Threats and Actions

This table summarizes the threats, threat scores, actions, and a justification for the assigned scores, following the IUCN classification scheme. Threat scores are based on the expert opinion of the authors of the Conservation Action Plan for Bicknell’s Thrush (see Appendix A for more details on methodology). This table can be downloaded as Excel, PDF, CSV, TSV, or ODS.

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Threat	Priority	Breeding/ Wintering/ Migration/ All	Exposition	Timing of threat	Timing impact score (0-3)	Scope of threat	Scope impact score (0-3)	Severity of threat	Severity impact score (0-3)	Total threat impact (0-9)	Justification of scoring	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	Action	Exposition	IUCN Threat Category
Small-holder agriculture	High	W	Clearing forest to grow crops for subsistence and small-market agriculture results in loss and fragmentation of wintering habitat. Fields created in this system are permanent, and thus the continued operation of existing farms precludes habitat restoration.	Continuing	3	Affects the majority (50-90%) of the population	2	Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations)	3	8	Small-holder farming renders areas unsuitable for wintering Bicknell's Thrush and could drive rapid declines. We did not have estimates of the amount of forest lost to small-holder farming, but suspected that this form of agriculture was more widespread than shifting agriculture. As such, we considered the scope of the threat posed by small-holder farming broader than for shifting agriculture.	1.1 Land/water protection - Site/area protection	Acquire private properties that provide habitat for Bicknell's Thrush.	2.1 Land/water management - Site/area management	Demarcate protected-area boundaries, increased enforcement of protected-area regulations.	4.2 Education & awareness - Training	Improve institutional capacity for management of protected areas	6.1 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Linked enterprises & livelihood alternatives	Enhance opportunties for local ecotourism ventures; promote sustainable, shade-grown permanent crops like cacao or coffee, especially on degraded lands as a buffer to intact Bicknell's Thrush habitat	6.4 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Conservation payments	Direct payment for land-holders to protect habitat.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research on drivers of land-use change and effectiveness of different interventions.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research how to restore abandoned fields and develop best practices for habitat restoration.					2.1.2 Annual and perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder agriculture
Agro-industrial farming	High	W	Clearing forest to grow crops at an industrial scale, often for export, results in loss and fragmentation of wintering habitats. Fields created in this system are permanent, and thus the continued operation of existing farms precludes habitat restoration.	Continuing	3	Affects the minority (<50%) of the population	1	Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations)	3	7	We applied the same rationale as for small-holder farming: agro-industrial farming results in loss of Bicknell's Thrush habitat because forests are cleared and replaced with vegetation (crops) that does not provide habitat. This threat is demonstrably ongoing, capable of causing rapid declines because it results in direct loss of habitat, and likely affects a non-neglible (i.e., >10%) minority of the population.	1.1 Land/water protection - Site/area protection	Acquire private properties that provide habitat for Bicknell's Thrush.	2.1 Land/water management - Site/area management	Demarcate protected-area boundaries, increased enforcement of protected-area regulations.	4.2 Education & awareness - Training	Improve institutional capacity for management of protected area	6.1 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Linked enterprises & livelihood alternatives	Enhance opportunties for local ecotourism ventures; promote sustainable, permanent shade-grown crops like cacao or coffee, especially on degraded lands as a buffer to intact Bicknell's Thrush habitat	6.3 Livelihood, economic & other Incentives - Market forces	Promote boycotts of crops grown within protected areas, certification of crops grown using sustainable practices (e.g., forest set-asides within plantations)	6.4 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Conservation payments	Direct payment for land-holders to protect habitat.	6.4 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Conservation payments	Direct payment land tenants with title or possessory interests within designated protected areas to relinquish property.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research drivers of land-use change and effectiveness of different interventions.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research how to restore abandoned fields and develop best practices.	2.1.3 Annual and perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming
