The widespread popularity of energy extraction technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling subjects grassland birds to additive habitat degradation through the fragmentation of these landscapes. Continuing development may contract suitable habitat for grassland birds, in turn exacerbating other stressors such as those caused by climate change. However, these same technologies allow greater flexibility of infrastructure placement, creating a unique opportunity for land managers faced with continued landscape alteration.�Horizontal drilling allows for greater latitude in well pad placement, as a single well now has the capacity to serve multiple boreholes and extend in excess of 5km laterally. This allows managers to affect infrastructure configuration on the landscape, and thus the total area affected by extraction activities. Using radiocollared northern bobwhite, we analyzed space use in the context of a suite of GIS-derived variables related to oil and gas development in a resource utilization function (RUF) framework. We found evidence of avoidance of well pads (?= -0.35982). Consistent with prior research, we found evidence of selection for areas closer to roads with fewer than 10 vehicle passes per day (?=0.376484). No significant selection was found for vegetation, anthropogenic viewshed, and nighttime radiance covariates. These results will allow land managers to address future development planning to minimize the loss of usable space for bobwhite due to energy infrastructure.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.