1. GRASSLAND SET-ASIDE
Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust
By Shawana Michalek Sammy Penner and Maggie Stewart
Student Researchers, British Columbia Institute of Technology
The effects of mowing a newly established GLSA on raptor bevaiour during winter
25. Northern Harrier
Mark re-capture
Northern Harrier hunting preference
n = 16
2014 - 152013 - 142012 - 132011 - 12
Four years old Three years old Two years old < 1 year old
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Year of Study
(Grassland Set-aside Age)
Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust
30. A special thanks to…
Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust:
Christine Terpsma, Program Coordinator
Mary Taitt, Chair
Trevor Harris, property owner
British Columbia Institute of Technology
Eric Anderson, Project Supervisor
BCIT Instructors:
Danny Catt
Tom Saare
Kelly Hatfull
Doug Ransome
Volunteers: Neusa Amboni, Dan Garney, Mary Tang, Krystal
Brennan and Sean Chathom
Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust
Agriculture is a necessity and Delta BC has some of the most fertile soil in ALL of Canada, not only does this contribute significantly to our provincial GDP – this valuable resource feeds our growing population however the Delta is also very important environmentally
The increasing human demand encroaching on wildlife habitat – is causing loss and degradation of critical niches which negatively impacts the environment by weakening the ecosystem
The Lower Fraser Delta is an estuary which supports a diverse assemblage of wildlife – our study site is also located within this Important Bird Area (Boundary Bay–Roberts Bank–Sturgeon Bank Important Bird Area )
Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, DU, The Nature Trust – Agricultural Land Reserve (focus on food production)
This conflict of interest has stirred debate for decades – but DF&WT found a resolution and is a leader is uniting farming with wildlife conservation – through six programs aimed at enhancing farming viability while providing wildlife conservation
Today we will focus on the DF&WT GLSA program – which offers long-term land management – by providing farmers cost sharing benefits – newly established GLSA are specially seeded and fields are allowed to be fallowed for four years – This increases habitat and the vegetative diversity promotes biodiversity
So, lets look into how to best manage these GLSA
With 200ha of GLSA – DF&WT wanted to make sure they were making the most of their resources –it is important to know how best to manage the GLSA – How does the establishment of a new GLSA impact wildlife? What are the impacts of mowing? Our research project looked into these factors by comparing mown vs. unmown GLSA on vegetation, small mammals and raptor behaviour
Within this newly established GLSA we have six quadrants – each are 82m x 82m – 3 are mown while 3 are left unmown - at t
Sampled from Oct to March (x4)
5 cover classes (0-1% = 1; 75-100% = 5)
Mark re-capture – recorded tag and location (mown vs unmown) collected biological data including weight and sex – However, our trapping permit did not arrive until mid Februrary, compared to early October in previous years
THIS ANIMATION NEEDS HELP!! Please… the pic underneath is too quick…
I don’t like the order of these……. Its makes more sense to talk about Oct Clover first (it should be to the first on the left)
It’s a little easier to see with photographs… but you maybe wondering, why this is important……. Look at the difference between our newly established GLSA in March, how look at a four-year old GLSA taken only days apart – This goes to show how time influence vegetative structure – a critical factor on small mammal abundance MAKE IMAGES BIGGER
Our low abundance has similar finding by other researches trapping during the same study period also in Delta – where after leaving traps out over three days only caught three TV – very low!! - Although there was clear evidence of use (this little fellow indicates that! Our trapping effort was limited by time)
Although NOHA exhibited a preference to unmown habitat (a re-occurring pattern and well referenced in other literature as well) What was unique to our study was the decline in NOHA observations from all previous years. GET SAMPLE AMOUNTS FROM PREVIOUS PAPERS
Low Cyclic Abundance - Occurs 3-5 years - Emphasised by GLSA - Coincides with Northern Harrier low abundance
Mention 200ha of GLSA – SET Backgroud with GLSA pic from report
Due to increasing demand for agri production in the area, orgs like DFWT are true leaders – by sampling for veg composition change, vole abundance and raptor behavior preference – we are building onto a multiple year data set which can be used by the Trust to make long-term management decisions -
Today’s environment faces increasing demands which increases with the growing population – The Lower Mainland is no exception, our city centers and urbanization are expanding – and with it increased development of neighboring lands
