|
|
Home || What
is PIF? || Que
es Compañeros en Vuelo? || Bird
Conservation Planning || PIF
Resources |
Partners In Flight NewsletterApril 2002National U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Back On Line As most of you know, the USFWS and other Department of Interior agencies were prohibited from e-mail and internet access between early December 2001 and some time in late March 2002. As a result, I received very little information for this newsletter. I hope we are back on line for good, and encourage you to again send me bits of information. Third International Partners In Flight Conference: A Workshop On Bird Conservation Implementation And Integration in the Americas The Third International Partners In Flight Conference: A Workshop on Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration, took place on 20-24 March 2002, at the Asilomar State Park Conference Center near Monterey, California. Details are available on the web (http://www.prbo.org/PIF/NPIF2002.htm) and in the printed program. I have received many comments on the high quality and benefits of the conference. The work of Sandy Scoggin, Missy Wipf, the local committee, Linda Long (Scientific Program) and Point Reyes Bird Observatory are largely responsible for the smooth operation of the conference. Sandy, Missy and Linda all received special awards for their great contributions to the success of the conference. Here are a few statistics:
The response to this conference was so great and so positive that PIF should consider holding these more frequently. Recall that our first two major conferences were in 1992 (Estes Park) and 1995 (Cape May). Please let me know if you have ideas on this.--Terry Rich (terry_rich@fws.gov) Asilomar Proceedings A major task for Asilomar session chairs and presenters is to now produce a proceedings under the editorship of C. John Ralph and Terry Rich. We estimate that 150 of the 455 oral and poster presentations will make it to publication. The proceedings will be published as a USFS General Technical Report with a target date of under one year from now. We will need to raise more funds to produce the proceedings - we'll distribute a budget to all partners once the final conference budget is in. All potential contributors should have received information on upcoming deadlines. If you have not, please contact me.--Terry Rich (terry_rich@fws.gov) Asilomar Conference Sponsors The Asilomar Steering Committee is very pleased to acknowledge the support of the following conference sponsors. Their financial support was critical to our success:
Special Awards for Long-term Contributions to Bird Conservation At the Asilomar conference, the following individuals were presented with special awards to acknowledge their long-term contributions to PIF and to bird conservation: Carol Beardmore, Naomi Edelson, Jane Fitzgerald, Bob Ford, Chuck Hunter, David Pashley and Ken Rosenberg. The award consists of a gorgeous print of a pair of Scarlet Tanagers by artist Catherine McClung (viewable at http://www.catherinemcclung.com/prints1-2.html) with a plaque inscribed as above. Awards were presented at the awards ceremony on Saturday evening, 23 March 2002. Partners In Flight 2001 Awards Also presented at the Saturday evening awards ceremony were the PIF 2001 awards. These awards were again sponsored by the American Birding Association (http://www.americanbirding.org) and Executive Director Paul Green was on site to present the following awards. More complete citations will be distributed by the PIF Awards Committee. Stewardship - Robert Altman, American Bird Conservancy, Washington. Bob authored or co-authored 5 Bird Conservation Plans and has been deeply involved in the Northwest in PIF since its inception. Stewardship - Walker Golder, Audubon North Carolina Coastal Office. As manager of Audubon's North Carolina Coastal Island Sanctuaries for the past 12 years, Walker has been instrumental in protecting key habitats for nesting colonial waterbirds. Leadership - Chris Eberly, the Department of Defense PIF Program Manager, Virginia, for greatly expanding the role and participation of the DoD in the PIF initiative. Chris also is contributing to several national committees and functions. Investigations - Dr. Richard Fischer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center, Mississippi, for his work on conducting avian inventory, monitoring, and management projects on numerous military installations around the country. Public Awareness - Dr. John Sauer, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Maryland, for his instrumental efforts in making trend, map, and summary data from the Breeding Bird Survey database available to a broad audience on the World Wide