BOREAL AVIAN MODELLING PROJECT

The Value and Resilience of SFI Forests for Eastern Forest Birds in a Changing Climate

Why This Project Matters

This project will guide the science of forest management planning to benefit a wide variety of birds in a changing climate. The Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM) will achieve this by improving understanding of the value and resilience of SFI‑certified forests for eastern North American forest birds.

The project will deliver comprehensive descriptions of actual and potential management practices consistent with SFI standards that can be related to changes in forest structure. The impact of past and present forest management on bird populations in SFI-certified vs. non-certified forests will also be evaluated. And the project will simulate the potential impact of future forest management practices on bird populations in SFI-certified vs. non-certified forests under potential climate change scenarios.

How the Project is Supporting Forest Birds in a Changing Climate

BAM will build on 20 years of experience in building regional models that are sensitive to forest age structure, species composition and configuration as well as to regional variation in climate and bird-species habitat selection. The project will specifically incorporate effects of identified best management practices (BMPs) on bird density in a changing climate. Using these models, BAM will identify practices, habitat types, and locations that make major contributions to total species abundance across eastern North America.

SFI’s Contribution

The SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program is supporting this project. This project will build on past collaborations between SFI and BAM to quantify the conservation value of SFI certification across Canada. SFI’s enormous scale with more than 370 million acres/150 million hectares certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard, and tens of millions of acres positively influenced by the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard supports the scope of this project. In Canada, this includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. In the United States, this includes parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and of northern New England. The scope of the project will also include the Great Lakes states, where cross-border collaboration has already been established through past SFI supported work by BAM.

How the Project Helps Forest Managers

This work will provide actionable assessments of the effects of BMPs on future bird populations on SFI‑certified lands under climate change scenarios. This will support recommendations as to how and if SFI‑certified organizations may need to adapt practices in the future to support bird conservation, and which BMPs would best be adapted. A toolkit and web application will support forest managers and directly impact implementing project findings for bird conservation.

Partners

This partnership includes conservation NGO’s and forestry companies to assure forest bird health in the face of climate change. These partners include:

Project Lead: Boreal Avian Modelling Project (University of Alberta)

Sustainable Forestry Initiative

Quebec SFI Implementation Committee

Resolute Forestry Products (SFI-certified organization)

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (SFI-certified organization)

The Forestland Group (SFI-certified organization)

Related Information

The Boreal Avian Modelling Project: SFI Supports Research to Help Billions of Birds in the Boreal Forest

The Boreal Avian Modelling Project: Bird Conservation Reaches Continental Scale through New Partnership with the Boreal Avian Modelling Project

Collaborating for Conservation of Managed Forested Landscapes (presentation).

SFI supported a Canada warbler workshop for conservationists and resource managers convened by Nature Canada. Media release.

American Bird Conservancy wins SFI President’s Award for putting SFI’s scale to work for birds. Media release.

About The Boreal Avian Modelling Project

The Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM) is an international scientific collaboration that develops and disseminates reliable, data-driven, and model-based science and products to support migratory bird management and conservation across the boreal region of North America. BAM was initiated in 2004 to address knowledge gaps associated with the management and conservation of boreal birds in North America. BAM is built on the foundation of boreal bird data. The BAM database was created by collating and harmonizing avian data from the Breeding Bird Survey, Breeding Bird Atlases, and individual research, monitoring, and inventory efforts conducted across the Canadian and US boreal and hemi-boreal region. We have developed specialized statistical approaches to harmonize these datasets by correcting for survey methodology and species detectability to estimate density.