Information on abundance, distribution, chronology, and habitat associations of birds at U.S. Air Force Long Range Radar Sites (USAF LRRS) and U.S. Navy lands is either outdated or lacking. In other situations, existing information has been obtained using a variety of incompatible methods thereby complicating the ability to discern changes to bird communities or the habitats they rely upon. Up-to-date information on the use of military lands by all bird species is important for both the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Furthermore, updating avian inventories and implementing a standardized monitoring program across military lands helps USFWS-MBM by improving avian trend estimates for Alaska and the United States. Many military lands are located in hard to access and under-studied areas of the state and establishing landbird monitoring programs will help provide more accurate status and trend estimates. By establishing state- and nation-wide standardized, peer-reviewed protocols, we ensure that our data will be comparable to, and incorporated into larger datasets; ultimately contributing to nation-wide monitoring, status, and trend estimates for birds.
The specific project objectives included 1) implement a state–wide, standardized, peer-reviewed protocol (Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey; ALMS) for the inventory and monitoring of bird species on LRRS lands near Point Barrow, Alaska, 2) enter all LRRS raw data and associated reports, as well as historical data and associated reports into the ‘Avifaunal Database for Alaska Military Lands’ (ADAML), 3) describe avian species presence and relative abundance at the Navy’s Barrow site during breeding season, and 4) document incidental / opportunistic observations of breeding activity/indicators.
The data providers have invested considerable effort in QA/QC, but it is possible that undetected errors remain. It is strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data to evaluate data set limitations, restrictions, or intended use. The originators of this dataset shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. Potential users of these data should first contact the data authors listed below, as potential biases may occur within the data depending on the intended use.
General field methods are available in the general Utqiagvik protocol documents.
