Material provided by Richard Scranton

For five years, North Central Washington Audubon Society participated in breeding bird surveys in our region’s shrub-steppe habitat. This was a collaborative community-based science effort with other eastern Washington chapters, Audubon Washington and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify songbird distribution within the remaining shrub-steppe in our state. It generated over 20,000 bird observations from 130 volunteers and represents an unprecedented volunteer undertaking in support of shrub-steppe birds and their habitat.

Now that the surveys have ended, what will happen with all that data? Representatives from Audubon Washington and several eastern Washington chapters have formed a committee that will work to put it to good use. The group’s mission statement is to ‘Promote Restoration and Conservation of Shrub-steppe Habitat in Washington State.’

Survey data has identified the highest quality shrub-steppe habitats in the state. The goal of this committee is to promote methods to keep these habitats sustainable. Shrub-steppe has long been the most threatened habitat in Washington with only a small fraction of its historical acreage remaining. There are many factors that could make the situation worse. One example is the devastating fires in Okanogan and Douglas Counties last September.

Updates will be posted to our website. If you would like to get involved or have questions, contact Richard Scranton at rscran4350@yahoo.com.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Conservation Northwest partnered to make a beautiful film about our region’s shrub-steppe habitat. You can see it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfhM9vLQD-0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3Yc4u6_rDeEWjVZjWGGNab_OJgY3xLbbN8O6JzFLLEvb1xrPo-RHkZzgk

NOTE: there is a second link to this film in the Resources section of the NCWAS website.