Incompatible forestry practices	High	B	Some forestry pratices may result in loss of breeding habitat. For example, several peer-reviewed studies have documented negative effects of pre-commercial thinning on breeding populations of Bicknell's Thrush.	Continuing	3	Affects the minority (<50%) of the population	1	Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations)	3	7	We suspect that this threat affects <50% of the population because current estimates of the global population of Bicknell's Thrush indicate that the majority of the population breeds in high-elevation forests of the United States, which are not subject to forestry activities.	5.3 Law & policy - Private sector standards & codes	Implement best management practices for forestry operations.	5.2 Law & Policy - Policies & regulations	Implement policies that that require avoiding or limiting use of pre-commercial thinning in Bicknell's Thrush habitat and that promote compliance with existing rules and best management practices.	8.1.2 Research - Population size, distribution & trends	Research distribution of Bicknell's Thrush in industrial forests of U.S. and Canada.	8.1.5 Research - Threats	Determine whether retaining unthinned habitat promotes persistence of Bicknell's Thrush in landscapes where pre-commercial thinning is used.	8.1.5 Research - Threats	Determine whether Bicknell's Thrush reproduce successfully in thinned stands that have regrown to the point of canopy closure.	8.1.5 Research - Threats	Determine area of unthinned habitat necessary to meet conservation goals.	8.1.5 Research - Threats	Determine at what point of maturity forest stands become unsuitable for nesting.					5.3.5 Biological resource use - Logging and wood harvesting, unintentional effects: large scale
Climate change	High	A	Future climate in much of the current breeding and wintering distribution may become unsuitable for forest types inhabited by Bicknell's Thrush.	Continuing	3	Affects the whole (>90%) population	3	Causing or likely to cause relatively slow, but significant, declines (<20% over 10 years or three generations)	1	7	Several modeling studies agree in predicting a reduction in the extent of suitable forest types on the breeding grounds due to increasing temperature. Several modeling studies also agree in predicting increasing aridity in the Greater Antilles, which may directly or indirectly affect quality and extent of wintering habitat. The entire population is at risk and the threat is ongoing, but effects will likely be manifested slowly.	5.2 Law & Policy - Policies & regulations	Support policies that lead to reduced atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.	8.1.5 Research - Threats	Research effects of forecast changes in climate on distribution of breeding habitat for Bicknell's Thrush.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Identify areas of currently suitable habitat that may be resistant to climate change and that may act as refugia.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research whether forest management can increase resistance of balsam-fir forests to climate change.											11.1 Climate change and severe weather - habitat shifting and alteration
Wind-energy development	Medium	B	Construction of wind-energy facilities and associated infrastruture can result in loss of breeding habitat.	Continuing	3	Affects a negligible proportion of the population	0	Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations)	3	6	Creation of wind-energy facilities can result in the permanent loss of breeding habitat and so represents a threat of moderate to high severity. At present, the threat is concentrated in certain areas, notably Québec. However, the scope of the threat has the potential to impact most of the breeding population because of the high overlap between Bicknell's Thrush breeding habitat and areas desirable for wind-energy generation.	5.2 Law & Policy - Policies & regulations	Implement policies that require application of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, or compensate) for any impacts to potential or actual breeding habitat.	8.1.5 Research - Threats	Research effects of wind-energy facilities and associated infrastructure (e.g., mortality from collisions, impacts to breeding habitat).	5.3 Law & policy - Private sector standards & codes	Develop best management practices for construction, operation, and maintenance of wind-energy facilities.													3.3 Energy production and mining - Renewable energy
Shifting agriculture	Medium	W	Clearing and burning forest to create temporary agricultural fields that provide one or a few crop rotations before abandonment results in loss and fragmentation of wintering habitat. Although fields are abandonded within several years, consumption of organic soil during burning may preclude or slow natural forest regeneration.	Continuing	3	Affects a negligible proportion of the population	0	Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations)	3	6	Shifting agriculture renders areas unsuitable for wintering Bicknell's Thrush, and could thus drive rapid declines, but we could not find evidence that the practice was widespread in core wintering habitat. For exampe, shifting agriculture has resulted in extensive forest loss on the southern slope of Sierra de Bahoruco, but much of this area is marginal habitat for Bicknell's Thrush.	1.1 Land/water protection - Site/area protection	Acquire private properties that provide habitat for Bicknell's Thrush.	2.1 Land/water management - Site/area management	Demarcate protected-area boundaries, increased enforcement of protected-area regulations.	4.2 Education & awareness - Training	Improve institutional capacity for management of protected areas by training park staff.	6.1 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Linked enterprises & livelihood alternatives	Enhance opportunties for local ecotourism ventures; promote sustainable, permanent shade-grown crops like cacao or coffee, especially on degraded lands as a buffer to intact Bicknell's Thrush habitat	6.4 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Conservation payments	Direct payment for land-holders to protect habitat.	6.4 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Conservation payments	Direct payment land tenants with title or possessory interests within designated protected areas to relinquish property.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research on drivers of land-use change and effectiveness of different interventions.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research how to restore abandoned fields and develop best practices.			2.1.1 Annual and perennial non-timber crops - Shifting agriculture
