By Don MacLean

According to a 1995 National Academy of Sciences study, habitat loss is the greatest factor threatening the survival of many species. Urbanization and agriculture have replaced many natural plant and animal communities. But as landowners continue to face complex decisions on how best to manage their property, a growing number are voluntarily incorporating various wildlife habitat restoration techniques and realizing the associated benefits. Note Sidebar

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is working cooperatively with property owners to restore wildlife habitat on private lands through the Partners for Wildlife Program and a number of U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. The Partners program in particular continues to grow in popularity. With its broad restoration guidelines, the program has great potential to restore habitat for endangered, threatened, and candidate species. It is already contributing to habitat restoration for at-risk species in many areas of the country; approximately 15 percent of the projects implemented in 1995 directly benefited listed or candidate species. The percentage of these projects varies among FWS regions. In the west, where more opportunities exist, approximately 85 percent of the 1995 projects have improved habitat for listed and candidate species.

To promote even greater participation in the Partners program, the FWS has developed a "safe harbor" policy for landowners who undertake conservation actions on behalf of threatened and endangered species. Under this policy, landowners are given assurance that restored habitats may be returned to pre-restoration conditions when cooperative agreements expire even if listed species become established on the lands under certain conditions. (See Bulletin Vol. XX, No. 1.)

Wetland and riparian habitats restored in the Mission and Blackfoot Valleys and along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front Range have provided additional habitat for threatened grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). To the south, near Centennial, Wyoming, wetlands that were historic habitat for the endangered Wyoming toad (Bufo hemiophrys baxteri) and the boreal toad (Bufo boreas boreas), a species of concern, have been restored and protected.

Threatened and endangered plants have also benefited from the Partners program. In Jackson County, Iowa, Partners funds were used to restore the hydrology of a small wetland called Baldwin Marsh. This marsh is one of only two known locations in the State supporting the threatened eastern prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea).

Other targets of restoration activities include aquatic species. In the Little Tennessee River, the Partners program has worked with the Tennessee River Watershed Association, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Southwestern Resource Conservation and Development Council to restore riparian areas adjacent to sensitive aquatic habitats. Activities have included cattle fencing, bank stabilization using bioengineering techniques (root wads, tree revetments, etc.), and riparian tree planting. Two endangered species, the little-wing pearly mussel (Pegias fabula) and Appalachian elktoe (Alasmidonta raveneliana), as well as the threatened spotfin chub (Hybopsis monacha), have benefited from this project.

In many cases, restorng a rare habitat benefits more than one vulnerable species, including plants and State-listed species. At the Casa de Patos project in California, approximately 450 acres (182 hectares) of leveled rice fields were recontoured and restored to natural conditions. Tens of thousands of ducks, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, and shorebirds that use the restored area now have improved habitat, along with the threatened giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas) and the Swainson s hawk (Buteo swainsoni), a state-listed species. The site is also habitat for the white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi), a species of concern, and the California hibiscus (Hibiscus lasiocarpus), a candidate for Federal listing.

In Kansas, private landowners and the FWS have joined forces to restore and protect habitats for both State- and Federal-listed species at the only outcropping of the Ozarkian Plateau and its cave system in the State. Restricting vehicular access, which allowed the surface habitat to recover from disturbance and compaction, improved conditions for State-listed species like the eastern blue dogbane (Amsonia tabernaemontana), whorled milkweed (Asclepias quadrifolia), bog aster (Aster paludosus), and hirsute sedge (Carex hirsutella), along with 43 other plants, 7 fish, 3 mammals, 2 amphibians, and a neotropical migratory songbird. Cave species that have benefited from the project include the cave salamander (Eurycea lucifuga), graybelly salamander (Eurycea multiplicata griseogaster), grotto salamander (Typhlotriton spelaeus), and endangered gray bat (Myotis grisescens).

The opportunities for creative partnerships to restore wildlife habitat are endless. We are just beginning to realize the potential.

	At this site in Butte County, California, grading machinery was linked with laser-guided surveying equipment to make fields as level as possible for maximum rice production. Natural wetland functions were diminished greatly as a result.
The same technology used to level fields can be used to "delevel" the land, producing a more natural topography and restoring important wetland values. This site shows a former laser-leveled field one year after its restoration.

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Don MacLean is a biologist for the Branch of Habitat Restoration in the FWS Division of Habitat Conservation in Washington, D.C. For more information about the Partners for Wildlife Program, contact Don at don_maclean@fws.gov ( tel. 703/358-2201).

The Partners for Wildlife Program has been working with private landowners since 1987 in a unique and productive partnership to restore wildlife habitat on private property. It involves the cooperation of Federal, State and local government agencies; conservation organizations; educational institutions; corporations; and private landowners. Since its initiation, the Partners for Wildlife program has forged partnerships with nearly 13,000 private landowners and is approaching restoration of important ecological functions on over 300,000 acres (121,400 hectares) of previously degraded wetlands, 30,000 acres (12,140 ha) of native prairie, 350 miles (563 kilometers) of riparian habitat, and 40 miles (64 km) of in-stream aquatic habitat. Although nontidal wetland restoration projects predominate, other habitats restored include bottomland hardwood forests, prairie potholes, native prairie, riparian woodlands, tidal wetlands, and such unique areas as cienegas and bosques (desert wetlands and woodlands, respectively). Program guidelines permit the restoration of any habitat that would benefit Federal trust species, including threatened or endangered plants and animals.

ADDENDUM: Information obtained after this Bulletin issue went to press increases the acreage of native prairie restoration to 40,000 acres, 600 stream miles of riparian habitat, and 50 miles of instream aquatic habitat..