The Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives

1. The Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives Implications to the Scope and Functioning of Joint Ventures

2. Topics… • The Unifying Themes: An Overview • Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures • Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually

3. “Implications to… Joint Ventures” Vs “Implications to Agencies and Organizations” Premise: Implications extend not only to the partnership but to the individual agencies and organizations that have accepted a measure of responsibility in implementing national and international plans.

4. Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives • Population-based Goals and Objectives

5. Breeding Population Objectives Wintering Population Targets Foraging Habitat Limits Wintering Duck Populations North American Waterfowl Management Plan - 1986 62 million Breeding Ducks Public Lands Private Lands Naturally Flooded Lands Reinecke et al. 1988 Reinecke and Loesch 1996

6. Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives • Population-based Goals and Objectives • Sustainable Landscapes at Ecoregional (BCR) Scales

7. How Do We Utilize the Population Estimates and Objectives Listed in the Continental Plan?

8. How Do We Assess the Ability of the WGCP to Support Priority Species at Prescribed Levels? What does this mean to my BCR? How do I derive habitat objectives?

9. Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives • Population-based Goals and Objectives • Sustainable Landscapes at Ecoregional (BCR) Scales • Progressive Refinement of Goals, Objectives, and Strategies (ARM)

10. Linking On-the-ground Management to Higher Scale Goals With Testable Assumptions and Hypotheses Factors Limiting Carrying Capacity Disease Predation Environmental Contaminants Disturbance Foraging T Habitat Non-foraging Duck-Use Days Target Habitat per Acre state 110 Habitat Threshold = * winter days Moist-soil Area 1,386 0.85 Survival Wood Dabbling Diving Harvested Croplands Ducks Ducks Ducks State Total Rice 752 Soybeans 121 Arkansas 186,485 9,918 40,770 237,172 Illinois 380 0 1,378 1,758 Milo 849 Kentucky 1,602 25 849 2,475 Corn 970 Louisiana 80,695 42,120 50,076 172,892 Mississippi 55,047 5,168 22,673 83,338 Forested Wetlands Missouri 8,326 463 3,292 321 12,081 50% red oaks Tennessee 29,966 1,906 4,491 36,362 Total 362,500 60,050 123,527 546,078 • Cross-seasonal Relationships • Historic & Contemporary Distribution Patterns • Regional/Seasonal Limiting Factors • Daily Energetic Demands of a Duck • Metabolic Energetic Capacity of Primary Foraging Habitats • Over Winter Survival Rate • Winter Period • Inter-specific Competition

11. Evaluating Rice Fields as Foraging Habitat for Wintering Waterfowl: Status of NAWCA Evaluation Grant Ducks Unlimited Institute for Wetlands and Waterfowl Research USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Mississippi State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Southern Illinois University Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

12. Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives • Population-based Goals and Objectives • Sustainable Landscapes at Ecoregional (BCR) Scales • Progressive Refinement of Goals, Objectives, and Strategies (ARM) • Integrated, “Wall-to-Wall” Partnerships

13. The NABCI Vision of Integrated Bird Conservation Regionally-based… Biologically-driven… Landscape-oriented partnerships… Delivering the full spectrum of bird conservationacross the entirety of the North American Continent.

14. NorthAmericanBirdConservationInitiative A Population-based, Landscape-Oriented Conservation Framework Target:Landscapes capable of sustaining populations of priority species range-wide at prescribed levels. Premise:By coordinating and leveraging its conservation actions through formal partnerships, the private, state, federal bird conservation community can achieve landscapes capable of sustaining priority species at prescribed levels.

