Ph.D. candidate Jon Slaght, who leads the Blakiston's
fish owl project, on a fish owl capture.
Photo by John Goodrich, WCS.
In Russia, Blakiston’s fish owl habitat is under increasing threat from human development, primarily logging. However, a lack of the most simple baseline ecological data has prevented development of conservation or habitat management plans for this species.
Our goal is to develop a Blakiston’s fish owl conservation plan for Primorsky Krai, Russia. We are developing an understanding of Blakiston’s fish owl habitat use, mapping areas of high probability-of-use, and formulating conservation recommendations based on what we learn. We approach fish owl conservation by focusing on three critical areas: research, capacity building, and conservation awareness.
Research
We monitor the movements of fish owls to determine their home ranges, and to investigate owls’ habitat use within home ranges.
Initially, we are testing the hypothesis that Blakiston's fish owl habitat use can be adequately described by the presence of two predictor variables: (1) nesting sites (old-growth tree cavities) and (2) winter foraging sites (unfrozen patches of fish-rich rivers). We will use remote sensing or direct sampling of vegetation to quantify additional available resources such as old-growth mixed forests, young mixed species, deciduous, conifer, and burned forests.
Our results will allow us to create a probability-of-use map to identify Blakiston's fish owl ‘hot spots’ in Primorsky Krai, and to guide the development of a species conservation plan, which will be used to promote the establishment of protected areas and manage use of riparian zones by the logging industry.
Capacity Building
Scientists in the Russian Far East are frequently confronted with a language barrier that effectively prevents information exchange with the broader scientific community. As a result, these researchers are generally poorly-funded and isolated from their international peers. Our study intends to address this problem by exposing collaborating Russian scientists and wildlife technicians to rigorous scientific methods and data collection techniques.
Conservation Awareness
In order to effectively share what we learn from this study, we are disseminating information about our progress and final results on local, national, and international levels.
On the local level (Primorsky Krai), we have and will continue to provide educational materials to Russian NGOs such as Amur-Ussuri Center for Avian Biodiversity, Phoenix Fund, and Uragus Ecological Club. These groups educate the public about conservation issues facing Primorsky Krai’s wilderness. The integration of Blakiston’s fish owl ecology into their programs results in greater public awareness, which is critical to conservation efforts.
We also intend to write, print, and distribute an informational brochure for hunters and trappers in order to reduce accidental or intentional killing of Blakiston’s fish owls. Russian hunters and trappers are the segment of the local population most likely to come into contact with fish owls, and therefore they are an important audience for educational material.