Web. Public Awareness - Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, for their Prairie Partners program that includes monitoring prairie birds, outreach with private landowners to increase public awareness of the importance of prairie habitat, and providing incentives to landowners interested in habitat improvement projects on their lands. Stewardship - Fort Riley Directorate of Environment and Safety, for their Threatened and Endangered Species Management Program. The installation, which has been designated an IBA, conducts extensive inventory and monitoring programs for a variety of groups of birds, and implements an extensive prescribed burning program for priority species such as Greater Prairie-Chickens, Upland Sandpipers, Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissels and Henslow's Sparrows. Investigations - Fort Hood Natural Resources Management Branch. The installation, which is a Globally Important Bird Area, has extensively studied population trends and productivity of Golden-Cheeked Warblers and the Black-Capped Vireos to maintain and enhance populations and habitats while maintaining military mission readiness on Fort Hood, Texas. Special Achievement Award - Dr. Allen Farris, Iowa DNR. In the years just prior to his retirement, Al Farris chaired the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Partners in Flight Working Group. In that capacity, Al helped communicate PIF goals and objectives to other IAFWA committees and partners able to play a role in advancing PIF goals and objectives. PIF National Plan - Future Organization of PIF and All-bird Conservation With the assistance of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative Committee, there have been numerous meetings over the past several months to determine how best to advance all-bird conservation in the Western Hemisphere. Discussions have covered every conceivable aspect of this topic and a great variety of options have been proposed. These concern 1) the number, location and scope of staff, 2) species and geographic priorities, 3) the balance between biological foundation, conservation design and project delivery, 4) international projects and coordination, 5) plan revisions and evaluations, 6) coordinated monitoring, and 7) funding for all of the above. We do not yet have consensus on the best approach to these complex and related issues but discussions continue to be constructive. I think it is safe to say only that we are moving from an era of planning to an era more focused on conservation design and project delivery. PIF leadership will be working on a "National Plan" which will include 1) a brief marketing document that highlights future direction and needs, 2) a biological document that will include continent-wide biological objectives and that will synthesize Bird Conservation Plans, and 3) a strategic plan that will detail short- and long-term objectives for each of the PIF technical working groups and for each of the regional and national working groups and committees. National Plan components will be widely circulated among federal agencies, state agencies, NGOs and industry for review, comment and ideas.--Terry Rich (terry_rich@fws.gov) Partners In Flight Organizational Structure A document describing the structure and function of PIF, its committees and working groups, was most recently reviewed and updated on November 1997. This document also will be circulated for review to ensure that all partners understand how PIF currently operates and to give partners an opportunity to recommend changes. PIF Technical Working Groups to be Revitalized In conjunction with the writing of a PIF National Plan and reviewing the organizational structure, the mission of the national technical working groups - Monitoring and Inventory, Research, Education, Communications, International - also will be revisited. We seek to focus these groups more narrowly on issues related to implementation of PIF Bird Conservation Plans and to all-bird issues facilitated by NABCI. Input and review will be widely sought. North American Waterbird Conservation Plan The final draft (dated 1 April 2002) of the subject plan was presented at the recent North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Dallas. The plan has benefited from three years of preparation and the input of over 500 individuals. Copies may be downloaded from www.nawcp.org. You also may get hard copies from ABC, 1834 Jefferson Place, Washington, DC or USFWS, Division of Migratory Bird Management, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203.