Economic Value of La Platte Bottoms for Birdlife

With the massive roadway development and wetland destruction looming to birdlife habitats at the La Platte Bottoms, it seemed appropriate to develop an economic value of the place which has been knowingly been utilized by a myriad of wild birds during the past three decades, and certainly for a much longer period of time.

This rudimentary consideration is based upon placing a value for the presence of each bird - in this case $10 for each bird noted - which is a realistic value for a meal and a safe respite. This amount is then extrapolated to provide a depictive indication of the value of the site for birds during the past three decades.

It should be noted that this information is derived from the efforts by "volunteers" or bird watchers which have not derived a single penny for their efforts, but whom spent their money to pay for the gas to visit the site, and then contributed their time to getting their observations recorded. There are wide gaps in the information available, but a hearty thanks to the people which have visited the locality and taken the effort to document the species present.

Volunteers efforts to document bird occurrence can only be appreciated!

Spring Season

March 2010

There were only two visits, on the 11th and 28th. The number of birds counted was 147, which does not in any manner convey an accurate depiction of the bird use days.

Just for the sake of trying to be more considerate, a greater value needs to be designated, and this will be based upon there being at least 2500 bird use days.

This indicates a minimal value of $25,000.

April 2010

Visits on April 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 21 and 30. On some of these visits, only a few notable species were noted, though there were undoubtedly other species present, yet not denoted.

The number of birds actually depicted, based on reported observations, was 1694, though this also does not indicate the actual extent of bird use. Consider the numbers on each of the days when visits occurred and when counts were recorded:

April 1: 369 individual birds noted

April 4: 32 individual birds noted

April 6: 48 individual birds noted

April 9: a minimum of 352 individual birds noted, which represents only four species

April 10: 52 individual species noted

April 11: 27 birds noted

April 13: 122 birds counted, which represents only six species

April 21: 48 birds noted

April 30: 523 individual birds noted - representing nine species - though with some species, the number given is the minimum occurrence, not the actual number, because of the conditions which did not allow a completely precise count by birders more interested in the experience of watching, rather than counting each bird about the wetlands.

It can be readily estimated that there were at least 250 birds present each day of the month, with the myriad of waterfowl, and later in the month, flocks of shorebirds. This extrapolates to 7500 birds use days, but with the larger flocks of shorebirds going through, the months value could easily be 10,000 birds.

This indicates a minimal value of $100,000.

May 2010

May 1: 147 individual birds counted

May 5: 2213 individual birds counted, which is the minimal number

May 6: 2 birds counted

May 8: 287 individual birds counted, which represents 21 species, thus including all of the species noted on a visit in conjunction with the Sarpy County Spring Bird Count; this survey also denoted some of the breeding season species, resident every day subsequent to their arrival

May 11: 18 individuals counted, representing six species

May 12: 67 individuals counted, representing nine species

May 13: 96 individuals counted, representing five species

May 22: 75 individual counted.

There were 2905 birds counted, which, once again is just a partial presentation of the actual use of the habitat by a variety of birdlife. As there are more species which migrate in May than earlier or later times along the Missouri River valley, there would have been a greater use of the wetlands at this time.

If there were 2200 birds on May 5, there may have been similar numbers on the few days before and after this particular date. If even for five days, this would equate to 11000 birds use days. During mid-month, based on the number on May 8 of 287 birds, this would mean ca. 3000 bird use days.

Add the potential numbers together, starting with 11000, plus 3000 another 15 days with ca. something like 75 or 100 birds per day, this totals about 15,000 bird use days, or about $150,000.

So there is about $275,000 dollars of value to the birds for the wetland habitat at the La Platte Bottoms - based upon one spring - though this valuation is derived from fuzzy math due to a lack of comprehensive bird counts that would better indicate the number of birds on each particular date.

Summer Season

Month of June

There are very few records for this month - mostly from 1998 - though more than 20 species have been noted. On June 9, 2007 two Piping Plover were observed by Justin Rink.

July 2008

The best indication of summer use of the bottom lands east of La Platte, are available from 2008, with notable surveys done on the 8th, 9th, 27th and 29th.

• July 8: 16 species indicated by the NEBirds message 15293 by Clem Klaphake, which accounts for an indicated 213 individual birds; this includes summer residents plus a number of migrants such as American Golden-Plover, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper.
• July 9: 11 species present as indicated by Justin Rink, with a count of 68 individuals, mostly residents as well as some summer transients.
• July 27: 10 species, 80 individual birds; seasonal migrants included the Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Sandpiper.
• July 29: 13 species, with 137 individuals noted, once again by the focused observations of Clem Klaphake, indicating an increasing diversity of species, in addition to local residents: Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin and Short-billed Dowitcher.

