in evaluating existing knowledge gaps regarding GATE's avian resources. With the preponderance of species that must be considered by park managers, and limits on resources available to conduct active species management, the need to prioritize among species is important. Given this, our assessment of avian resource management needs was made in light of regional and national conservation objectives. Our review mostly focused on comprehensive, multi-year reports and published, peer-reviewed manuscripts. Additionally, we reviewed recent scientific permit applications for research and monitoring efforts at GATE. We also interviewed several natural resource staff from each GATE unit to augment our perspective regarding inventory and monitoring needs throughout the park. We found that several conservation priority species, across all avian groups, generally lack sufficient data to make informed resource management. Seaside Sparrow and Salt Marsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow (passerines), Northern Harrier and American Kestrel (raptors), American Oystercatcher and American Woodcock (shorebirds), American Black Duck (waterfowl), and Black Rail (waterbirds), are examples of the species that may require additional inventory and monitoring to support informed management actions. Additionally, we found that information about avian species during migration was lacking for some avian taxa. For those species, species groups, or guilds identified as requiring additional abundance and distribution data, we also outlined several methods (e.g., point counts, MAPS) that could be used to accomplish inventory and monitoring needs.

Avian Inventory and Monitoring Needs for Gateway National Recreation Area: A Review of Available Literature and Data

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