--Jim Kushlan (james_kushlan@usgs.gov), Melanie Steinkamp (melanie_steinkamp@usgs.gov) and Jennifer Wheeler (jennifer_a_wheeler@fws.gov) . International Migratory Bird Day 2002 As always, the official date for IMBD is the second Saturday in May (May 11, 2002) -- though you are encouraged to celebrate anytime the birds are around. The art for IMBD 2002 is a colorful collection of flying birds by artist Charley Harper. Visit http://birds.fws.gov/imbd to take a look. This website also offers an introduction to the IMBD 2002 Theme: A Celebration of Special Places. Also see the On-Line Store at http://www.BirdDay.org with great, new products and information. The IMBD Events Registry, IMBD 2002 Fact Sheets, and other elements are available at http://birds.fws.gov/IMBD. The IMBD 2002 Distance Learning Program ("Celebrating Special Places for Birds") is scheduled for Thursday, April 25, 12-1:30 Eastern Time. It targets grades 4 to 6, and the focus is habitats. Click on "Educators" from http://birds.fws.gov/IMBD or visit www.IMBD.org directly. Are you promoting shade coffee again this year? It may have been last year's theme, but the message is the same: shade grown coffee farms are good for migratory birds. Coffee companies are eager to help you educate the public and if needed, switch your facility to shade coffee. Three in particular are Montana Coffee Traders (visit http://www.coffeetraders.com/gm.html or call Scott Brant at 1-800-345-5282), Counter Culture Coffee (visit www.counterculturecoffee.com or call Cindy Chang at 1-888-238-5282), and Thanksgiving Coffee (visit http://www.thanksgivingcoffee.com/ or call Peter Matlin 1-800-462-1999). Ask about their offers. Please let us know your plans and thoughts for IMBD 2002...the IMBD Events Registry, accessible via the websites, is a great way to share your events. Of course, feel free to contact us.--Jennifer Wheeler (IMBD@fws.gov) and Sue Bonfield (SBonfield@aol.com). Important Bird Areas in Mexico Detailed information, including a map, of 2reas de Importancia para la Conservaci#n de las Aves (AICAS) in Mexico is available at http://conabio_web.conabio.gob.mx/aicas/aicas.html. AICAs are administered by CONABIO, The National Commission For The Knowledge And Use Of Biodiversity. Conabio's mission is to co-ordinate conservation and research efforts designed to preserve biological resources. Conabio promotes and develops scientifically-based activities whose aim is to explore, study, protect or find a sustainable use for biological resources. The intention of these activities is to conserve the nation's resources and to generate criteria for sustainable development. New Association Officers for CIPAMEX Consejo Internacional para la Preservaci#n de las Aves, Secci#n M1xico (CIPAMEX), is currently the largest, non-profit, non-governmental Mexican organization devoted to the study, conservation, protection and sustainable use of birds and their habitats (http://132.248.79.80/wwwcampus/cipamex/#). CIPAMEX is the designated Mexican partner of BirdLife International (http://www.birdlife.net/). New officers were elected for the period 2002-2005 during the November 2001 meeting in Morelia, Michoacan. President is Mauricio Cervantes Abrego, World Wildlife Fund Programa Golfo de California, General Pesqueira No. 196, Colonia Prados del Centenario, Hermosilo, Sonora, MX (662-213-5020 or 662-231-5032; mcervant@campus.gym.itesm.mx). Other officers are available from Mauricio, myself or, soon, from the CIPAMEX web site.--Terry Rich (terry_rich@fws.gov) Cats Indoors! San Francisco Bay Area Cats Indoors! Campaign: In August, ABC received a $3,000 grant from The Sierra Club Foundation to initiate the San Francisco Bay Area Cats Indoors! Campaign in partnership with Golden Gate Audubon Society (GGAS). Alan Hopkins, former president of GGAS, is leading the campaign. The grant is being used to purchase and distribute campaign materials to conservationists, animal shelters, humane societies, veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators, teachers, bird clubs, nature centers, public land managers, pet stores, media, and elected officials in the Bay area. Miami-Dade County Parks and Cats: Until recently, the problem of large stray and feral cat populations in Miami-Dade County, FL parks was largely ignored by the county Park and Recreation Department (PRD), Board of Commissioners, and Animal Services. However, in February 2001, the Board of Commissioners changed the county code, making abandoning or feeding animals in county parks criminal offenses punishable by fines and authorizing staff to remove nuisance animals from parks. Cat advocates condemn the code as inhumane, arguing cats right to live and be fed in parks. Cape May Media Campaign: Last summer, ABC developed a paid advertisement campaign for Cape May, NJ, to discourage summer tourists from abandoning cats at the end of