Charcoal production	Medium	W	Single-tree/small-group harvest for charcoal production results in degradation and loss of wintering habitat.	Continuing	3	Affects the minority (<50%) of the population	1	Causing or likely to cause rapid declines (20-30% over 10 years or three generations)	2	6	Cutting trees for the purpose of manufacturing charcoal poses an ongoing threat to wintering populations of Bicknell's Thrush. We assume that the threat is not widespread but that it can cause fairly rapid, if localized, declines.	2.1 Land/water management - Site/area management	Demarcate protected-area boundaries, increased enforcement of protected-area regulations.	4.2 Education & awareness - Training	Improve institutional capacity for management of protected areas by training park staff.	6.1 Livelihood, economic & other incentives - Substitution	Provide alternative fuels.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research how to restore abandoned charcoal-production areas and develop best practices for habitat restoration.	5.3 Law & policy - Private sector standards & codes	Implement best-management practices for sustainable charcoal harvest.									5.3.3 Biological resource use - Logging and wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale
Invasive species	Medium	W	Invasive animals, especially pigs, that disturb forest understory may diminish quality of winter habitat. This threat also includes direct increases in mortality caused by introduced predators such as rats and mongoose.	Continuing	3	Affects the majority (50-90%) of the population	2	Causing or likely to cause relatively slow, but significant, declines (<20% over 10 years or three generations)	1	6	Invasive, exotic mammals including feral pigs, rats, and mongoose are widespread in forests that provide habitat to Bicknell's Thrush during the winter. The threat posed by these mammals is ongoing and likely to continue indefinitely and we assume that the severity of the threat is sufficient to produce measurable, albeit minor, changes in population size.	2.2 Land/water management - Invasive/problematic species control	Where approriate, implement programs to reduce numbers of invasive animals.	8.1.6 Research - Actions	Research effectiveness of control measures.															8.1 Invasive and other problematic species, genes and diseases - Invasive non-native/alien species/disease
Mining	Medium	W	Although not a current threat, potential expansion of larimar and bauxite mining may result in loss of wintering habitat.	Only in the future (could happen in the short term)	2	Affects a negligible proportion of the population	0	Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations)	3	5	The timing of this threat was uncertain, but we assumed that new mines, reactivation of old mines, or expansion of existing mines could happen in the short term. Although the severity of the threat posed by mining is significant because of the profound effect of mining on a forested landscape, we did not have reason to believe that the scope of the threat was broad.	2.3 Land/water management - Habitat & natural process restoration	Reclaim and restore abandoned mines.	5.2 Law & Policy - Policies & regulations	Implement policies that require application of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, or compensate) for any impacts to potential or actual wintering habitat.															3.2 Energy production and mining - Mining and quarrying
Communication towers	Medium	B	Communication towers and associated infrastructure result in loss of high-elevation forests on breeding grounds and may result in direct mortality due to collisions.	Continuing	3	Affects a negligible proportion of the population	0	Causing or likely to cause rapid declines (20-30% over 10 years or three generations)	2	5	Erecting communications towers is an ongoing activity that can result in the permanent loss of breeding habitat and so represents a threat of moderate to high severity. The scope of the threat at present is modest and we assume that relatively few new towers will be erected in the future given the trend towards co-location with existing infrastructure.	5.2 Law & Policy - Policies & regulations	Implement policies that require application of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, or compensate) for any impacts to potential or actual breeding habitat.	5.3 Law & policy - Private sector standards & codes	Develop and implement best-management practices for construction, operation, and maintenance of communication towers and associated infrastructure.															4.2 Transportation and service corridors - Utility and service lines

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