There were only about 500 individual birds noted, which is a dismally minimal indication of overall bird use, and derived from only four count dates. A more realistic value would be much more significant, say perhaps something such as 7500 for the month when birds were prevalent.

August Bird-use

Records convey birds present at the bottoms during August in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2008 and a few notations from 2009. Diversity is readily indicated, though the number of each species present was not noted often enough to provide a consistent indication of bird use. Though, considering the overall numbers, the tally is 951 individual birds, for these different years, which in no manner depicts the number of bird-use days for this locality.

On Julian date 215, which conforms to August 2-3, there have been 17 species noted, including many migrant shorebirds, including several species of sandpipers, the Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitcher.

On August 6, in 1996 and 1998, there were at least a dozen species present, including the celebrated Least Tern, and lesser seen Common Moorhen.

On August 21, 1993, there were 13 species noted. On August 22, 1993, there were more than 15 species present. And the month ended with further notations.

The following table is an tally of the species seen during different summer months, with the value given indicating the number denoted, with a 0 (zero) noting a species' presence when no count was made:

CommonName	Jun 1998	Jun 1999	Jul 1986	Jul 1998	Jul 1999	Jul 2008	Aug 1993	Aug 1996	Aug 1998	Aug 2008	Aug 2009
Canada Goose	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Wood Duck	1	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	11	13	-
Gadwall	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mallard	2	-	-	-	-	0	-	-	1	-	-
Blue-winged Teal	3	-	-	2	-	0	-	12	15	-	-
Northern Shoveler	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ruddy Duck	-	-	-	2	-	8	-	-	-	-	-
Northern Bobwhite	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
Pied-billed Grebe	-	-	-	13	-	9	2	-	9	-	-
American White Pelican	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-
Least Bittern	4	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	4	-	-
Great Blue Heron	3	-	-	9	-	163	1	10	10	35	-
Great Egret	-	-	-	-	-	23	-	-	-	12	-
Snowy Egret	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cattle Egret	-	-	-	3	-	10	-	-	-	-	-
Green Heron	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	1	-	-
Black-crowned Night-Heron	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
Cooper's Hawk	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Red-tailed Hawk	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
American Kestrel	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Common Moorhen	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	16	-	-
American Coot	1	1	-	12	-	53	-	-	11	-	-
Black-bellied Plover	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
American Golden-Plover	-	-	-	-	-	1	13	-	-	-	-
Semipalmated Plover	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	5	-	-	-
Killdeer	12	-	-	63	-	50	41	55	43	90	-
Spotted Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	2	-	1	-
Solitary Sandpiper	-	-	-	1	-	5	3	11	1	1	-
Greater Yellowlegs	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	1	0	-	-
Willet	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Lesser Yellowlegs	-	-	-	15	-	15	7	12	1	9	-
Upland Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	7	-	-	-
Sanderling	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
Semipalmated Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	1	70	5	-	10	1
Least Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	16	14	10	-	9	3
Baird's Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	3	-	6	10
Pectoral Sandpiper	6	-	-	-	-	14	138	31	10	14	-
Dunlin	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Stilt Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	-	-	3	-
Buff-breasted Sandpiper	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	-
Short-billed Dowitcher	-	-	-	-	-	7	-	-	-	1	-
Long-billed Dowitcher	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-
Wilson's Snipe	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
Wilson's Phalarope	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-
Red-necked Phalarope	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-
Least Tern	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-
Black Tern	-	-	-	3	-	40	1	3	-	-	-
Forster's Tern	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Rock Pigeon	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Mourning Dove	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Common Nighthawk	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	0	-	-
Chimney Swift	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Belted Kingfisher	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Red-headed Woodpecker	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Western Kingbird	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	-
Eastern Kingbird	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0	-	-
Blue Jay	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Purple Martin	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	-	0	-	-
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cliff Swallow	1	-	-	-	-	50	-	-	0	-	-
Barn Swallow	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Black-capped Chickadee	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Marsh Wren	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	1	-	-
American Robin	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	1	-	-
Chipping Sparrow	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Song Sparrow	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Blue Grosbeak	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Indigo Bunting	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dickcissel	1	-	-	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Red-winged Blackbird	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Western Meadowlark	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Yellow-headed Blackbird	10	-	-	13	6	2	3	-	9	-	-
Common Grackle	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
Great-tailed Grackle	2	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	0	-	-
Brown-headed Cowbird	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	60	-	-
Orchard Oriole	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-
American Goldfinch	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-
House Sparrow	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-

This is a list of more than 80 species.