15. Topics… • The Unifying Themes: An Overview • Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures • Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually

16. …Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures The Functional Elements of the Conservation Enterprise • Planning • Implementation • Monitoring • Evaluation • Research

17. …Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures Conservation Delivery Model The Functional Elements of the Conservation Enterprise • Planning • Implementation • Monitoring • Evaluation • Research

18. Population-based Goals and Objectives • Planning • Implementation • Sustainable Landscapes at Ecoregional (BCR) Scales • Monitoring • Progressive Refinement of Goals, Objectives, and Strategies (ARM) • Evaluation • Integrated, “Wall-to-Wall” Partnerships • Research Relationship between “Unifying Themes”and “Functional Elements”

19. …Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures The Functional Elements of the Conservation Enterprise • Planning • Implementation Joint Ventures are being challenged to embrace the full spectrum of the conservation enterprise as an iterative whole. • Monitoring • Evaluation • Research

20. The Functional Elements of the Conservation Enterprise • Planning • Implementation Conservation Enterprise Business Model • Monitoring • Evaluation • Research

21. Topics… • The Unifying Themes: An Overview • Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures • Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually

22. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives • Nature of Planning • Management and Research • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

23. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives Goals/objectives will be expressed in the context of population viability or system sustainability; derived from testable assumptions or predictions of biological response. • Nature of Planning • Management and Research • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

24. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives Reestablish and maintain three viable sub-populations of LA Black Bear in the Tensas Basin, Red River Backwater, and Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana. • Nature of Planning • Management and Research Whereas traditionally… Goals and objectives have tended to be programmatically derived, activity focused, and opportunity based. • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

25. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives Reestablish and maintain three viable sub-populations of LA Black Bear in the Tensas Basin, Red River Backwater, and Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana. • Nature of Planning • Management and Research Whereas traditionally… Protect and restore 200,000 acres of bottomland hardwoods in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

26. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures Planning becomes biologically focused and model-driven; directed at landscape-scale population/habitat relationships; focused less on temporally static decisions and more on supporting decisions over time. Planning is iterative and cyclic. • Goals and Objectives • Nature of Planning • Management and Research Whereas traditionally… Planning has been akin to cataloguing and prioritizing program-specific opportunities; tending to be sporadic and focused on temporally static decisions; responding to administrative edict. • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

27. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives M & R will be linked by explicitly stated, testable assumptions as to how populations are responding to changing landscapes and management prescriptions. • Nature of Planning • Management and Research Whereas traditionally… M & R tend to be disconnected, with management operating on the basis of intuitive, implicit assumptions and research focusing on academic interest. • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

28. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives Monitoring and evaluation are essential for testing assumptions, evaluating uncertainty, and assessing landscape change and biological response. • Nature of Planning • Management and Research Whereas traditionally… Programs have tended to view M & E as an arm of “research” to inform harvest regulations; otherwise have been content with tracking accomplishments where administratively required. • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

29. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Goals and Objectives Conservation methods are highly demanding of spatial and relational database technologies, requiring core competencies and skills not traditionally associated with the conservation workforce. • Nature of Planning • Management and Research Whereas traditionally… The technology focus of conservation organizations has been on administrative applications of the business community at large, e.g. e-mail, web-sites, financial management, teleconferencing, etc. • Monitoring and Evaluation • Technology

30. Topics… • The Unifying Themes: An Overview • Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures • Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures • Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually

31. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to Agencies and Organizations Point:The “unifying themes” reflect a broader and more fundamental shift in the conservation paradigm.

32. The Conservation Paradigm is shifting… Wildlife conservation (and natural resource management in general) is being pushed from an opportunistic, ideology-based pursuit of site-scale conservation benefits toward a science-based, strategic pursuit of sustainable landscapes. Catalysts… • Science-based advances in conservation theory • Ecosystem management • Landscape ecology • Population ecology • Conservation biology • Adaptive resource management

33. Principles of Ecosystem Management * • Define measurable goals and objectives based on sound models and assumptions as to how the ecosystem is functioning. • Manage at the multiple scales at which ecosystems occur. • Monitor habitat change and population response. • Refine objectives on the basis of what is learned from monitoring and assessment • Manage for inter-generational sustainability. * Adapted from the Ecological Society of America 1996

34. The Conservation Paradigm is shifting… Wildlife conservation (and natural resource management in general) is being pushed from an opportunistic, ideology-based pursuit of site-scale conservation benefits toward a science-based, strategic pursuit of sustainable landscapes. Catalysts… • Science-based advances in conservation theory • Technological advances in conservation methodologies • Remote Sensing • Geospatial Technologies (GIS/GPS) • Relational Database Technologies

