Dubuque Audubon’s 3-year survey of grassland birds at Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Management Area is complete!

When the Whitewater Canyon property was purchased in 2006 by the Dubuque County Conservation Board, the majority of the surveyed area had been cropland of corn, alfalfa, and oats that was converted to a CRP mixture of brome grass, bird’s-foot trefoil, and alfalfa, with a small amount of prairie grass and forbes. Since the purchase, the Conservation Board has made yearly plantings of tall grass prairie and forbes to convert the entire area to prairie, thus providing better habitat for grassland birds. The primary objective has been to maintain the existing grasslands with a maximum diversity of prairie grasses and forbes. To encourage a diversity of wildlife, the Dubuque County Conservation Board instigated a management plan that involves a rotational burning of approximately 1/3 of the prairie grasslands each year. With rotational burning, the invasion of undesirable trees can be eliminated, and the diversity and density of the grasslands will promote grassland wildlife.

Throughout the 3 years of observation, the current management strategy of burning approximately 1/3 of the prairie each year has resulted in a stable population of the main “species of concern” grassland birds, especially the Henslow’s and Grasshopper Sparrows.

See the Projects page for more details, including links to the 3 annual reports and the summary report (source of above excerpts).

Cover: Henslow’s Sparrow at Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area (5/24/24) © Mary Leigh