Assessment of Training Noise Impacts on the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker: Preliminary Results
Abstract
This report is submitted as partial fulfillment of the terms of SERDP funded project CS-1083. The purpose of this research is to assess the effects of military training noise on the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) and to develop assessment methodology. The results of this research will provide scientific basis for RCW management protocols, and will partially satisfy requirements of a 1996 USFWS biological opinion that requires the Army to assess effects of implementing the 1996 "Management Guidelines for the RCW on Army Installations." Implementing these new guidelines will significantly reduce restrictions on training for military installations on which RCWs are present. During the first year, we observed and documented several hundred training noise events and resulting RCW responses under realistic conditions. We measured both proximate response behavior and nesting success. We also observed RCW behavior and nesting success without noise stimuli, to provide a baseline against which to judge response and impact. Very few overt proximate responses to noise occurred. No significant difference in breeding success was found between disturbed and relatively undisturbed nest sites. It is important to note that the first year data are not of sufficient statistical power to make strong conclusions or to establish reliable noise dose-response relations or thresholds. They are sufficient to confirm that the project technical approach is appropriate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA363336
Entities
People
- Bernard Lohr
- David K. Delaney
- Larry L. Pater
- Robert Dooling
- Timothy J. Hayden
Organizations
- Construction Engineering Research Laboratory