Beef or Birds?
Monday March 23, 2009
According to KansasCity.com, Kansas State University researchers have reported that three species of grassland birds are disappearing from the Flint Hills region. Due to disruptive land management techniques such as annual burns and heavy grazing for the half-billion-dollar local cattle industry, the dickcissel, eastern meadowlark and grasshopper sparrow populations are not breeding successfully.Should these bird species be locally protected, even though all three species have large populations elsewhere? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Grasshopper Sparrow
Photo © Dominic Sherony
Comments
There have been several articles circulating in recent weeks on this subject. (I’ve linked to many of them on my Flint Hills blog) There are ranchers in the Flint Hills who have tried patch burning, which leaves some of last year’s grass growth for bird cover. We need to gently encourage others to follow suit. There are many land owners out there who do value the prairie habitat. We need more of them.