Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring Program

1. Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring Program

2. Background “A recent trend is the demand from both government agencies and donors for accountability in the management of conservation problems”1 • Limited budget for conservation • Efficient, defensible distribute resources • Strategic, business-like management approach 1Christensen, J. 2002. Fiscal Accountability Concerns Come to Conservation. November 5 edition. The New York Times, New York, New York.

3. Linking Management Decisions with Monitoring • Improved Resource Contributions • Good Decisions • Supported by defensible data • Clearly Documented Decisions • Promote understanding of decision making process • Reduce controversy

4. Background Conservation as large scale production problem • Optimize allocation of resources among production sites to produce commodity • Commodity: protected species and ecosystem services • Apply concept to allocating resources among conservation sites to “produce” conservation commodity

5. Integrated Waterbird Model • Problem Statement: How do we maximize long-term average waterbird populations in North America in the face of uncertainty using limited resources? • Our approach: • Develop integrated framework to determine optimal annual distribution of resources among sites within migratory flyways • Select best local scale management actions to maximize waterbird populations • Monitor and adaptively manage the system

6. Key Management Decisions

7. Flyway-Wide Decisions: Prioritize species Identify population targets Determine quantity/quality of habitat to meet population targets Determine distribution of habitat to meet energetic needs of waterbirds

8. Regional Decisions: Regional Priorities Approve Station Objectives (e.g., refuge CCP, State Wildlife Action Plans, WMA, etc.) Distribution of Funds Budget Staff Project Proposals

9. Local Scale Decisions Propose priorities and objectives Effective and efficient management strategies to achieve objectives

10. Flyway scale waterbird objectives Monitoring (consistent protocols) Site selection model Implement management strategies Shorebird management sites (local scale) Models of management scenarios applied

11. Status - Modeling Component • Post-doc hired May 2009 • Smith Fellowship (approx $200K) • Housed at Lincoln Park Zoo: Chicago • Prototype development • Flyway, regional and local scale coded • Starting work on allocation optimization

12. Status - Monitoring • Steering Committee met February 2009 • Necessary sub-teams and leads identified • Proposal for Monitoring Coordinator drafted • Funding for Monitoring Coordinator secured • FWS (Refuges, Migratory Birds & ACJV) • USGS • Position advertised fall 2009 • Currently reviewing applicants

13. Next Steps • Spring 2010 • Meeting with State Partners • seeking participation by State biologists and managers • Select/develop monitoring protocols • Non-breeding surveys • Develop sampling design • Late Summer/Fall 2010 • Limited pilot of sampling design and protocols • Winter 2010-11 • Test integrated model with real data

14. Project web site: acjv.org/waterbird_project.htm