Many Midwest cities have experienced a gradual population loss due to urban out- population since its peak in the 1950’s, resulting in a prevalence of vacant land. The neighborhoods of Baden and Wells-Goodfellow have the largest concentration of vacant lots in the city. The goal of this research is to learn how birds use the range of vacant lots in these neighborhoods. There have been efforts to repurpose some of these lots into storm water detention basins, urban gardens, and tree farms which could be an important step in creating spaces that people value and increase the resilience to climate change. Since the city is responsible for the vacant lots, many of them have unmaintained vegetation. This mix of managed and unmanaged vacant land creates various habitats for a diverse bird community. Our research addresses four questions: 1) what are the current vegetation classes found within vacant lots in the neighborhoods of Baden and Wells-Goodfellow? 2) what bird species are found within these areas? 3) does this vegetation provide nesting habitat for the birds? and 4) does the concentration of vacant lots in a neighborhood affect bird diversity?
Results/Conclusions
During July of 2017, we classified and mapped the land cover types for 847 vacant lots in the two neighborhoods. Baden and Wells-Goodfellow have an area of 265.5 ha and 318.6 ha, respectively. Baden has a total of 11.7% vacancy while Wells-Goodfellow has a 28.1% vacancy. Baden has 51% of its vacant lots classified as mowed lawn, 8% closed forest, 13% woodland, and 19% scarcely vegetated artificial surface. Wells-Goodfellow has 59% of its vacant lots classified as mowed lawn, 9% closed forest, 20% woodland, and 8% scarcely vegetated artificial surface. A single round of bird counts was conducted on 50 X 1 ha plots within each neighborhood and a total of 33 different bird species were identified. Baden had 13 species identified and Wells-Goodfellow had 28. From the 100 total sites the following species were seen in over 25% of them: European starlings, American, northern cardinal, mourning dove, house sparrow, and chimney swift. During the summer of 2018, additional rounds of bird counts will be done on the same plots. The vegetation of the vacant lots within the 50 X 1 ha plots will be further classified based on structure as well as nest searches to determine what species are using the lots for habitat.