their vacation. Partners in the campaign included New Jersey Audubon Society, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, Association of Avian Veterinarians, Alliance of Veterinarians for the Environment, and Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. Advertisements were placed in five issues of, "This Week in Cape May" and in the August edition of "Traveler." Cats Indoors! brochures were also sent to realtors who agreed to place them in their information packets for renters. Funding is being sought for an expanded media campaign in Cape May next year. Humane Stray/Feral Cat Removal: Through two small grants to the National Park Service (NPS), ABC has funded humane feral cat trapping efforts at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, NC and Gateway National Recreation Area, NY. Feral cats in those areas are threatening species such as Piping Plover, Black Skimmer, American Oystercatcher, and Least, Common, and Roseate Terns while they are attempting to nest. To date, 53 feral cats have been trapped and removed from Hatteras Island, and over 40 cats have been removed from Gateway National Recreation Area. In addition, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore received a $35,000 grant from the NPS to conduct a Cats Indoors! education campaign and to implement a larger feral cat removal project along the shore.--Linda Winter (lwinter@abcbirds.org) SAGEMAP Website This site (http://sagemap.wr.usgs.gov/) is a portal for spatial data needed for research and management of sage grouse and shrubsteppe systems. The site is dynamically changing as we update current information and incorporate new data.--Steven T. Knick (steve_knick@usgs.gov) Tower Kills Here is a web site devoted to the growing tower kill issue www.towerkill.com/index.html. At the website click on any state and see for yourself what an incredible gauntlet migratory birds must run twice per year across the U.S. Plus there is a lot of other good information at this site. TNC Great Basin Ecoregional Plan Completed The Nature Conservancy's staff from Nevada, California, and Utah are putting the final touches on a working plan identifying conservation priorities in the vast Great Basin region over the next ten years. This ecoregion-based conservation assessment details where and how TNC will focus activities to most effectively and efficiently accomplish their mission of biodiversity preservation.--Jan Nachlinger (jnachlinger@tnc.org). Hedwig Bird experts fear the popularity of the Harry Potter movie will drive demand sky high for pet snowy owls, and they're warning parents not fill this item on their children's Holiday wish lists. It's illegal in the United States to keep owls as pets. Owls are so difficult to keep as pets that eventually they usually are released into the outdoors where they most likely will starve to death. "To keep a snowy owl correctly, you need the biggest aviary you could ever build," Jenny Thurston of the British World Owl Trust told National Geographic. Snowy owls also feed primarily on lemmings. If you give them the wrong food, they will die. "Where do you buy lemmings?" Thurston asked. "You can't." Defenders of Wildlife hopes Hedwig's popularity will help snowy owls, not hurt them, by raising awareness of the threat posed by the proposal now before Congress to drill in the Arctic refuge. --Hagrid Optics for the Tropics Optics for the Tropics is a partnership providing quality optical equipment for ornithologists in areas of the Caribbean that don't have access to quality binoculars and research materials for conservation. You can help bring the back the birds with a donation to this meaningful project. Thanks to Eagle Optics, your contribution will be doubled and will help make a difference in bird conservation. Eagle Optics will match donations, dollar for dollar with inventory. Binoculars are distributed through an application process for various research, monitoring, or educational projects. Your donation will provide quality binoculars for life-long work on the wintering grounds while forging partnerships between bird conservation efforts in the U.S. and the Caribbean Megan Hill and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF; www.nfwf.org) helped raise funds for Optics for the Tropics prior to the Asilomar conference. NFWF acquired original artwork by Guatelmalan artist Robin Schiele, and sold raffle tickets. Sales resulted in $8000 ($4000 private and $4000 matching) for optics. The art included a Golden-winged Warbler and an antpitta on a tropical lowlands forest background. Robin also painted the piece raffled off at the last Neotropical Ornithologcial Congress in Monterrey, Mexico, in October 1999.