A recently published scientific study has found that common wildfire reduction strategies in the Southwest – like tree thinning and prescribed burning – are detrimental for some declining bird populations.
The “chipmunk” of the bird kingdom, the pinyon jay, is known for gathering thousands of nutritious piñon pine and, to a lesser extent, juniper berries to store them away in ground caches as a wintertime food source.
“They do inevitably forget where some have been stored,” said Peggy Darr, a wildlife advocate with Defenders of Wildlife and one of the co-authors of the peer-reviewed study published in the Avian Conservation and Ecology March journal. “And then, when they do, they've essentially planted a piñon pine.”
Defenders of Wildlife and the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies partnered with the U.S. National Forest Service and Santa Fe County on the three-year research project.
Rarely seen alone outside of their flock, these medium-sized, dusky blue birds have a unique esophagus that can expand to hold about 50 seeds at a time.
But, over the past 50 years, the pinyon jay population has lost over 80% of its historical population, possibly from piñon-juniper woodland habitat die-off caused by extreme temperatures and persistent climate change-driven drought.
However, research on the bird is still sparse and scientists largely don’t have an answer for why the bird has experienced such a drastic decline.
Still, it is this co-dependency between the pinyon jay and the unique ecosystem that highlights why forest fire thinning management can have unintended consequences as researchers scramble to learn more.
“Obviously piñon-juniper woodlands burning down is not good for birds,” Darr told KUNM. “Instead of thinning really vast areas, which we've proven in this study is very negative for birds, we recommend using fire breaks to help keep fires smaller, which will benefit birds.”
State and federal agencies reduce tree density either mechanically or through intentionally lit fires to improve forest health, clear underlying vegetation that often fuel large wildfires and to promote natural water storage.
In addition to light thinning, Darr says land managers need to strike a balance on the over 100 million acres of pinon-juniper woodlands in the American West to both promote bird diversity and keep people safe from the increasing threat of wildfire.
“Outside of those areas that are not necessary to protect people, we [need to] thin significantly less, or don't thin at all,” Darr said.
The study also identifies other species that are harmed by thinned tree density and canopy – including the woodhouse’s scrub-jay, juniper titmouse, the black-throated gray warbler and virginia’s warbler.
In 2024, Defenders of Wildlife sued the Secretary of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after conservationists unearthed internal records showing federal employees were intentionally delaying a decision that could have listed the pinyon jay as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Despite statute mandating a 12-month deadline in 2023, the federal government was given an extension until 2028.
