Riparian forests are wooded areas of land adjacent to the banks of streams, lakes, and wetlands and the adjacent upland vegetation.
These ecosystems host incredible levels of faunal and floral diversity, help stabilize streambanks with vegetation, regulate waterway temperatures, and provide a source of nutrients and debris to waterways. They serve as key corridors connecting habitats and facilitating wildlife movement throughout the forest, linking ecological zones.
Many passerine species, including Pacific Birds priority species in British Columbia, such as Pacific Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Warbler, and Varied Thrush, are tightly associated with forested riparian areas. And despite their small representation across the Pacific Birds landscape, riparian areas support a disproportionately large number of bird species and greater densities of birds than other forested habitats.
The Case for Conservation
Threats to Riparian Forests Include:
- Residential and Commercial Development
- Non-compatible Agriculture
- Climate Change and Severe Weather
- Invasive Non-native, Alien Species and Problematic Native Species
- Pollution (Effluents, Oil Spills and Overuse of Pesticides)
Benefits of Conserving Riparian Forests for Birds Include:
- Riparian habitats serve as important migration stopover habitats for a variety of passerines, including warblers, flycatchers, sparrows, swallows, and thrushes.
- Marine-derived nutrients from Pacific salmon can be transferred to riparian forests, fertilizing forests and increasing invertebrate abundance, which then ultimately provide an important food source for songbirds.
Top Conservation Strategies in British Columbia
The following section lays out key strategies for conserving riparian forests developed by the BC technical committee during Open Standards planning workshops and team meetings between 2018-2021. Broad strategies were developed with specific, measurable, and priority objectives.
To learn more about objectives and goals, please see the Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture B.C. Implementation Plan 2020-2030.
To learn more, contact Andrew Huang, our Canadian Coordinator.
Recent News about Riparian Forests
Tracking Red Knots: Migration Monitoring and Conservation Efforts in Willapa Bay & Grays Harbor
Red knot stretching its wings. Photo: Eric Ellingson, Creative Commons If you’ve ever taken a stroll along the muddy, sandy shorelines of Willapa Bay or boated along the foggy waters of Grays Harbor in late April or early May, chances are you’ve seen a Red Knot. Red knots are small to medium-sized sandpipers named after […]
Breaking down “Birds of Conservation Concern”
Western Grebes performing their mating dance. Photo: Mick Thompson CC What is a BCC? You’ve heard of endangered species but do you know about Birds of Conservation Concern (BCC)? Birds of Conservation Concern represent migratory and non-migratory bird species that are in decline – for which proactive conservation can help prevent further declines. This list […]
Re-envisioning Conservation Science
This post was originally posted on the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA) website, and featured in their June 2024 e-newsletter. You can find the original post here. In April 2024, Reserve staff from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaiʻi worked together with Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture to convene the largest gathering of Indigenous leaders […]
