Conservation Programs & Activities

Great Old Broads Monitor Grazing in the Gila National Forest

The Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a national non-profit grassroots organization, led by women, that engages in and inspires activism to preserve and protect wilderness and wild lands. Our local group, the Aldo Silver City Broadband is active in many environmental issues in southwest New Mexico, including monitoring National Forest livestock grazing exclosures, areas that have been fenced to exclude cattle in order to protect fragile stream and riparian habitat. These areas provide valuable habitat for birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, many of which are threatened or endangered.

This past year, the Grazing Monitoring Committee has collaborated with the Gila National Forest office to provide monitoring of some of these exclosures, using maps of priority streams and a computer-based monitoring program provided by the Forest Service. The monitoring reports that result from on-site visits are uploaded into the Forest Service database to assist them in their management efforts. Of the four sites visited by committee members this Fall, 2020, cattle were present in two of the areas, the San Francisco River hot springs, and the Gila Bird Area. Livestock owners were contacted by the Forest Service and the cattle were removed. Committee members plan to keep an eye on both of these sites during the winter. Two of the areas had old evidence of cattle but no cattle were observed (Tularosa River near Walk in the Past petroglyphs and East Fork of the Gila River upstream of Grapevine Campground). Missions of environmentally focused non-profits can often overlap, and Southwestern New Mexico Audubon recognizes the value of acknowledging and partnering with others to increase positive synergistic effects on behalf of our natural environment. Find local contacts and information: www.greatoldbroads.org.

—  By Denise Smith

Students Reach New Heights

From May to June, students from Aldo Leopold Charter School (ALCS) and Cobre High School assisted SWNMAS to study and monitor the Cliff Swallows nesting on the campus of Western New Mexico University (WNMU).  The students are members of the NM Youth Conservation Corps (YCC). The goal of this study was to determine how many young are produced when their nests are left undisturbed.

Cliff Swallows are colonial birds, meaning they congregate in large groups. They overwinter in South America, arriving in our region in early April to nest, then leave with their new families in early August.

Three years ago, SWNM Audubon launched a campaign titled “Wilderness Starts Here.” The campaigns focus is to raise awareness of the benefits of wild things that live right here near our homes, businesses, and institutions such as WNMU. Over 400 young Cliff Swallows fledged from their campus nest sites in 2018 and 2019, and 2020 is likely to exceed those numbers. Carol Ann Fugagli, director of the study, said, “We are grateful for the cooperation of the University’s staff, which allowed us to put up nets and band some of the birds.”

“I’m excited to see if some of the birds we banded this year return to the same site next year,” exclaimed ALCS student Sylvia Myers. Another ALCS student, Molly Pendleton, stated, “This was the first time I had a chance to hold a live bird. They are much smaller and more delicate than I imagined!”

Javiel Garcia, a first-time YCC crew member from Cobre High School, said, “I can certainly say that I have a new appreciation for these birds after watching them for so many hours and days!”

SWNM Audubon welcomes volunteers to assist with swallow monitoring in future years. Please contact: cfugagli@gmail.com if interested.

To Feed or Not to Feed: Audubon

Backyard feeders are good for birds, as long as you follow simple guidelines.

Daniel Becker, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology, and his team wanted to better understand how the various ways we humans feed wild animals—whether intentional (feeders or tourist hangouts) or not (landfills or loose garbage cans)—affects their risk of infectious disease. So Becker and his team analyzed what was out there—20 published research papers on host-pathogen interactions in human-fed wild populations—finding intentional feeding changed wild animal behavior and diet enough to give parasites and viruses the upper hand.

“Feeders can bring unexpected species together and bring birds together more frequently than normal, creating ideal conditions for parasites and other contaminates,” Becker says. That birds often crowd into tight spaces to get at the tasty morsels also makes it easier for pathogens to leap between birds.

Feeders, they found, have contributed to outbreaks of House Finch Eye Disease (Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis) and virulent strains of the respiratory disease Trichomoniasis. Dependable human-supplied meals can also alter wild animals’ behavior, they found. In one study, Spanish White storks skipped their typical North-African winter migration in favor of sticking around their landfill-loaded breeding grounds. This means sick birds that would normally be subject to “migratory culling,” as Becker delicately puts it—meaning they wouldn’t survive the flight—are allowed the chance of continued life, becoming a constant source of exposure to their peers at the benefit of the pathogen infecting them.

How to Feed the Birds Without Feeding Disease

So should we stop feeding birds? “Absolutely not,” says Becker, “there are plenty of simple things we can do to avoid many of these potential outcomes.” Feeding birds is particularly important in the wake of harsh winters. Migrating species on the east coast are returning to snow-covered soil prompting wildlife groups to ask for the public’s help in feeding.

Stephen Kress, director of Audubon’s Project Puffin, says safe bird feeding includes completely scrubbing out feeders with a 10% non-chlorinated bleach solution at least a few times a year, and certainly between seasons. It also means researching the favorite foods of the species you want to attract, the feeder styles they like best, and where to hang feeders.

“Bird seed mixtures targeted to a wide range of species are the cheapest, but most wasteful, packed with fillers like milo that most birds pick through, resulting in a mess under the feeder,” says Kress. The mess can quickly become a sludgy mixture that can make birds sick, so it should be cleaned up in the winter or raked out when conditions are drier, says Kress. To avoid exposing ground-feeding birds to the goo, he adds, put up a platform that drains well. “To avoid this you can buy specific seeds for specific feeders—for example cracked corn and millet to put in one and then just sunflowers in another,” he says. “This decreases interactions between the species that eat the different seeds, and waste, dramatically.”

So go ahead and feed the birds—but if you do, realize you’re taking on the task of cleaning up after them, too. Find more tips from Kress: Audubon.org/news/11-tips-feeding-backyard-birds.

San Vicente Trail and Open Space
By Ken Sexton

As a member of the Trails and Open Space Advisory Committee, we have found significant vandalism including cut gate lock chains, smashed gates and cut fencing to allow access by an array of 4-wheel vehicles. Recommendations to make repairs have been followed. We have identified illegal access points from surrounding roadways and plans have been made by the town to block these. Major access points such as the end of Chukar Road near the old landfill include plans where 10 inch diameter pipes will be installed to block the access area. While repairs are being made, vandalism in the form of cut fencing near gates have been found indicating again, tracks representing a wide range of 4 wheel vehicles from ATV width to much wider– with “off-road” and on-road tire tread marks. This month at the request of the Mayor, after his Meet the Mayor session at the Drifter restaurant, we rode to locations where there are current cut fences, and to Chukar Road.

During the Trails and Open Space committee meetings during the last year, maps of the San Vicente Creek area were reviewed. There are parts of the trail that are on private land and also significant“social” trails that follow the creek that are popular with birders and hikers, also on private land. These maps also showed areas where negotiations for right-of-way access or actual boundary adjustments of private lands for trail use have been made or are in progress.

Discussions have included how to make the San Vicente trail and open area more easily accessible and attractive to both locals and tourists. There are discussions to include trail improvements during planned maintenance work on the Big Ditch by the Army Corps of Engineers, which would make the trail from the Visitor Center to the trail head under the Hwy 90 Bridge, more user friendly to avoid climbing over loose rocks. Lastly there have been discussions about how this trail head appears to be a “hang-out” location by locals. This might be managed by requesting police monitoring.

   If you see motorized vehicles on the trails report it to the police by calling Central Dispatch at 388-8840.