How cattle can help save the birds of the Great Plains

Rancher Bill Milton surveys his land with wildlife biologist Dan Casey from a bumpy dirt road etched into the mottled green and gold landscape, 50 miles outside of Billings. Rolling through the land in Casey’s Prius, we’re on the western margin of the northern Great Plains, where shortgrass prairie once dominated the landscape. Casey points out an apple-sized bird on the right hand of the road. It’s a chestnut-collared longspur, whose males sport a glossy black breast topped with a rich brown collar. Once numerous in the short and mixed grass prairies that used to be trimmed naturally by bison and wildfire, the longspur’s population has declined by more than 80 percent in the last 50 years. It’s not just this species that’s in trouble, says Casey, who co-authored the tome Birds of Montana, as well as the state’s massive avian management plan. According to Casey, since 1970 Great Plains grassland songbirds have declined nearly 70 percent, a collapse rivaling that of insect and marine fish populations. Climate change, outdated grazing practices and urbanization are definite factors in the decline but agriculture's intensification is the main culprit. Rancher Bill Milton surveys his land with wildlife biologist Dan Casey from a bumpy dirt road etched into the mottled green and gold landscape, 50 miles outside of Billings. Rolling through the land in Casey’s Prius, we’re on the western margin of the northern Great Plains, where shortgrass prairie once dominated the landscape. Casey points out an apple-sized bird on the right hand of the road. It’s a chestnut-collared longspur, whose males sport a glossy black breast topped with a rich brown collar. Once numerous in the short and mixed grass prairies that used to be trimmed naturally by bison and wildfire, the longspur’s population has declined by more than 80 percent in the last 50 years. It’s not just this species that’s in trouble, says Casey, who co-authored the tome Birds of Montana, as well as the state’s massive avian management plan. According to Casey, since 1970 Great Plains grassland songbirds have declined nearly 70 percent, a collapse rivaling that of insect and marine fish populations. Climate change, outdated grazing practices and urbanization are definite factors in the decline but agriculture's intensification is the main culprit...
 
Two sides of the road Though these birds and transient and somewhat inconspicuous, they can be spotted with a trained eye—and the economic services they provide humans include seed dispersal, insect predation, pollination, not to mention their symphony of songs. Casey explains, as we sit in the car, the differences between the left and the right side of the road. The left is dominated by non-native species like alfalfa and clover, appearing as a mix of olive, sage, and green tones. The right side, where we see much more bird life, appears more brown and wilted—but is actually healthier and more suitable for wildlife. Closer inspection of the ground on the left reveals hard and nearly bare terrain. “There are no grasses for the birds to nest in,” Casey explains. Local plant species that once sustained the ecosystem have been pushed out by exotic crops. The right side of the road, while less verdant, includes a mix of a native species like blue gramma, buffalo grass, and fringed sage. Decomposing duff from the prior season pads and protects the soil, a shade darker from the moisture it retains. Compared to the other side, this land is more resistant to weather extremes, disease, and unwanted insects—and provides more food, habitat, and serves as a storehouse of carbon, water, and important nutrients...MORE 

 agriculture's intensification is the main culprit

And what was the primary cause of that? Corn production now takes up 97 million acres, and Congress has been subsidizing corn ethanol for 30 years (now at around $6 billion a year), and farmers have responded by planting additional acreages of corn.

According to this article

That wasn't what was intended when Carter promoted the use of ethanol as a way to get America off imported oil, offering subsidies to industries to mix the fuel. The industry never really took off — even with the subsidies. By 2001, barely 6 percent of the corn crop was being used to produce ethanol. But new energy policies brought in by George W Bush which set production quota to encourage the use of biofuels allowed the industry to take off. By last year, nearly 40 percent of U.S. corn was going to produce ethanol.

The Scientific American writes

And the resources devoted to growing corn are increasing dramatically. Between 2006 and 2011, the amount of cropland devoted to growing corn in America increased by more than 13 million acres, mainly in response to rising corn prices and the increasing demand for ethanol.

The DC Deep Thinkers subsidize corn ethanol, which causes additional crop acreage to be planted and thus replacing prairie land and destroying bird habitat. Now they've come up with a new program, the Northern Great Plains Joint Venture spearheaded by the USFWS, to overcome a problem which they created in the first place.

Thankfully, the current budget crisis may bring an end to this unwise subsidy.