Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 27, 1993 TAG: 9307270100
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The population of migratory songbirds who call the Appalachian Mountains home has shown an alarming decline during recent years.
Species such as warblers, thrushes and grosbeaks are among neotropical birds who have shown steady declines in Virginia forests since 1980.
An estimated 200 species of songbirds annually ride warm, humid air masses across the Gulf of Mexico from Central and South America and the Caribbean to spend summers in the Appalachians and eastern North America.
Within the past 25 years, the population of some of these species has dropped 30 percent to 50 percent, creating an air of grave concern among conservationists.
No one is sure why songbirds are disappearing.
"It's a very complex issue," said Jessie Overcash, a Forest Service biologist who works for the Blacksburg Ranger District.
Locally, the Forest Service is working with members of the New River Valley Bird Club to intensify research on the well-being of songbirds.
"People are concerned," said Jerry Via, an ornithologist who is co-president of the bird club.
Land-use changes that restrict or destroy songbird habitats are suspected as culprits. So are herbicides banned in the United States but still used in the tropics.
More information is needed on songbirds to clarify the issue, Overcash said.
During the past several years, efforts to monitor songbirds in the New River Valley have increased, he said. New check points have been established and data is regularly collected.
Members of the New River Valley Bird Club also are computerizing data on songbirds so that recent trends can be readily compared with older information, Via said.
Earlier this year, a group of conservationists gathered in Blacksburg to compare notes on songbirds and to identify species at risk, such as the golden-winged warbler and the wood thrush.
The birds' north and south shuttling has not made research easy.
Virginia's national forests are pairing with Southern counterparts in cold-weather songbird habitats to find an international solution.
The Jefferson and George Washington national forests in Virginia, along with the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, the Chattahoochee in North Carolina and the Sumter in South Carolina, are joining for a Sister Forests program with Costa Rica.
"We don't know what's happening in the birds' wintering zone," said Gilbert Zepeda, a Forest Service official. "We stand to gain from what specialists in other countries have done."
Like other developing nations in Central and South America, Costa Rica's exploding population, timber cutting practices and plantation agriculture are contributing to deforestation and the destruction of seasonal songbird habitats.
Via said the expansive Jefferson National Forest has helped to protect the local songbird population, which is more stable here than in other parts of Virginia where suburban development is rapidly expanding.
Somehow, a balance must be struck between the demands humans place on on natural resources and the impacts of land use on songbirds, Overcash said.
"We need food. We use wood. I see no change in that," he said.
Some information for this article was provided by the Associated Press.
by CNB