Restoring Rhode Island’s Songbird Habitat

breeding bird survey data from 1966 to 2000 show a significant decline of 2.7 percent annually for Painted Bunting across its North American breeding range

Older Rhode Islanders who say there seem to be fewer songbirds than they remember while growing up are right.  But with NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program funding this situation may be turning around.  "We want to bring back the openness of the landscapes," said Rhode Island NRCS biologist Andy Lipsky.   "We want to bring back the meadowlands and thickets. It's a critical need for wildlife.”

Large numbers of such birds thrive in meadows, hedgerows and open grasslands, but with the decline in farmland and the increase in commercial and residential development, their habitat has been severely reduced in the last 30 years.  A project spearheaded by NRCS, the Rhode Island Water Resources Board, and the State Department of Environmental Management is designed to bring back the songbirds by restoring a number of open spaces within the Big River Management Area in West Greenwich.  All were once open fields that are reverting back to forest. (from a Providence Journal article by Peter C.T. Elsworth)
Your contact is Jeanne Comerford, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 401-822-8816.