Whiteface Works to Keep Thrush Singing: Ski Area is Part of International Effort to Preserve Bird’s Habitat
By Brian Nearing, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Aug. 14–WILMINGTON — On a beautiful July morning, Ted Blazer hiked through the conifer forest atop Lookout Mountain in Essex County. Among the trees hung colored ribbons that marked planned new ski trails at the Whiteface Mountain Ski Area.
From thick stands of fir and spruce came bird song, but Blazer was most excited about one he strained to hear: The flute-like notes of the Bicknell’s thrush.
Because of the bird, Blazer, executive director of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, agreed to shrink the new trail network. He is part of an international partnership to protect the reclusive thrush, which relies on packed forest to nest and hide from predators like hawks, foxes and raccoons.
Its small range and shrinking habitat helped forge a partnership that stretches from the bird’s summering grounds in the Adirondacks to vanishing forests of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, where the thrush migrates each winter.
“Sometimes, conserving the natural history and biodiversity of one place requires taking action in a different place far away,” said Michael Burger, director of Conservation & Science for Audubon New York. “The Bicknell’s thrush is a bird of two worlds.”
It won’t matter how much thrush habitat in the Northeast is protected if the Caribbean wintering grounds vanish, he said. “Whiteface Mountain would be poorer if the Bicknell’s thrush was lost from these slopes, and we have great hope that our actions will help make sure that never happens.”
Nearly 2,000 miles to the south, on the high mountains of the island of Hispaniola, comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic, farmers slash forests for crops. They grow coffee and cacao, the key ingredient of chocolate.
Already, more than 98 percent of the thrush’s habitat in Haiti and 90 percent in the Dominican Republic have been destroyed, said Michael Carr, executive director of the conservancy’s Adirondack Chapter.
The solution? Show farmers a way to raise organic, shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee crops while preserving parts of the mountain forests.
One of the partners in the state protection program, the conservancy has spent about a half-million dollars since 2000 in the Dominican Republic, mainly to hire forest rangers who patrol national parks and prevent illegal farming.
“In the Dominican Republic, there are people who are struggling for survival. With the thrush project, we are trying to save a piece of biodiversity,” said Carr. “But that can be hard to get across to someone worried about the next meal.”
The more they sell, the more farmers will see the worth of their extra effort, Carr said. A coffee company cooperating with the project is Alta Gracia, “High Grace.” Cocoa Values Caribe of Burlington, Vt., also works with cocoa farmers on low-impact techniques and donates 15 percent of proceeds from the sale of bird-friendly local sweets.
The company can be found at http://www.sustainablecocoa.org
The Whiteface project is the first time a ski area in the Northeast has taken efforts to protect the thrush. Plans for about 4.5 miles of intermediate and expert trails were scaled back, with fewer and narrower connecting trails. Cutting above 2,800 feet, where the birds nest with their young, won’t start until August, after birds begin their migration.
Skiers, who use the forest trails starting in the winter of 2008-09, will be able to help before then. Small outdoor kiosks with information and a drop-slot for donations to help protect the bird will be up at the ski slopes this winter. Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.
Bicknell’s thrush — Catharus bicknelli DESCRIPTION: 7 inches long, buffy brown upper parts, black spotting on throat, creamy buff breast, reddish-brown tail. RANGE: Summer in mountains in New York and New England, southeastern Quebec and Canadian Maritime provinces. Winter migration to Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. HABITAT THREATS: Climate change and mountainside development can reduce northern fir forests; clear-cutting for agriculture has destroyed most of its Caribbean environment.
SOURCE: BirdLife International MIGRATION (MAP) In August, thrushes fly about 2,000 miles to the Caribbean islands and return north in the spring. HOW TO HELP
Bicknell’s Thrush Habitat Protection Fund provides grants to nonprofit groups working in the Dominican Republic and Haiti for land protection, improved enforcement of protected areas, education, promotion of compatible land use and scientific research. Donations can be sent to the Adirondack Community Trust http://www.GenerousACT.org or by calling the trust at 523-9904.
—–
To see more of the Albany Times Union, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesunion.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.