Western and clarks grebe nesting colonies on lake almanor are some of the largest in the state of california

The Plumas Audubon Society received a $159,624 Project Grant award from the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration program (CFDA 15.658). The grant will fund efforts to protect nesting colonies of Western and Clark's grebes at Lake Almanor in California from human disturbance through January 2026. Specifically, the Society will construct nesting platforms with decoys and calls in deeper waters to encourage grebes to nest in areas less vulnerable to water level fluctuations. In addition, the Society will install signage, produce an educational pamphlet, and host a festival around the lake to promote disturbance prevention as part of ongoing outreach efforts. The goal is to prevent disturbance of nests and ensure the juvenile to adult grebe ratio does not fall below 0.35 due to human disruption. Previous smaller-scale studies demonstrate success using similar nesting platforms for grebes and other diving birds.

Unfortunately, they are subject to human disturbance resulting in large decreases in reproductive success. Successful nesting requires isolation from disturbance with plentiful open water to allow for rearing chicks. Site selection is generally repeated year after year. Submerged emergent or rooted vegetation is needed to anchor floating nests. Fluctuating and decreasing water levels caused by water manipulation and drought causes serious problems for nesting grebe colonies. Plumas audubon society provides this proposal as a means of protecting western clarks grebes from human disturbance at lake almanor. The goal of this project is to prevent disturbance of nests and to ensure that the juvenile adult ratio does not fall below .35 due to human disturbance in any one year, by constructing nesting platforms with decoys and calls to encourage grebes to nest in deeper water where water drops will not result in complete colony abandonment. In congruence with plumas audubon society s education and outreach efforts, which includes the installation of signage, production of a disturbance prevention pamphlet and hosting the lake almanor grebe festival, the proposed pilot study will create a few small exclusion zones where the installation of artificial nesting platforms and deployment of social attraction methods will have minor impacts to existing regulated water uses and activities. Previous studies at smaller scale have shown great success with these styles of nesting platforms for grebes and other diving birds.