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St. Lawrence Plain
(Area - 11,955,272 ha)
Description - This physiographic area is a vast, flat plain, with
elevations rarely exceeding 200m in Canada, and 300m in Vermont and New York. This area
was originally a forest-wetland complex, although very little of the forest remains today.
It now represents the best farmland in eastern Canada and much of the northeastern U.S.
Agriculture has been the primary land use throughout the planning unit for over 200 years,
with increasing urbanization and industrialization along the St. Lawrence River.
Currently, the agriculture-dominated landscape of the St. Lawrence Plain represents a vast
"agricultural grassland," which supports some of the largest populations of
grassland and other early successional bird species in eastern North America. Unlike in
many other agricultural regions, climate and poor drainage conditions favor establishment
of freshwater wetlands and promote late season harvesting, which enhance the value of the
region to breeding birds. In addition, these grassland habitats, interspersed with
numerous freshwater wetlands, are vital to breeding and migrating waterfowl and other
wetland bird species. Forest habitats remain primarily as isolated fragments that are
reduced in tree-species diversity due to repeated selected cutting of sugar maple
associates such as hickory, basswood, and butternut. The vast majority of lands in this
planning unit are in private ownership.
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Conservation recommendations and needs - Because of agriculture, this is now the largest and most important area of grassland in the Northeast. As a result, grassland birds have thrived, regardless of their pre-disturbance status, and are more abundant here than anywhere else in the region. Indeed, the Bobolink population here is the highest of anywhere within its range. Several of these species, however, have been in decline in recent years. Maintenance of grassland and wetland habitats is dependent of continuation of agriculture, especially dairy farming. Consolidation into large farms resulting in more intensive agriculture, row cropping, and conversion to urban use and other development all damage bird habitat. Maintenance of Henslow’s Sparrow populations is the highest priority, and suffering no additional loss of grassland habitat important for other species is also important. Farm abandonment and some other processes have created shrub habitat of value to Golden-winged Warbler and American Woodcock. Conversion of more grassland to shrub should not be encouraged, but improving and maintaining current shrubland should be a priority. The small remaining riparian and deciduous forest habitat in the St. Lawrence Plain supports several high priority birds, most notably a large and expanding population of Cerulean Warbler. The combination of regional climatic and economic factors offers tremendous potential for conservation and management of early successional bird species within this planning unit. The late growing season and poor drainage has resulted in a temporal distribution of traditional farming practices that maximizes benefits to wetland birds and nesting grassland species in spring and early summer (June). Therefore, bird conservation measures are generally compatible with local economic objectives and receive support from private landowners and local industry. Throughout the planning unit, a balance should be maintained between agricultural grassland and shrub habitats, taking advantage of local economic forces and land-ownership patterns. In both cases, largescale reversion to forest is not desirable. Specific conservation recommendations for this physiographic area include:
• develop and implement supplemental inventory and monitoring programs to identify important sites for Henslow's Sparrow, Golden-winged Warbler, and other uncommon, patchily distributed species not well monitored by BBS;
• establishment and use of native, warm season grasses as a late-season hay crop;
• determine effects of current game and waterfowl management practices on priority nongame species -- especially the relationships between American Woodcock management and Golden-winged Warbler population expansion;
• protection and management of mature forests to maximize benefits to Cerulean Warbler; e.g., preserve tallest trees, encourage maturing of canopy species, prevent fragmentation of existing forests.
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