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Superior National Forest Named One of
America's Globally Important Bird Areas
In recognition of its efforts to conserve wild birds and their habitats,
the Superior National Forest has been named by the American Bird
Conservancy one of 100 Globally Important Bird Areas. With 155 nesting
species, the Superior National Forest has the greatest number of
breeding birds of any national forest.
The Superior National Forest is an area of dense bogs and forests
including over 445,000 acres of surface water and more than 2,200 miles
of streams. Private, State, and County lands lie within the
3,300,000-acre boundary of
the Superior National Forest, including the one-million acre Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Superior National Forest provides
habitat for a large number of neotropical migrants and other forest
birds in Minnesota including Golden-winged, Black-throated Blue, Canada,
Magnolia, and Chestnut-sided warblers. Several boreal species are also
resident including Boreal Owl, Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker,
Gray Jay and
Boreal Chickadee. Long-term monitoring of bird populations is underway,
and researchers have set up 154 forty-acre plots on the Forest.
The Superior National Forest will be included in the American Bird
Conservancy's forthcoming book, The Bird Conservation Handbook, Globally
Important Bird Areas of the U.S., to be published by W. H. Freeman,
which
contains detailed site descriptions and species information for 500
important bird areas as well as illustrations of some of the
representative
birds.
"The award is a tribute to all the Forest Service employees who
have helped to manage the Superior National Forest in the past 90
years," said Forest Wildlife Biologist, Ed Lindquist.
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