Here is a chance for you to help the birds and enjoy a few hours with like-minded people in a beautiful place.

The Georgia Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is leading an effort to collect native warm-season grass (NWSG) seeds. We will provide these seeds to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, whose staff will sow the seeds by hand as part of an effort to restore native grasslands. This will increase important bird habitat.

This effort will succeed if we have a large number of people help us. Fortunately the work is not difficult, and can be done by nearly any person who can walk across a field of tall grass on the side of a very small hill. It could be a fun family event, or an active social event for a church or scout group. The biggest challenge to most of us will simply be whatever Mother Nature dishes up – there is no shade or facilities nearby.

Conservationists have undertaken restoration efforts in recent years. The IBA has decided to assist DNR because, although they have the facilities to prepare the seeds, DNR does not have enough manpower to collect these seeds, which cannot be harvested by machine.

The seeds we will collect are unique because they are what botanists call “native phenotype,” which means they are not only the species that belong here, but they are actually direct descendants of the plants that were here hundreds of years ago – the plants that our grassland birds evolved with.

When Europeans first arrived, native grasslands were all over what is now the southeastern United States. “I'd say all of Georgia had native grasses” says Nathan Klaus of Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “That is not to say it was all a grassland, just that anyplace that was somewhat open had the grassy understory, usually from fires. There were numerous smaller glades, probably ranging in size from less than an acre to several hundred acres in size. There were post oak woodlands that graded into oak/pine (shortleaf in the Piedmont, longleaf in the coastal plain) woodlands, there were open pine woodlands and savannas all over the SE. Much of the longleaf savanna was not wiregrass; about half of it was longleaf bluestem/indiangrass woodlands. Sprewell Bluff is the best remainder of that ecosystem.”

As fires were suppressed, other plants took over. Then invasive exotic plants began to out-compete our grasses until they were only able to hang on in pockets. Now, less than 1% of Georgia’s native grasslands survive. The loss of extensive stands of NWSG has resulted in a decline of many species, including Eastern Meadowlarks, Loggerhead Shrikes and many sparrows.

If you can’t make it one of the days we have slated, there are still ways to help:

Support efforts to restore habitat with professionally prescribed fire

Don’t buy Plume Grass or Blood Grass (also known as Cogon Grass).

Support habitat restoration by buying a duck stamp or get a hummingbird plate for your car (these support National Wildlife Refuges and the DNR non-game division, respectively)

Consider donating time or money to the Georgia Important Bird Area Program http://www.atlantaaudubon.org/aaswww/iba/iba.htm

Learn more from the Georgia Botanical Society (http://www.gabotsoc.org/) and the Georgia Native Plant Society (http://www.gnps.org/ )

Events include:

Panola Mountain State Park on Saturday, November 8, 2008 from 1 to 4 pm. We will also open the bird banding station at 7am. All are welcome to attend.

Sprewell Bluff State Park on Sunday, November 9, 2008, starting at noon. Park Manager Phil Delestrez will lead an interpretive walk through some old growth Long Leaf Pine from 9 until noon, all seed collecting volunteers are welcome to attend.

For more information, or to sign up, contact:

Charlie Muise
Georgia IBA Coordinator
Atlanta Audubon Society
678-967-9924
Email: cmmbirds@yahoo.com