Saltmarsh sparrows nest in the highest elevation, least frequently flooded high marsh portionof tidal salt marshes from maine to virginia

The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources received a $280,932.85 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5 under the State Wildlife Grants program (CFDA 15.634) to determine the breeding status and distribution of Saltmarsh Sparrows in Virginia from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2026. The State Wildlife Grants program aims to help state fish and wildlife agencies design and implement strategic conservation programs. This project specifically seeks to develop and evaluate state-level management actions for the Saltmarsh Sparrow, a species of greatest conservation need in Virginia that has experienced dramatic declines since 1998 due to sea level rise reducing available high marsh breeding habitat. Project findings will also help inform potential federal listing and recovery efforts for this southernmost population.

This species has experienced a dramatic declinesince 1998 due to low breeding productivity throughout its range. Rates of decline varyregionally, but an average annual population decline rate of 9 (correll ET AL. 2016) means thatsals may become extinct in the next two decades. The primary driver of this extinction risk issea level rise. Sals nests are particularly vulnerable to losses of eggs and chicks from tidalflooding. In addition, the loss of sals breeding habitat is increasing as areas of high marsh arebeing replaced with low marsh in the face of rising seas (glick ET AL., 2008 zervas 2009). Themid atlantic region of the united states east coast is experiencing significantly higher rates ofrelative sea level rise than the northeast and southeast regions of the country (beckman andgarcia 2019). Sea levels in virginia are currently rising at an estimated rate of one inch everyfour years and the speed is exacerbated in part by land subsidence. The goal of this c SWG tier 1 project is to determine the breeding status and distribution ofsaltmarsh sparrows (ammospiza caudacuta, sals) in virginia for the purpose of developingand evaluating state level management actions for this tier iiia species of greatest conservationneed (sgcn) in the commonwealth. Moreover, the species is under review for federal listing(criterion 2) and should the decision to list materialize, the information gained from this projectwill help inform the development of recovery criteria and actions, especially for thesouthernmost extent of the species breeding range.