With the readily apparent use of the bottoms, based on numerous visits, it only seems appropriate to deem that there could be at least - once again - a minimum of more than 10,000 bird use days during these months during different years when water conditions were suitable for water birds.

There would certainly be more birds present in August along the Missouri River flyway, than in July.

The extent of records by a cadre of observers also indicates conditions were somewhat similar in 2007, and seemingly similar in 2001, 1998, 1994 and 1993.

The apparent valuation for the summer and autumn provides figures to consider of potentially:

• June: 1000 bird use days
• July: 5000 bird use days
• August: 7500, if not 10,000 bird use days

These values can be used to determine a figure of 13,500 for each of the five years indicated, or $67,500 for these summer months.

Autumn Season

September

There are only a couple of significant dates for bird observations during the month of September, in particular on September 4 when six species were noted, and on the 14th of the same month in 1993, with a record for five species.

The availability of only a few records is an artifact based on a dearth of visits, not on the lesser use of the habitats by bird species. More attention to this place during this particular month would undoubtedly indicate a greater extent of use by transitory bird species, when the flats had water creating a suitable situation for foraging and roosting.

There are no October bird records available for this site. Once again this is an artifact of the data, based upon no accounts from visits by birders, not because there were no birds present.

Needless to say, there were more birds present than observers, so there is an obvious necessity to designate some values for the birds. During optimum years - just to use the handy value of 10,000 for at least five during in the past three decades - provides a $50,000 valuation.

Seasonal Valuation

If conditions were optimal throughout one year on the La Platte Bottoms, what would be the economic value to the visiting birds? This is a hypothetical situation which has not yet been documented, but which can be derived from historic accounts.

In considering this, the valuation of 2010 provides the first indicative valuation of $250,000. Then going into summer, add 100 bird use days for each day of June, July and August, which equates to a overall value of about 9000, or $90,000 in economic terms. Then for autumn, at least $125,000 with the increased diversity of species and greater extent of bird use.

The total is $465,000 which could be readily rounded to $0.5 million. If optimum conditions had been prevalent during a entire three decade period, this would be an economic value of $15 million.

And this considers only a relatively short time.

These birdly details have been completely ignored by the roadway developers with a focus on transportation, and ignorant on what changes they are causing to the landscape so essential for generations - now and from the past - of wild birds in the Missouri River valley.

Decades of Ongoing Use

If the value of the habitats for the spring months of 2010 was $275,000, the value of the habitat over a thirty-year period would be dramatically significant. With variable conditions each year - depending on the extent of precipitation and standing water - the extent of bird use would obviously vary.

To summarize and consider further, these are some workable figures:

$275,000 x five years similar to the valuation of 2010

$67,500 for five summer seasons

$50,000 for five autumn season

The total for the five years among three decades is basically $1.5 million.

So five years out of thirty have been considered in the tally. Using a completely arbitrary value of 1000 for each season in the other 25 years of the three decades of bird use, there would be the need to add further numbers.

25 spring seasons, or 25 x 5000+ = 125,000

25 summer seasons, or 25 x 1000+ = 25000

25 autumn seasons, or 25 x 5000+ = 125,000

Based on these figures - derived from an arbitrary determination of economic importance to a whole bunch of individual birds without a voice - the value of the habitat to resident and migratory birds totals at least $1.7 minimum, or to be generous for the birds, at least $2 million, since there has been greater use than indicated by the available records of ornithologic history.

It should also be realized, that some of the species noted at the site include threatened or endanger species, as well as species of conservation concern, which - considering the myriad of funds spent for their conservation - would dramatically alter any designated valuation, and this would further increase the economic significance of the La Platte Bottoms habitat.

Bottoms a Bird Buffet

Visits on May 22, 2010, indicate a distinctive situation of bird use of the La Platte Bottoms, based on four distinct visits throughout the day. After hiking about Fontenelle Forest in the morning, Justin Rink and six other birders including the Padelfords also visited the bottoms to see what was present. During midday, another visit took place which denoted some additional species. Then, later in the day Rink visited the site again, and in the latter evening Clem Klaphake. Both sent their observations to the Nebraska Birds online forum. None of the bird lists matched, readily indicating the transient nature of how different birds use the site at different times of a day, or days among the migratory season.