In a race to keep the Golden-winged Warbler off the federal endangered species list, ABC and its partners identified the need to create and maintain high-quality habitat for Golden-winged Warblers across the species’ breeding range in the United States. Target areas include over 5 million acres of deciduous forest habitat in northern Minnesota. The state is integral to this songbird’s survival, with almost half of the remaining breeding population residing there each summer — the largest remaining breeding population in any U.S. state or Canadian province.
A Neotropical migratory species that spends its nonbreeding season in Central and South America, the Golden-winged Warbler has suffered one of the steepest population declines of any songbird species in North America, across its range falling an estimated 1.4 percent annually between 1966 and 2022, with a total decline of about 55 percent (according to North American Breeding Bird Survey data). That decline is due primarily to habitat loss and land use change, particularly the reduction of early-successional, or “young forest,” breeding habitat within a contiguous forest matrix of diverse ages.
In these habitats, the Golden-winged Warbler is a ground nester that rears its brood in young forest or brushland patches before moving into adjacent older deciduous forest once the chicks have fledged. As part of a full-life-cycle conservation initiative, ABC works with partners to restore and conserve Golden-winged Warbler breeding habitat throughout the Great Lakes region and Appalachia, as well as at migratory stopover sites and wintering grounds in Central and South America.
The Golden-winged Warbler is listed as a Species in Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in the Minnesota State Wildlife Action Plan, as a Minnesota Stewardship Species by Minnesota Audubon, as a Partners in Flight Tri-National Concern Species, and as a 2025 State of the Birds Tipping Point Species. Maintaining or increasing the state’s population is critical to keeping the species off the endangered species list in the future. Other young-forest avian species also benefit from this habitat work, including the American Woodcock, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Eastern Towhee, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Veery, and Black-billed Cuckoo.
In 2013, ABC received funding for a Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF) habitat enhancement project entitled “Young Forest Conservation” (Phase I) to implement science-based Golden-winged Warbler best management practices to restore and maintain young-forest/brushland habitat in noncommercial forest-cover types. The aim was to help sustain the Golden-winged Warbler population in the state, as well as to benefit populations of more than 20 other game and non-game Species in Greatest Conservation Need.
In July 2024, ABC received funding for Phase IV of the “Young Forest Conservation” initiative to continue to complete habitat projects for the Golden-winged Warbler and associated early-successional habitat wildlife species through 2029. This funding also allows for the expansion of habitat project work to benefit additional bird species, including the Red-headed Woodpecker and Sharp-tailed Grouse. All habitat projects are completed using science-based best management practices within consensus focal regions.
The Red-headed Woodpecker is listed as SGCN in the Minnesota State Wildlife Action Plan, and as a Common Bird in Steep Decline by Partners in Flight. In Minnesota, this species is frequently associated with open oak woodlands and oak savanna habitats. Oak savanna previously covered roughly 10 percent of the state, but now less than 0.1 percent of the original oak savanna remains. Threats to oak savanna include habitat loss from changes in land use and habitat degradation due in part to woody encroachment and lack of prescribed fire. ABC aims to help restore and enhance open oak habitats in Minnesota to suit Red-headed Woodpeckers’ habitat needs of open woodlands and nesting snags (standing dead trees). These oak cover types are also valuable habitat for Minnesota SGCN species such as the Eastern Whip-poor-will and Loggerhead Shrike.
Once one of the most abundant game bird species in Minnesota, the Sharp-tailed Grouse has experienced population declines and is now listed as SGCN in the state’s Wildlife Action Plan. This decline is primarily due to habitat loss, as Sharp-tailed Grouse are dependent on open environment habitats such as prairie, brushland, and open bogs. These open environments are important for Sharp-tailed Grouse to congregate in leks, where groups of males gather to display to females during the breeding season. Maintaining habitat conditions on the landscape that are conducive to these leks is critical for the conservation of this species. ABC will help maintain and enhance the open habitats for Sharp-tailed Grouse and their leks. These open habitats also benefit other Minnesota SGCN species such as the Bobolink and Grasshopper Sparrow.
