Fall is here and with that brings a flurry of wildlife habitat restoration work. Fall is the time for riparian and wetland restoration, because the work is best done when these areas are at their driest. Months of planning work are now being translated into the delicate and not so delicate maneuvers of what my son calls vroom vrooms. Big machines are out at the Lava Lake Main Ranch, continuing the work we started in 2008. This year, we’re converting an old irrigation ditch into a natural stream channel along Barn Creek, at the entrance to Lava Lake right on the edge of the lava flows.

We’ve also created two small ponds to enhance two springs that are located right in the mix of our irrigated hayfields. These ponds have nesting islands built into them to attract nesting ducks and other waterbirds. We will be seeding these areas with native plants this fall and following up with plantings next spring. We have to keep in mind that these things take time, the new plantings will take a few growing seasons to establish and flourish, and right now things look disturbed and definitely not complete.

We are looking forward to watching as the habitat diversity on the ranch continues to expand. Finally, we are so grateful to our many partners on the project. This year we’ve been working with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Later this season, we’ll report back on our sagebrush habitat restoration that is planned for October in Fish Creek.

Barn Creek restoration in progress

For the past two days Lava Lake employees have been working on installing a new windbreak on the south side of the ranch complex.  The new trees and shrubs were planted to provide wildlife habitat and block the almost constant wind that blows in off the lava fields from Craters of the Moon National Monument.

We first installed a weed barrier to keep the weeds down and help the new trees get a competitive edge. We selected a combination of native and non-native plants. The combination of plants will make for great wildlife habitat, especially with the combination of shrubs that produce berries. The evergreens will help slow down the stiff Idaho winds throughout the year.

We planted six total rows of shrubs and trees.  The rows furthest from the ranch were planted in currant and next year will be supplemented with blackberries.  Downwind from those are two rows of chokecherry, hawthorn, and American plum.  The three rows closest to the barns were planted in Rocky Mountain Juniper, Austrian Pine, and Blue Spruce.

We will look forward to watching the windbreak grow, thrive, and produce berries!

Late Friday morning we were treated to a visit from Jay Carlisle and Heidi Ware. They have been conducting bird surveys all over the ranch for the past few days, continuing research we began in 2001. Jay is the Research Director for the Idaho Bird Observatory, a unit of Boise State University. His work helps us track our success in enhancing wildlife habitat through our grazing management and restoration projects.

It is always great to see Jay. His knowledge is fantastic, and his enthusiasm is contagious. Whenever I’m with him I wonder how I went wrong – why am I not working as a research scientist studying birds?

Jay and Heidi recounted some of the highlights of their survey: the Lewis’s woodpeckers, the great horned owl right where he’s been in years past, Heidi sinking up to her hips in a particularly boggy spot in Iron Mine Canyon.  They reported that the number of lazuli buntings seemed low, but it’s possible that is due to the late spring we’ve had: they are seeing birds at much lower than expected elevations, their migrations to higher ground seems to be delayed this year. As we stood talking in the driveway of the ranch compound, Jay occasionally noted the birds he was hearing – willow flycatcher, Western tanager, peewees – what I hear as a background white noise of distant tweets is, for Jay, a symphony of perfectly distinct voices.

They were dirty and low on fuel, so we offered them showers in the bathhouse and put some gas in their tank. They came out scrubbed and refreshed, and headed on down the road to grab lunch at the gas station, and do counts in Laidlaw Park for the BLM. Late spring and summer are the crunch time for these researchers, trying to get as many counts as the weather will allow.  Their task feels so obvious and satisfying to me: they observe, record and report.  But I know it’s really not that simple.  They also construct hypotheses and test them, and constantly scramble to get enough grant money to keep going. They work incredibly long hours, sleeping in tents and washing up only occasionally, eating a lot of peanut butter. Worse, by its nature their work brings them face-to-face every day with the reality of extinction. There must be dark hours when the data is depressing, and they wonder if they can make enough people pay attention to make a difference. But they keep at it. Heidi will begin graduate school at BSU this fall, breaking new ground in studying the effects of noise pollution on migratory birds. The birds are lucky to have these advocates, as are we all.

Bird watching at Fish Creek.

Yesterday a group of ready workers met at Lava Lake main ranch to undertake further restoration of Copper Creek.

The Whole Crew

Along with office and field staff from Lava Lake were interns from The Nature Conservancy’s Silver Creek Preserve and the Wood River Land Trust.  We were under the expert direction of long time Lava Lake collaborator, Alan Sands.  Our task for the day, plant 40+ shrubs along the lower portion of the creek.  Check out the map of Lava Lake Ranch below, Copper Creek runs right through the middle of the property.
View Lava Lake Ranch in a larger map

The new dogwood, rose, hawthorn, currant, chokecherry were chosen for their contribution to bird habitat along the stream.  According to Tess O’Sullivan, before being altered for agricultural purposes Copper Creek meandered through the bottom lands on its way to our namesake, Lava Lake.  Within these meanders would have been bunches of willows, aspens, alder, and the very species that we planted.  Ample nesting cover and food supplies would have been available for a variety of bird species.

It was a fun and rewarding day for all, and a good chance to get out and see the ranch.  Thanks to everyone from The Nature Conservancy and Wood River Land Trust for all your help yesterday.  The planting went by fast with all your hard work.

Outfitted in mud boots and work gloves, a group of students from the Hailey, Idaho Sage School came out to the ranch a few weeks ago to help us with our on-going stream restoration work. Under the tutelage of Farm Manager Tim Bennett, the group of students cut and planted 100 willow stakes and planted some native grass seed. After the work was done, they checked out the lambs and got to meet the Lava Lake Great-horned Owl.

The Sage School is a new, independent school that strives to create meaningful experiences for its students, engage them in the “real world,” assist them in becoming self-aware, connect them to their community, bring out their natural compassion, and engage them in actions to make the world a better place. The school believes that their environment assists its students in becoming fully engaged citizens who are committed to community action, and humanitarian and ecological responsibility. What better opportunity to connect students with their community, and take on ecological responsibility than to contribute to Lava Lake’s restoration work?

When the group arrived at the ranch, Tim showed students how to identify the different willow species, and how to cut stakes from the existing trees. Students then cut 100 willow poles and planted them along our “Phase II” restoration area. We’ve planted some willows here in the past, but needed the Sage School students to help us fill in the gaps from past efforts. After the willows were planted, the group cut each willow pole just above ground level, so that all of the plant’s energy goes into the roots, increasing the chance of survival.

The group then spent some time scattering native grass seeds in an area that was disturbed last year. We hope this leads to new growth and recovery.

The students had a great time checking out the ranch. We really appreciate their help in contributing to our restoration efforts and look forward to working with these awesome kids again in the future!

Great Horned Owl