Josh Vest

 

Quantifying the habitat needs of shorebirds and waterfowl during migration at the Great Salt Lake

Josh Vest & Don Paul

The Great Salt Lake is a continentally and hemispherically important migration area for millions of wetland dependent migratory birds.  During migration, birds must consume enough food resources to sustain their daily energy requirements and store energy to continue their migration to wintering and breeding regions.  Thus, providing adequate foraging habitat resources at Great Salt Lake is needed to sustain these populations continentally.  Conservation partners in the Great Salt Lake region have recently worked to identify habitat conservation targets that meet the food energy requirement s of shorebirds and waterfowl during migration.  Continued investments in wetland management and conservation as well as providing adequate water resources to maintain wetland and lake functional integrity will be key to sustaining shorebird and waterfowl population in the Pacific and Central Flyways.

Josh Vest is a biologist with the US Fish & Wildlife Service-Migratory Bird Program where he serves as Science Coordinator for the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV). Josh works with regional and national partners to strengthen the biological foundation for avian habitat conservation in the Intermountain West to support national avian conservation initiatives such as the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. Josh received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Wildlife Science from Mississippi State University and Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology from Utah State University. His academic research has focused on various aspects of nonbreeding waterfowl ecology and conservation in the Mississippi and Pacific Flyways. Josh is based out of the IWJV office in Missoula, MT.
Antelope Island 5 by Gary Crandall

Antelope Island 5 by Gary Crandall