Gulf Coastal Prairie
(Bird Conservation Region 37 – U.S. portion)
(Area over 6,000,000 ha)
Executive Summary
Description - The U.S. portion of Bird Conservation Region 37, the Gulf Coastal Prairie, extends along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi/Louisiana border to the Texas/Mexico border. The inland boundary of this area ranges from 9 miles (mi) [15 kilometers (km)] to 93 mi (150 km) from the coast, capturing a complex of marshes, upland grassland, and some forested habitat. Forested areas occur primarily along major riverine systems and on coastal cheniers (ancient beachfront ridges), mottes and salt domes, palm forests, thornscrub, and man-made levees and spoil banks. Southern portions of the region also support thornscrub and some of the last remaining sabal palm (Sabal mexicana) forest. Historically, fire and tropical weather systems were the most prevalent natural disturbances in this region. Grazing by bison also helped maintain the prairie structure, but obviously this impact was far less than the current extensive grazing by livestock. Some marsh habitats in the BCR still remain close to pre-settlement condition, but grasslands occupy a miniscule amount of their former range as the majority has been converted to row crop agriculture, pasture, and hay. The entire area is also under intense development pressure from industry, beach-related commerce, and suburban development, especially in the Houston area.
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Conservation recommendations and needs - Major conservation issues for this BCR include loss of marsh, prairie, and scrub-land habitat due to a variety of factors from coastal subsidence to human encroachment. Louisiana alone lost about 19,125 ac (7,739 ha) of marsh each year between 1978-2000, which is approximately 80% of the nation’s yearly coastal marsh loss. Today, less than 2% of native coastal prairies remain because most of the acreage has been converted to row crop agriculture or exotic grass pasture or has been gobbled up by suburban development. Other conservation issues include loss of native maintenance processes such as burning and introduction of non-native species including fire ants and non-native vegetation. Indeed, suppression of fire has led to the proliferation of shrubs and non-native trees such as Chinese tallow.
Specific Conservation Recommendations for BCR 37 include:
- Integrate waterfowl and Seaside Sparrow management by maintaining a mosaic of burned and unburned marshes.
- Integrate habitat requirements for the three grassland species into a habitat matrix such that conservation efforts apply to all three species and others including Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Northern Harrier, and Attwater’s Greater Prairie-Chicken. For example:
- Maintain a mosaic of coastal prairie with differing burn rotations, with an emphasis on reducing woody vegetation
- Replace exotic pasture grasses with a diversity of native bunchgrasses and forbs
- Maintain low, thick shrubs and bushes along fence lines, abandoned farmyards, and throughout open pastures and fields
- Shift the focus of intensive quail management to private lands with the help of incentives for landowners as has been done in other states such as Georgia and Virginia.
- Take advantage of Farm Bill provisions that encourage conservation activities on agricultural land.
- Develop a landscape-scale approach to the development of migratory landbird forest habitat objectives using empirical data derived from archived radar imagery to identify and rank the factors that determine habitat use and to use that information to prioritize areas for protection, restoration, or habitat creation.
- Protection (meaning acquisition, conservation easement, or sustainable management agreement) priorities for coastal forest should be:
- Large (≥10,000 ac) forest patches within 6 mi (10 km) of Gulf of Mexico/bay shoreline
- Large (≥10,000 ac) forest patches further than 6 mi (10 km) from Gulf of Mexico/bay shoreline
- Forest patches <10,000 ac in size within 6 mi (10 km) of Gulf of Mexico/bay shoreline, with larger patches a higher priority than smaller patches
- Forest patches < 10,000 ac in size further than 6 mi (10 km) from Gulf of Mexico/bay shoreline; with larger patches a higher priority than smaller patches.
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