the unifying themes of national/international bird conservation initiatives
DESCRIPTION
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. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Unifying Themes of National/International Bird Conservation Initiatives
Implications to the Scope and Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Topics…
• Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually
• The Unifying Themes: An Overview
“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 WaterfowlManagement Plan - 1986
Breeding PopulationObjectives
Wintering PopulationTargets
Foraging Habitat LimitsWintering Duck Populations
Public Lands
Naturally FloodedLands
Private Lands
Reinecke et al. 1988Reinecke and Loesch 1996
62 million Breeding Ducks
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
North American Waterfowl Management Plan62 Million
Breeding Ducks
•Cross-seasonal Relationships•Historic & Contemporary Distribution Patterns
Habitat
Factors Limiting Carrying Capacity
Disease
Predation
Environmental Contaminants
DisturbanceForaging
Non-foraging
•Regional/Seasonal Limiting Factors
292 kcal/day
Harvested CroplandsRice 752Soybeans 121Milo 849Corn 970
HabitatDuck-Use Days
per Acre
Forested Wetlands
Moist-soil Area 1,386
50% red oaks 321
•Daily Energetic Demands of a Duck•Metabolic Energetic Capacity of Primary
Foraging Habitats
•Over Winter Survival Rate•Winter Period
•Inter-specific Competition
ArkansasIllinoisKentuckyLouisianaMississippiMissouriTennessee
Total
40,7701,378
84950,07622,6733,2924,491
123,527
9,9180
2542,1205,168
4631,906
60,050
186,485380
1,60280,69555,0478,326
29,966
362,500
237,1721,7582,475
172,89283,33812,08136,362
546,078
StateDabbling
DucksDivingDucks
WoodDucks Total
Habitat Threshold = 110*Survival
winter daysTarget state
0.85
Southern Illinois UniversityCooperative Wildlife Research Unit
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Ducks UnlimitedInstitute for Wetlands and Waterfowl Research
Evaluating Rice Fields as Foraging Habitatfor Wintering Waterfowl: Status of NAWCA Evaluation Grant
Mississippi State UniversityDepartment of Fisheries and Wildlife
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
1
Regionally-based…
Biologically-driven…
Landscape-oriented partnerships…
Delivering the full spectrum of bird conservation across the entirety of the North American Continent.
The NABCI Visionof Integrated Bird Conservation
North American Bird Conservation InitiativeA 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.
• Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Topics…
• Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually
• The Unifying Themes: An Overview
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
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
…Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Conservation Delivery Model
• Planning
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
• Population-based Goals and Objectives
• Sustainable Landscapes at Ecoregional (BCR) Scales
• Progressive Refinement of Goals, Objectives, and Strategies (ARM)
• Integrated, “Wall-to-Wall” Partnerships
Relationship between “Unifying Themes” and “Functional Elements”
The Functional Elements of the Conservation Enterprise
• Planning
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
…Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Joint Ventures are being challenged to embrace the full spectrum of the conservation
enterprise as an iterative whole.
The Functional Elements of the Conservation Enterprise
• Planning
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Research
Conservation Enterprise Business Model
• Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Topics…
• Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually
• The Unifying Themes: An Overview
• 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 and Objectives
• Nature of Planning
• Management and Research
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Technology
Goals/objectives will be expressed in the context of population viability or system sustainability; derived from testable assumptions or predictions of biological response.
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
Whereas traditionally…
Goals and objectives have tended to be programmatically derived, activity focused, and opportunity based.
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
Whereas traditionally…
Protect and restore 200,000 acres of bottomland hardwoods in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.
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
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Technology
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Goals and Objectives
Whereas traditionally…
• Nature of Planning
• Management and Research
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Technology
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.
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.
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Goals and Objectives
Whereas traditionally…
• Nature of Planning
• Management and Research
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Technology
M & R will be linked by explicitly stated, testable assumptions as to how populations are responding to changing landscapes and management prescriptions.
M & R tend to be disconnected, with management operating on the basis of intuitive, implicit assumptions and research focusing on academic interest.
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Goals and Objectives
Whereas traditionally…
• Nature of Planning
• Management and Research
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Technology
Monitoring and evaluation are essential for testing assumptions, evaluating uncertainty, and assessing landscape change and biological response.
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.
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Goals and Objectives
Whereas traditionally…
• Nature of Planning
• Management and Research
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Technology
Conservation methods are highly demanding of spatial and relational database technologies, requiring core competencies and skills not traditionally associated with the conservation workforce.
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.
The Unifying Themes of Bird Conservation Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Implications to the Scope of Joint Ventures
Topics…
• Implications to the Functioning of Joint Ventures
• Implications to Agencies/Organizations Individually
• The Unifying Themes: An Overview
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…
Science-based advances in conservation theory
Catalysts…
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.
Landscape ecology
Ecosystem management
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…
Technological advances in conservation methodologies
Science-based advances in conservation theory
Catalysts…
Remote Sensing
Geospatial Technologies (GIS/GPS)
Relational Database Technologies
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.
The Conservation Paradigm is shifting…
Technological advances in conservation methodologies
Science-based advances in conservation theory
Fiscal accountability
Catalysts…
Biological credibility/accountability
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.
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 WaterfowlManagement Plan - 1986
Breeding PopulationObjectives
Wintering PopulationTargets
Foraging Habitat LimitsWintering Duck Populations
Public Lands
Naturally FloodedLands
Private Lands
Reinecke et al. 1988Reinecke and Loesch 1996
62 million Breeding Ducks
Source Population Objectives
ArkansasIllinoisKentucky LouisianaMississippiMissouriTennessee
Totals
902
1914
61
1111
15611
3007201
51 36 13
State 10K 20K 100K
Cerulean WarblerKentucky WarblerSummer Tanager
Yellow-billed CuckooLouisiana WaterthrustEastern Wood-PeweeYellow-throated Vireo
Yellow-throated WarblerGreat Crested Flycatcher
Scarlet TanagerWhite-breasted Nuthatch
Swainson’s WarblerProthonotary Warbler
Northern ParulaHooded Warbler
Wood ThrushAcadian Flycatcher
Blue-gray GnatcatcherRed-eyed Vireo
American Redstart
Swallow-tailed KiteRed-shouldered HawkBroad-winged HawkPileated 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: In an operational sense, the unifying themes will require a measure of internal “reengineering.”
Point: Sustained pursuit of the unifying themes by a Joint Venture will result in its partner agencies and organizations becoming more interdependent.
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”
• The “global economy”
• IT “revolution”
• 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.
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
Joint Venture Expectations and Challenges
Build the capacity
Towards Landscapes That Sustain Populations Of Priority Species At Prescribed Levels
TexasUS
Forest Service
TennesseeKentucky
Wildlife Mgt Institute
The Nature Conservancy
US Geological Survey
Ducks Unlimited MississippiArkansas
US Fish & Wildlife
Louisiana Oklahoma
The Conservation
Fund
Missouri
Delivery Model
Biological Planning
Implementation Monitoring EvaluationApplied
Research
En
terp
rise
Mo
de
l
Joint Venture (HAPET) Office
ReengineeringRoles
RelationshipsResponsibilities
Partner Organization
(mgt board/techies)
“Other” Partners
(NRCS, Universities)
“Implement” Goals and Objectives
Operating Under a Conservation Business Model