The Importance of Preserving Birds and Their Habitats at Hanford Site and Oak Ridge Reservation: Information and Communication Tools for Governments, Local and Diverse Communities and Others

The Department of Energy (DOE) has one of the largest environmental remediation tasks in the world, cleaning up the radiologic and toxic contamination legacy of nuclear weapons production. DOE has committed itself to accomplish remediation “while protecting human health and the environment”. Many DOE sites are huge, encompassing habitats that are ecologically valuable because they have been protected from human disturbance for 70 years or more. Yet information on the importance of DOE lands for protecting specific ecological resources is often buried in volumes of data. In this paper, we examine the importance of DOE lands as habitats for birds using two sites as examples: the Hanford Site and Oak Ridge Reservation. Our overall goal was to provide a model for communication of key information useful for the public and decision-makers. Birds are conspicuous and familiar features of the landscape, and bird populations are important indicators of habitat quality. As future land use plans evolve, birds can convey important messages about habitat uniqueness and conservation importance and recreational values of designating DOE land for conservation, but only if they are in accessible formats. At the semi-arid Hanford site, shrub-steppe is an important habitat outside the Columbia River corridor. At the wet Oak Ridge Reservation eastern deciduous forest, interior forest is a particularly important habitat. There are different groups of bird species dependent on each habitat. We use two methods for each habitat: 1) a comparison of historical written records and 2) a comparison of land use/land cover data. Habitat loss through development, fragmentation, and degradation is one of the most important causes of avian decline. Importantly, we present the data in a manner suitable for discussion among diverse audiences regarding future use of sites now undergoing remediation. The Hanford Site has recorded 205 bird species, including shrub-steppe species of regional importance. The Oak Ridge Reservation has recorded 213 species of birds, including Neotropical migrants of international concern. In both cases, their respective habitat is key to protection of the unique avian assemblages, and there is a higher percentage of these habitats on the DOE lands than in the surrounding habitats. Our analysis also concludes that these habitats that are of high importance to the rare and declining avian assemblages are mostly increasing on the DOE sites as the once agrarian landscape has reverted to more natural habitat. Since acquisition, DOE has developed about 10% of the land for nuclear and industrial activities, leaving the rest of it as a security buffer for the nuclear production mission. The tables provided in this manuscript can serve as valuable tools in communicating the importance of these lands and protecting these lands for surrounding communities. We commend the DOE for its protection of ecological resources for the regions and the Nation, applaud their mechanisms for ecological protection, and recommend that more of each site’s respective unique and important habitats be designated as preserved in perpetuity as valued ecological resources. This designation entails communicating with Tribes, communities, government agencies and organizations, and the public about the ecological value of their protected lands.