Working Lands

Sagebrush Songbird Conservation

Protecting the birds of the sagebrush sea

In 2019, we completed our flagship Sagebrush Songbird Survey, a five-year, collaborative community science project to identify sagebrush songbird distributions within the remaining sagebrush areas in our state.

This joint project with the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and local Audubon chapters generated over 20,000 bird observations from 130 volunteers, and represents an unprecedented community undertaking in support of sagebrush birds and their habitat.

A committee of Audubon chapters is working on applying the data in sagebrush conservation and WDFW used these data to create new maps of sagebrush songbird distributions, providing legally defensible baseline data that fills a critical need of land use planners, landowners, and conservation partners. Moving forward, our goals are to:

  • Ensure that new baseline data on sagebrush songbirds is incorporated into land use planning and management.
  • Leverage public-private partnerships in support of habitat connectivity and fire protection and rehabilitation.
  • Secure funding to support stakeholder process for least-conflict solar siting

How you can help, right now