35. The Conservation Paradigm is shifting… Wildlife conservation (and natural resource management in general) is being pushed from an opportunistic, ideology-based pursuit of site-scale conservation benefits toward a science-based, strategic pursuit of sustainable landscapes. Catalysts… • Science-based advances in conservation theory • Technological advances in conservation methodologies • Fiscal accountability • Biological credibility/accountability

36. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to Agencies and Organizations Point:The “unifying themes” reflect a broader and more fundamental shift in the conservation paradigm. Point:Sustained pursuit of the unifying themes by a Joint Venture will result in its partner agencies and organizations becoming more interdependent.

37. Developing Spatially Explicit “Landscapes of Conservation Concern”

38. Breeding Population Objectives Wintering Population Targets Foraging Habitat Limits Wintering Duck Populations North American Waterfowl Management Plan - 1986 62 million Breeding Ducks Public Lands Private Lands Naturally Flooded Lands Reinecke et al. 1988 Reinecke and Loesch 1996

39. Swainson’s Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Northern Parula Hooded Warbler Wood Thrush Acadian Flycatcher Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Red-eyed Vireo American Redstart State 10K 20K 100K 9 0 2 19 14 6 1 11 1 1 15 6 1 1 3 0 0 7 2 0 1 Arkansas Illinois Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Tennessee Totals Cerulean Warbler Kentucky Warbler Summer Tanager Yellow-billed Cuckoo Louisiana Waterthrust Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-throated Vireo Yellow-throated Warbler Great Crested Flycatcher Scarlet Tanager White-breasted Nuthatch 51 36 13 Swallow-tailed Kite Red-shouldered Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Pileated Woodpecker Cooper’s Hawk Source Population Objectives

40. The Unifying Themes of Bird ConservationImplications to Agencies and Organizations Point:The “unifying themes” reflect a broader and more fundamental shift in the conservation paradigm. Point:Sustained pursuit of the unifying themes by a Joint Venture will result in its partner agencies and organizations becoming more interdependent. Point:In an operational sense, the unifying themes will require a measure of internal “reengineering.”

41. Reengineering:A rethinking and subsequent realignment of the processes and procedures associated with a business’ core functions, taken with the aim of maintaining competitiveness in a rapidly changing business environment. Business community drivers… Conservation community drivers… • IT “revolution” • IT “revolution” • The “global economy” • Shifting conservation paradigm

42. Reengineering Demands of a Population-based, Landscape-Oriented Conservation Framework • Translating range-wide population targets into spatially-explicit habitat objectives. • Assessing the ability of landscapes to support populations of priority species at prescribed levels. • Monitoring landscape change and population response at ecoregional scales. • Integrating biological objectives into program operations and providing decision support to conservation delivery. • Applying the Information Technologies required of conservation at ecoregional scales.

43. Viewed from the perspective of the “four unifying themes,” Joint Ventures are being… Asked? Expected? Challenged? …to move from a Conservation Delivery Business Model and toward a Conservation Enterprise Business Model.

44. Joint Venture Expectations and Challenges Seth: From the standpoint of fiscal and functional accountability Scott: From the standpoint of the national and international bird conservation initiatives Rex: From the standpoint of “applied science” – capacity and capability

45. Arkansas Kentucky Ducks Unlimited Tennessee Missouri Mississippi Oklahoma Louisiana “Implement” Goals and Objectives The Conservation Fund Delivery Model The Nature Conservancy Enterprise Model Biological Planning Applied Research Implementation Monitoring Evaluation Texas US Fish & Wildlife Wildlife Mgt Institute Reengineering Roles Relationships Responsibilities Joint Venture (HAPET) Office Partner Organization (mgt board/techies) “Other” Partners (NRCS, Universities) US Geological Survey US Forest Service Operating Under a Conservation Business Model Build the capacity Towards Landscapes That Sustain Populations Of Priority Species At Prescribed Levels