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Reduce cattle density on sparrow habitats to 1 cow per 8 hectares or less. It is above this density that scientists have observed detrimental effects on sparrow habitat. If this is done, it will allow sparrows to repopulate the lands taken from them by humans and their cows.
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Encourage the use of prescribed burns, which increase pasture fertility, during summer (late June-early July), not winter, as is currently widely practiced. This would increase yields of wiregrass seed, an important sparrow food source, and increase the sparrows’ breeding season by about 2 months, greatly increasing its maximum biotic potential.
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Provide economic incentives encouraging ranchers to search their property for sparrow populations and, if they are present, report them and practice sparrow friendly ranching. This would help out conservationists at the Fish and Wildlife Service as well as protect sparrows directly.
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People should reduce their beef (and other meat) intake not only for the sake of the environment, but also to reduce the need for ranchers to graze cattle at densities harmful to native flora and fauna, like the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. You can read why overconsumption of meat is bad for the environment in the link above.
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Enforce adjustment of hydrological management on private land to avoid flooding sparrow habitat during breeding season. This would increase sparrow nesting success, as they are unable to nest on water.
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Continue research to ensure scientists know enough to save the sparrows in the first place. For example, without knowing what the sparrow builds its nests out of, how are scientists to encourage growth of the appropriate plants?
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Spread awareness regarding the existence and mysterious wonder of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. The more bird watchers are persuaded to visit the sparrow’s habitats, the more revenue is generated by ecotourism for sparrow-related research and conservation efforts.
As in art, many ecologically-related endeavors are never truly finished; there's always more to do. The endeavor of saving the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is no exception. While there's no doubt the habitat reserves and compliant ranchers are a big help to conservation efforts, these actions are only the start and there’s still much more to do if we are to hoist the sparrow’s yearly population change rate out of the negatives.
The following actions should be taken to ensure we don’t lose our friends the Florida Grasshopper Sparrows (these are not listed in priority):
What Else Should be Done?
