Recommendations for Bald Eagle Foraging Habitats: Nature and Transportation
Posted: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
by Susan Smith
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Trees, Edges, and Open Space
In areas of acceptable foraging habitats, trees should be prepared by pruning to provide ample perching. Steenhof (1978) stated that small trees can be pruned to grow horizontal branches (126). Trees should have horizontal branches with space enough for bald eagles to take off after sighting prey. Bald eagles prefer open space by trees (an edge) to see their prey. Their preferred edge is the shoreline. Other preferred edges with trees are roads, pasturelands, croplands, and rangelands. Trees lower than the tall mature trees also create a preferred edge, but bald eagles prefer the tall mature trees for foraging, perching, nesting, and roosting (Steenhof 1978). Steenhof recommended that mature wooded areas within 30 meters of a shoreline be selected for thining by removing short young trees. The removal of the young short trees would promote the taller trees to grow horizontal branches. The mature wooded areas should be left intact.
The City of Springfield and Greene County, Missouri, are in the planning stages for several new "transportation corridors" (scenic routes), and two of them will cross the James River unless a different route could be found for the east-west corridor (Springfield Planning and Development Department 1997). Their planned names are Pierson Creek Parkway and River Bluff Parkway. The planned north-south corridor, Pierson Creek Parkway, east of Springfield, will encompass the general area of Green County Farm Road 199 and will cross the James River south of Missouri State Highway D in Green County in tree wooded areas. Even though the two governments desire a parkway throught the wooded areas, the recommendation is to remove a minimal number of trees in wooded areas around the James River: at the parkway bridge, the length of the corridor, and possibly for a small park for the riverway, similar to Missouri State Highway 125.
The east-west corridor, south of Springfield, will cross the James River at least once depending upon where this corridor ultimately will go. According to the plan, this route, River Bluff parkway, would traverse an area just south of the james River power Plant. However, the best route would be to avoid the james River althogether by going through northern Christian County south of the James river or crossing the river only one south of Lake springfield at the southeastern part of springfield very close to the James River freeway (United States Highway 60), and then going farther north of the james River to avoid crossing the James River four more times farther wes of United States Highway 160. At least two community meetings . . . have taken place for the River Bluff Parkway. Since the population growth percentages of Nixa and Ozark . . . were the two largest in Missouri between 1990-1994 (Office of social Economic Data Analysis 1997, 1), the recommendation is to put the River Bluff Parkway north of Nixa and Ozark in northern Christian County and south of the James River Parkway because of their potential population growths and the rural housing subdivisions' current and guture growth southwest of springfield, This route could be where Missouri State Highway CC is now in Christian County or somewhere between the James River and this highway. This highway is far enough away from the James River to not call the parkway River Bluff.
Both parkway areas have prime bald eagle habitats. The first priority in locating the routes should be to identify treeless and homeless areas for both parkways. The transportation division of the City of Springfield, Greene County, and Christian County should consider how many trees would be removed and what the topography (to avoid the flood plains of the James River and Pierson Creek) is in the two proposed transportation routes.
References in thesis
Steenhof, Karen. 1978 . Management of wintering bald eagles. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior: Fish and Wildlife Service.
Springfield Planning and Development Department. 1997. Vision 20/20 Springfield -- Greene County. Springfield, Missouri: Springfield Planning and Development Department.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Susan,A very informative write. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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