As a longtime birder, I am often asked that question by people I meet walking along the Bear Creek Greenway.

I’ve usually answered by listing global threats behind the declines, from habitat loss associated with climate change to collisions with windows to predation by feral cats.

But right now, sadly, my answer must include “Their nests, eggs and babies are being crushed beneath the bulldozers carrying out the ‘Bear Creek Greenway Fuel Reduction’ project.”

This work is being administered by Jackson County Parks with funding from the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s wildfire risk reduction program.

To see the destruction for yourself, take a walk along the Greenway between Ashland and Talent, on the section south of the Greenway bridge over Bear Creek. (You may need to go on the weekend, as this section is closed Monday-Friday while work is conducted.) You will see heavy equipment tracks everywhere, leading to piles of logged snags and crushed riparian shrubs surrounded by raw dirt scraped bare of vegetation.

This vegetation once sheltered ground-nesting Song Sparrows and Spotted Towhees; the shrubs supported the nests of Yellow-breasted Chats, Bewick’s Wrens, Bushtits and Lesser Goldfinches; and the snags were essential for cavity-nesting Northern Flickers, Acorn and Downy Woodpeckers, Tree Swallows and Black-capped Chickadees, among others.

And every other Greenway-nesting bird, from Yellow Warblers to Black-headed Grosbeaks to Bullock’s Orioles, is being subjected to the noise and disruption of this industrial logging operation — right in the height of nest-building and egg-laying season.

The management of the Bear Creek Greenway requires a challenging but essential balancing act among competing priorities — including public safety, fire hazard reduction and the ecological integrity of this vital riparian corridor and its creek. This is especially true since the Almeda Fire, which killed many of the cottonwoods and other large trees along Bear Creek, creating an abundance of snags.

In the months following the fire, many large snags near the Greenway bike path were removed for public safety. At the time, local environmental groups, including the Rogue Valley Audubon Society, advocated for the ecological value of the remaining snags, both as wildlife habitat when standing, and as woody structure for the creek and nutrient sources as they decay after falling.

Unfortunately, aggressive snag removal has continued, reportedly in response to public pressure on Jackson County Parks. Some of this pressure may simply reflect distaste for the “ugly” appearance of snags — an opinion that should have no influence on the management of the Greenway.

More significantly, snag removal has been justified as fuels reduction. In fact, standing snags with few remaining side branches — the condition of the vast majority of snags along the Greenway — contribute very little to the spread of wildfire. The proven ecological value of snags far outweighs any hypothetical reduction in fire risk.

Indeed, the extensive ground disturbance associated with this industrial logging operation could well INCREASE fire risk by promoting the growth of blackberries and other highly flammable invasive plants.

But even if we were to accept that yet another round of snag removal is justified, there is NO justification for carrying out this work now, at the height of nesting season. And there is no justification for the industrial scale of this operation — any work should be carried out with a light touch, with experienced crews working with chainsaws and hand-piling cleared vegetation.

Yes, we understand that the county contracting process is complex and leads to delays. Yes, we understand that it can be difficult to find contractors willing and able to carry out the project with a light touch.

But if the work cannot be done in an ecologically responsible manner, and at a time of year that does not result in the destruction of countless nests of protected bird species, it should not be done at all — and should be stopped right now in its (bulldozer) tracks.