An ongoing effort to help a hawk species make a comeback in the Uintah Basin got help last week from what some might consider an unlikely supporter: a nonprofit foundation started by an oil and gas company. Click here to view Photo gallery!

Representatives from Newfield Exploration Co., the state Division of Wildlife Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and Utah Wildlife in Need traveled around southern Uintah County last Tuesday to band ferruginous hawks. The birds' nesting activities and numbers have decreased in the area over the past 20 years and they are listed as a “species of concern” by the DWR.

“I think it's important to understand that even though Newfield's primary business is oil and gas development, we have a good, environmentally-conscious approach to the way we operate our business and that encompasses wildlife conservation and surface management,” said Newfield regulatory analyst Eric Sundberg.

“Projects like this are just a good opportunity to demonstrate that oil and gas operators are stewards of the lands that we’re developing and are trying to play a good role in all of that,” he said. “We have over 300 employees here in the local office, so we live in the same places we develop.”

Newfield Exploration is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. In 2001, the Houston-based company formed the Newfield Foundation with the mission of improving the quality of life in the areas where it operates by contributing to environmental, medical, and cultural arts projects and community services.

One of those contributions – $25,000 – was recently made to Utah Wildlife in Need. The nonprofit organization works to ensure the future of native Utah wildlife by supporting research, conservation, and education efforts for over 100 threatened species.

The Newfield gift was used to create the David Schaible Ferruginous Hawk Research and Conservation Fund. Schaible, 46, was the president and chief operating officer of Newfield when he lost his fight with cancer in 2007.

“The original gift was $25,000,” said J.D. Davis, Utah Wildlife in Need director of development and communication. “We’ve been able to leverage that with some other state support with the Division of Wildlife Resources to match that one-to-one. So we have $50,000 this year for the program. We’re hoping that they like what we’re doing and they’ll want to continue this project and finish it off in 2010.”

Ferruginous hawks nest and inhabit juniper trees or the edges of cliffs in their natural habitat. However some of these areas have experienced high volumes of energy development. Preliminary research by DWR biologists indicates that the hawks will build nests on platforms placed at a higher level than other raptors. This enables the birds to thrive in traditional settings despite the high levels of development.

The Newfield and state funds have been used to build and install special nesting platforms and monitor their use. The BLM worked closely with Questar to place poles for the platforms in areas of concern.

“We've got a lot of the nests mapped out here so we know where they're at and we take all that into account,” DWR sensitive species biologist Brian Maxfield said. “We also work right with the energy companies if we're in their lease area.

“When we were putting up these poles with Questar we selected seven different areas,” Maxfield continued. “Then I gave it to Newfield and they picked four spots that would be good in their lease area that weren't too close to where they were going to have a well that was already identified. We give, I guess, final say to the companies so that we don't affect their development too much.”

Maxfield said the birds are susceptible to disturbance from driving, but said it appears that the higher they are off the ground, the less sensitive they are to the intrusion.

“The idea here is we're putting in some of these big, tall poles right in the energy development area to see if we can keep the birds within the development instead of pushing them to the edges,” he said.

Once there were between 25 and 30 natural nests in the area that were active every year. That number has dropped significantly, and Maxfield said nobody really knows why. He noted that the nesting reduction occurred before much of the oil and gas development in the area so the DWR doesn't believe it was to blame.

DWR energy mitigation biologist Ben Williams works specifically with oil and gas companies.

“This is a perfect example of how the energy industry can work cooperatively with the Division of Wildlife and actually do good things for wildlife,” Williams said. “Energy development doesn’t have to be a negative impact on wildlife.”

Williams said he's helped companies mitigate the effect their work has on everything from rabbits to bighorn sheep.

“They like wildlife,” he said. “A lot of them are sportsmen and they don’t want to see what they’re doing in their job effect (the animals). This allows them to continue to do what’s important to them in a more environmentally friendly way.”

Utah Wildlife in Need also recognizes the important role industry has in conserving habitat for indigenous species.

“If people are willing to work together and be open-minded, then there are opportunities for mutual benefit in projects like this,” said the organization's executive directory, Robert Hasenyager.

“We hope to provide a mechanism by which we can protect the wildlife, enhance the wildlife opportunities and simultaneously provide ways to do more environmentally sensitive oil and gas exploration,” he said.

If you’d like more information about the ferruginous hawk project, Utah Wildlife in Need or want to make a financial contribution to the David Schaible Ferruginous Hawk Research and Conservation Fund visit www.uwin.org.