RAY BROOK – Groups in the Adirondacks have been using state grants to study species of concern in the Adirondacks.

In 2001, congress enacted a State Wildlife Grants program to fund work on species with declining populations. New York has implemented more than 100 projects through that plan since 2006.

In the Adirondacks, the money has recently been used for research on boreal birds, loons and habitat connectivity in the Park.

During a meeting at the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Ray Brook headquarters Michale Glennon, the Adirondack Landscape Science Coordinator with the Saranac Lake chapter of the Wildlife Conservation Society, explained why her organization has been studying boreal birds.

Boreal habitats exist in Canada, but there is an echo of them in the Adirondacks.

“The true boreal zone is not where we are, but because the Adirondack Park sits very much on the transition between what we think of as the northeast temperate forest, which comprises much of the park, and the true Canadian boreal, it means we have some bits of this northern habitat type,” Glennon said.

The pseudo-boreal habitats are home to species that are otherwise rare in the region.

An important goal of WCS’s boreal bird program was to get an idea of which species live here and how abundant they are. That allows scientists to study population increases or decreases over time, which can eventually help answer a number of questions, like how boreal bird populations are affected by wetland size, elevation and human activity.

Glennon said evidence suggests that logging in Canada is disrupting boreal species there, but a more pressing concern here is climate change.

“Since we sit at the southern end of their range, they’re already facing the kinds of challenges range-edge species face,” Glennon said. “But really, these are northern places that are adapted to being cold and wet. They’re maintained by northern processes, so they’re expected to change more quickly as temperature and precipitation change.”

Glennon said the hypothesis is that resident birds – those that remain year-round – should be able to better adapt to climate change, but that isn’t what research has shown.

Seven out of eight resident species are showing a decline in numbers. Olive-sided flycatchers and rusty blackbirds are declining fastest, while Lincoln’s sparrows, yellow-bellied flycatchers, black-backed woodpeckers, gray jays and boreal chickadees are showing a slower decline.

Palm warbler is the only species they studied that seems to be increasing.

“Gray jays are having a rough time with warming temperatures in the winter because they cache food and they use a sticky saliva to stick it under pieces of bark,” Glennon said. “Those food caches are spoiling in the warmer temperatures.”

Glennon said WCS also partnered with the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation to study loons in the Adirondacks, primarily looking at how mercury is affecting them.

Mercury can occur naturally, but it is also added to the environment via pollution, usually from smokestacks. Mercury is converted to methylmercury when it enters acidic waterbodies.

Methylmercury can accumulate in the bodies of animals, so if a loon eats a number of fish containing the chemical, it builds up in the loon’s body. Research shows methylmercury can adversely affect loon reproduction as well as make them lethargic and less likely to fend off potential predators. Glennon said it was found that songbirds and mountaintop birds also showed signs of exposure to mercury.

Glennon said the state wildlife grant project worked to bring organizations across the state together to compile a database on how mercury affects loons and other animals.

“What they found, unfortunately, is that methylmercury is more prevalent than they thought it was,” Glennon said. “It tends to be a toxin where, once you look for it, you find it.”

Glennon said the data sets from both projects have also helped scientists look at how different species respond to human disturbance, including recreation. Loons don’t seem to mind human activity, but other birds might.

“We want to try to make a better recreation model, if we can, in the terrestrial environments, and look at some of these data sets to see if any of these patterns hold for specific species,” Glennon said.

Dirk Bryant, director of conservation for the Adirondack chapter of The Nature Conservancy, said the organization has been studying terrestrial and aquatic habitat connectivity.

One bi-national project involved 22 partners and began in 2007. It looked at increasing wildlife corridors between big forested regions across the northern Appalachian Mountains, primarily the Tug Hill region in the Adirondacks to the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec.

The first step was to determine where different species could successfully travel, and then establish corridors by which they could successfully do so.

The linkages are mostly created with donated property easements.

“Connectivity is important as we think about the park in terms of the long-range persistence of species, particularly in the face of climate change, where they need to be able to shift their ranges,” Bryant said. These linkages will help them do that. It also preserves the opportunity for species that have been extirpated to come back. We’ve seen moose moving back into the Tug Hill region, and DEC models are showing marten right at the edge of that linkage with Tug Hill.”

A lot of the project’s work also focused on mapping areas where animals frequently cross roads, which Bryant said could make ideal places to put culverts for wildlife crossing.

“Deer mortality alone costs something like $4 billion in the U.S. in terms of damage to vehicles, so if you can find a low-cost approach to get animals under the roads instead of over them, it’s good for (animals) and it’s good for people,” Bryant said.

A similar project has looked at areas where roads cross streams. Wider culverts that are at stream level can allow fish to travel through them and also handle big storm events, preventing damage to infrastructure.

Bryant noted that more frequent storms and more precipitation are expected with a changing climate.

“When Irene hit, I think we realized we have some major problems with our infrastructure here,” Bryant said. “There were opportunities as a part of rebuilding after Irene, both for right-sizing culverts for storms and for fish passage.”