-- Joni Ellis (joni@wild-florida.com) National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Readers are reminded that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation helped create the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Program, which became Partners In Flight. NFWF has continued to build and expand programs that advance bird conservation. Please visit them at (www.nfwf.org/index.htm). Your money is waiting! The Rainforest Alliance's Eco-Index A project of the Rainforest Alliance, the Eco-Index is an online almanac of conservation projects in Mexico and Central America. Each project profile includes such information such as project summary, objectives, accomplishments, anticipated accomplishments and lessons learned. In addition, contact information, budgets and project reports are posted on the profiles. Eco-Index is great way to share lessons and experiences within the conservation community. For example, the database includes four current projects about coffee production and conservation: Social-Environmental Improvements in 10 Coffee Cooperatives in the Central and Western Zones of El Salvador, through Eco-O.K. Certification, a project of SalvaNATURA and Fundaci#n Ecol#gica de El Salvador. www.eco-index.org/search/results.cfm?ProjectID=142 Organic Coffee Production, a project of the Sociedad Civil de Peque±os Productores de Caf1, "Manos Campesinas". www.eco-index.org/search/results.cfm?ProjectID=62 . Organic Coffee Processing, a project of the Sociedad Civil de Mujeres Campesinas de El Palmar y Colomba. www.eco-index.org/search/results.cfm?ProjectID=65 . Conservation Agriculture Program, a project of the Rainforest Alliance www.eco-index.org/search/results.cfm?ProjectID=86.--Susan Bonfield (SBonfield@aol.com) California's Plants And Animals Species accounts and pdf versions of various reports are now available from the California Department of Fish and Game Habitat Conservation Planning Branch at www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/search_species.shtml. A number of priority bird species and subspecies are included. Making Good Presentations Most of the nearly 400 oral presentations at Asilomar were given in PowerPoint. While this software provides powerful communication tools, it doesn't prevent any of us from producing text that is too small to read, slides that are too busy and color combinations that make the brain spin. For expert advice on this topic, see Kroodsma, D. E. and B. E. Byers. 2000. Suggestions for slides at scientific meetings. Auk 117:831-835. This note is also available, by permission, from the Partners In Flight web site (http://www.prbo.org/PIF/kroodsma_byers.html) for printing in the comfort of your cubicle. 2002 North Carolina Partners in Flight Annual Meeting A 2-day workshop for natural resource professionals and citizens interested in volunteer opportunities that benefit bird conservation will be held in the Smokies the weekend of 24-26 May 2002 via a partnership of PIF efforts in NC and TN. Details will be released in early spring of 2002. The NCPIF Education and Outreach working group completed the NCPIF PowerPoint Presentation which is now on their web page. Visit the web page to check it out This presentation may be downloadable in the future. For copies of the presentation, you can send a blank zip disk to Dr. Brooks (mbrooks@ncwc.edu). 31st North American Association for Environmental Education August 6-10, 2002 - Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts. The "Boston TEE (Total Environmental Education) Party," will follow four strands:
For details, see www.naaee.org/conferences/index.php. 3rd North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC) The 3rd NAOC (held every 4 years) is being held in New Orleans, Louisiana, 24-30 Sep 2002. Hosted by Tulane University and The Audubon Institute, the theme is "Birds on the Bayou: In the footsteps of Audubon". The main venue will be the Intercontinental Hotel, located just 3 blocks from the famous French Quarter. The Conference is being hosted by The American Ornithologists' Union, The Cooper Ornithological Society, The Raptor Research Foundation, the Society for Canadian Ornithologists/ Soci1t1 des Ornithologistes du Canada, The Society of Caribbean Ornithology, and Secci#n Mexicana del Consejo Internacional para la Preservaci#n de las Aves (CIPAMEX). The Call for Papers closes 3 May 2002. For more information, see the conference web site at www.tulane.edu/~naoc-02/ or contact the co-organizers: Tom Sherry (tsherry@tulane.edu) or Kimberly Smith (kgsmith@uark.edu). 