Claim Markers Make Avian Death Traps

Perhaps you have noticed pieces of white plastic pipe stuck upright in the ground in outlying areas.  These are most often mine claim markers which prospectors have used to mark the four corners of a mining claim.  Typically, four inch diameter drain pipe was used because it was cheap, durable, and easily visible.  Unfortunately, the open ends of these tubes are very attractive to cavity nesting birds, lizards, and some species of native bees.  When species like Ash Throated Flycatchers, Bluebirds, American Kestrels, European Starlings, and others investigate these cavities they become trapped inside by the slick walls and perish.

Although the State of Nevada, which sets standards for mine claim markers within the State, outlawed these pipes in 1993 there still may be as many as a million of them in place on our public lands.  The Nevada Department of Wildlife estimates that there are several hundred thousand in Elko County alone.  They serve as death traps for birds, reptiles, and many species of bees.  I’ve seen as many as eight dead birds, many dead lizards, and thousands of dead bees in a single tube.  Millions of birds perish annually in these death traps.  Even though these inadvertent bird traps are a clear violation of the International Migratory Bird Treaty Act no government agency is willing to take responsibility for removing illegal markers.  The Bureau of Land Management says that it is a State problem since the State sets the standards and the State says that they only set the standards, they don’t have authority to remove old markers.

Lahontan Audubon and Red Rock Audubon are working with the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Nevada Mining Association to try and find a definitive solution to this problem.  It may take legislative action to achieve this goal.  In the meantime however, there is something that can be done.  If the claim is abandoned the tubes can and should be removed.  If the claim is active placing a stone a little bigger than the opening on top will effectively prevent birds from entering the tube.  If we all remove or cap any open marker tubes that we see, we can significantly reduce the needless toll on desert wildlife.
 

If you would like more information or are interesting in participating in an organized group effort to pull or cap these pipes, please email us.  Also see: Our Jan - Feb 2008 Newsletter PDF for additional articles.
 

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