Download Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation: Implications to JV`s

The Unifying Themes of National/International
Bird Conservation Initiatives
Implications to the Scope and Functioning
of Joint Ventures
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
“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.
Unifying Themes of National/International
Bird Conservation Initiatives
• Population-based Goals and Objectives
North American Waterfowl
Management Plan - 1986
Breeding Population
Objectives
62 million
Breeding Ducks
Wintering Population
Targets
Foraging Habitat Limits
Wintering Duck Populations
Public Lands
Reinecke et al. 1988
Reinecke and Loesch 1996
Private Lands
Naturally Flooded
Lands
Unifying Themes of National/International
Bird Conservation Initiatives
• Population-based Goals and Objectives
• Sustainable Landscapes at Ecoregional (BCR)
Scales
How Do We Utilize the Population Estimates and
Objectives Listed in the Continental Plan?
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?
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)
Linking On-the-ground Management to Higher Scale Goals
With Testable Assumptions and Hypotheses
•Cross-seasonal Relationships
•Historic & Contemporary Distribution Patterns
•Regional/Seasonal Limiting Factors
Factors Limiting Carrying Capacity
Disease
Predation
Environmental Contaminants
Disturbance
Foraging
THabitat
Non-foraging
•Daily Energetic Demands of a Duck
•Metabolic Energetic Capacity of Primary
Foraging Habitats
Habitat
Moist-soil Area
Harvested Croplands
Rice
Soybeans
Milo
Corn
Forested Wetlands
50% red oaks
Duck-Use Days
per Acre
•Over Winter Survival Rate
•Winter Period
•Inter-specific Competition
Habitat Threshold
=
0.85
Survival
winter days
* 110
Dabbling
Ducks
Diving
Ducks
Wood
Ducks
Total
Arkansas
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Tennessee
186,485
380
1,602
80,695
55,047
8,326
29,966
9,918
0
25
42,120
5,168
463
1,906
40,770
1,378
849
50,076
22,673
3,292
4,491
237,172
1,758
2,475
172,892
83,338
12,081
36,362
Total
362,500
60,050 123,527
546,078
1,386
State
752
121
849
970
Targetstate
321
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
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
The NABCI Vision
of Integrated Bird Conservation
Regionally-based…
1
Biologically-driven…
Landscape-oriented partnerships…
Delivering the full spectrum of bird
conservation across the entirety of the
North American Continent.
North American Bird Conservation Initiative
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.
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
The Functional Elements of the
Conservation Enterprise
• Planning
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
…Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
The Functional Elements of the
Conservation Enterprise
• Planning
• Implementation
Conservation Delivery
Model
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
…Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Relationship between “Unifying Themes”
and “Functional Elements”
• Population-based Goals
and Objectives
• Sustainable Landscapes at
• Planning
• Implementation
Ecoregional (BCR) Scales
• Progressive Refinement of
Goals, Objectives, and
Strategies (ARM)
• Integrated, “Wall-toWall” Partnerships
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
The Functional Elements of the
Conservation Enterprise
• Planning
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
Joint Ventures are being
challenged to embrace the full
spectrum of the conservation
enterprise as an iterative
whole.
• Research
…Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
The Functional Elements of the
Conservation Enterprise
• Planning
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
Conservation Enterprise
Business Model
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
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Goals and
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
• Management
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
Goals/objectives will be expressed in
the context of population viability or
system sustainability; derived from
testable assumptions or predictions of
biological response.
• Goals and
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
• Management
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
Reestablish and maintain three viable
sub-populations of LA Black Bear in the
Tensas Basin, Red River Backwater,
and Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana.
• Goals and
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
Whereas traditionally…
Goals and objectives have tended to
be programmatically derived, activity
focused, and opportunity based.
• Management
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
Reestablish and maintain three viable
sub-populations of LA Black Bear in the
Tensas Basin, Red River Backwater,
and Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana.
• Goals and
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
Whereas traditionally…
Protect and restore 200,000 acres
of bottomland hardwoods in the
Mississippi Alluvial Valley.
• Management
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications 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
Whereas traditionally…
• Management
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.
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
M & R will be linked by explicitly stated,
testable assumptions as to how
populations are responding to changing
landscapes and management
prescriptions.
• Goals and
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
Whereas traditionally…
• Management
M & R tend to be disconnected, with
management operating on the basis of
intuitive, implicit assumptions and
research focusing on academic interest.
• Monitoring and
and Research
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
Monitoring and evaluation are essential
for testing assumptions, evaluating
uncertainty, and assessing landscape
change and biological response.
• Goals and
Objectives
• Nature of
Planning
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.
• Management
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Goals and
Conservation methods are highly
Objectives
demanding of spatial and relational
database technologies, requiring core
• Nature of
competencies and skills not traditionally
Planning
associated with the conservation workforce.
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.
• Management
and Research
• Monitoring and
Evaluation
• Technology
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
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications to Agencies and Organizations
Point: The “unifying themes” reflect a broader and more
fundamental shift in the conservation paradigm.
The Conservation Paradigm is shifting…
Wildlife conservation (and natural resource management in
general) is being pushed from an opportunistic, ideologybased 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
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
The Conservation Paradigm is shifting…
Wildlife conservation (and natural resource management in
general) is being pushed from an opportunistic, ideologybased 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
The Conservation Paradigm is shifting…
Wildlife conservation (and natural resource management in
general) is being pushed from an opportunistic, ideologybased 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
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications 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.
Developing Spatially Explicit “Landscapes of
Conservation Concern”
North American Waterfowl
Management Plan - 1986
Breeding Population
Objectives
62 million
Breeding Ducks
Wintering Population
Targets
Foraging Habitat Limits
Wintering Duck Populations
Public Lands
Reinecke et al. 1988
Reinecke and Loesch 1996
Private Lands
Naturally Flooded
Lands
Source Population Objectives
Swainson’s Warbler
State
10K
20K
100K
Arkansas
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Tennessee
9
0
2
19
14
6
1
11
1
1
15
6
1
1
3
0
0
7
2
0
1
Totals
51
36
13
Prothonotary Warbler
Northern Parula
Hooded Warbler
Wood Thrush
Acadian Flycatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
American Redstart
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
Swallow-tailed Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Pileated Woodpecker
Cooper’s Hawk
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation
Implications 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.”
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
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.
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.
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
Arkansas
Texas
Ducks Unlimited
The
Conservation
Fund
Louisiana
Kentucky
The Nature
Conservancy
Mississippi
US Geological
Survey
Missouri
US Fish &
Wildlife
Oklahoma
US
Forest Service
Tennessee
Wildlife Mgt
Institute
“Implement” Goals and Objectives
Enterprise
Model
Operating Under a Conservation Business Model
Delivery Model
Biological
Planning
Implementation
Monitoring
Applied
Research
Evaluation
Build the capacity
Reengineering
Roles
Relationships
Responsibilities
Joint Venture
(HAPET) Office
Partner
Organization
(mgt board/techies)
“Other”
Partners
(NRCS,
Universities)
Towards Landscapes That Sustain Populations Of Priority
Species At Prescribed Levels