2002 Meeting Of The Waterbird Society The 26th annual meeting of the Society will be held 6 - 10 Nov 2002, at the Radisson Hotel, La Crosse, WI. We invite you to share your interests, ideas and knowledge of waterbirds by attending this meeting and presenting an oral or poster paper. Abstracts for a paper must be submitted by 15 Aug 2002. Contact Betty Anne Schreiber (SchreiberE@aol.com) for scientific program information and Chris Custer (christine_custer@usgs.gov) for local arrangements information or visit www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/CWS/index.html. The VIIth Neotropical Ornithological Congress The 7th NOC will take place in Puerto Varas (Xth Region), Chile, 5-11 October 2003. Puerto Varas, a friendly town of about 35,000, is 10 km N of Puerto Montt (web searches for this town will succeed), an easy to reach, economical, and well-known travel destination in the beautiful Lake District of Chile. The Puerto Varas Congress Center, with its meeting rooms and related facilities perched on a hill overlooking Lake Llanquihue and the Volcano Osorno, is only an 800-meters walk from downtown Puerto Varas. A variety of pre- and post- tours throughout Chile, including Easter Island and Patagonia, will be offered. The scientific program will include plenary lectures, concurrent symposia sessions, oral papers, poster sessions, and round-table discussions. English and Spanish will be the working languages of the Congress. Members and non-members of the Neotropical Ornithological Society are encouraged to plan on attending this 2003 quadrennial meeting in Chile. Membership in the NOS is inexpensive and open to all with interests in the study of birds of the Neotropics, both resident as well as wintering migratory birds. Deadline for proposals for Symposia, Workshops, and Round-tables is 11 August 2002. Oral Contributions, and Posters abstracts must be received no later than 5 March 2003. For more information, see www.neotropicalornithology.org. Other Meetings See meetings listed in the
Ornithological Newsletter (http://www.ornith.cornell.edu
/OSNA/139.htm#meet). John Cecil - NAS Important Bird Areas Program John Cecil has accepted a position with the National Audubon Society as the Assistant Coordinator of the Important Bird Areas Program. John has a B.S. from Frostburg State University in Wildlife Management and an M.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. John comes to Audubon after spending the previous two years working for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program. Working under the Director of Audubon's IBA Program (Dan Niven), John will be taking the lead in working with the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan and the US Shorebird Conservation Plan to gather nomination materials for all the IBAs in the country that qualify for waterbirds and shorebirds. John works out of Audubon's Science Center in Bucks County and can be reached at jcecil@audubon.org. Ilia Hartasanchez - PIF BC & Yukon Ducks Unlimited Canada has hired Ilia Hartasanchez as the Regional Coordinator for British Columbia & Yukon-Partners in Flight Program. Ilia will be based at the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) office in Delta (604-940-4683, Fax 604-946-7022, ilia.hartasanchez@ec.gc.ca). This position was possible because of funding from the Partners in Flight-Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada and CWS. Ilia brings an impressive background in natural resources conservation and management to this position. She holds a B.Sc. degree in Biology from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico, a M.Sc. degree in Wildlife Management from the National University of Costa Rica and a Graduate Certificate in Natural Resources Management from University of Michigan. She has worked at the University of British Columbia on projects related to the ecology and population dynamics of forest insects and, for the past 2 years has volunteered on the advisory Board of the Friends of the Environment Foundation in Burnaby.--Wendy Easton (Wendy.Easton@ec.gc.ca) Rex Sallabanks - Idaho PIF Rex Sallabanks has accepted the job as the new PIF Coordinator for Idaho. His responsibilities will be to help coordinate all nongame bird activities for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. This position is a temporary Staff Biologist located in Boise. For statewide nongame bird-related questions, you can contact Rex at 208-938-4804or (rsallaba@sei.org). Because this is currently a part-time position, Rex will continue his involvement in the Sustainable Ecosystems Institute. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Rex or me.--Wayne Melquist (melquist@idfg.state.id.us) The next newsletter will be issued on 1 July 2002. Items are due 15 June 2002 to Terry Rich (terry_rich@fws.gov) by e-mail only. Please put “Newsletter Item” in the subject line. |
|
|