The overall purpose of natural resource monitoring in national parks is to develop scientifically sound information on the current status and long-term trends in the composition, structure, and function of park ecosystems. Use of monitoring information will increase confidence in managers’ decisions, improving their ability to manage park resources. This increased knowledge will allow managers to confront and mitigate threats to the park and operate more effectively in legal and political arenas. Very few landbird projects have been completed within the parks of the KLMN and there have been even fewer long-term monitoring projects. Without this information, park managers will have difficulty determining the status and trends of these species within their boundaries, they will not have statistically vigorous data available to compare landbird communities within their boundaries to those communities outside their boundaries, and they will not have a clear understanding of how the management practices in the park are affecting landbirds. This protocol will provide park managers with data and information that can be utilized to help better address these issues.

Birds were among the 10 highest ranked vital signs in the KLMN vital signs selection process (Odion et al. 2005). Selection of landbird communities is consistent with the consensus to monitor the status and trends in structure, function, and composition of focal communities, the second highest ranking monitoring question for the Network (Sarr et al. 2007). Landbirds were selected as a focus group for bird monitoring in the KLMN because they provide cost-effective information about ecological conditions of interest (Alexander et al. 2007) and they are well represented in the major terrestrial habitats in the parks. In addition, the status and trends of other bird populations not monitored by this protocol (e.g., sea bird colonies, Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, Northern Spotted Owls) are already being monitored by the parks or by other agencies.

One approach to designing monitoring projects is to focus on groups of organisms that can provide cost-effective information about ecological conditions of interest (Vos et al. 2000, Gram et al. 2001). Landbirds are an effective tool for monitoring because: (1) many species are easily and inexpensively detected, (2) standardized sampling protocols have already been developed, (3) landbird species respond to a wide variety of habitat conditions, and (4) measuring status and trends for many species with different ecological requirements can inform landscape scale conservation strategies (Hutto 1998). The potential for landbirds to serve as effective ecological indicators is noted in Recommended Methods for Inventorying and Monitoring Landbirds in National Parks (Fancy and Sauer 2000). In this publication, Fancy and Sauer put forth the justification for monitoring bird communities within the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program:

Birds are an important component of park ecosystems, and their high body temperature, rapid metabolism, and high ecological position in most food webs make them a good indicator of the effects of local and regional changes in ecosystems. Moreover, birds have a tremendous following among the public, and many parks provide information on the status and trends of birds in the park through their interpretive program.