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The external review copy of the manuscript of The Important Bird Areas of Florida: 2000–2002 is now available online. This manuscript is the product of 33 months of work by dozens of individuals who have assisted with Audubon of Florida’s IBA Program. This is an external review copy of the manuscript, and represents the final opportunity for widespread review. Due to a recent change in the production schedule, publication of The Important Bird Areas of Florida: 2000–2002 now is planned for spring 2003. Information in this draft manuscript is subject to change before publication. Please do not cite any information in this manuscript.

Printed copies of the entire manuscript will be sent to the Florida IBA Executive Committee and a few other individuals. IBA site accounts will be sent to all site nominators. This PDF (Adobe Acrobat) copy of the manuscript has been posted to encourage maximum participation in the review process.

Please read the introductory material before reviewing the IBA site accounts. Many "blanks" remain in the site accounts (and elsewhere in the text), and questions or comments are included in brackets and underlined. It is anticipated that missing data will be supplied by the site nominators and other reviewers. Several additional tasks remain to be completed by the Executive Committee or me; some of these are listed on the following page. There may be other, later changes made to the manuscript (e.g., the boundaries of some IBAs may be adjusted).

GIS maps included in this manuscript show the boundaries of most of Florida’s IBAs (a few wading bird rookery islands are too small to appear). These maps will be improved and updated before publication.

For the most part, IBA site selection has ended and we are not seeking additional nominations. However, truly significant sites that are not included here will be considered as additional IBAs provided that the nominations are complete, that they conform to the format used in this manuscript, and that they are received in a timely manner (i.e., by 1 August 2002). Please contact me before formally nominating any new site as a potential IBA.

The Executive Committee chose to designate as an Important Bird Area any nominated site that supports at least 1% of the state population of any species of conservation priority or concern. We are aware that several additional sites could be nominated on the basis of using this "1% criterion" for a single species (e.g., IBAs based on 11 Bald Eagle nests or 2 pairs of Wilson’s Plovers). However, at this stage in the Florida IBA Program, we are most concerned with sites that support larger populations of listed species, significant populations of several species, or very large numbers of waterfowl, shorebirds, or Neotropical migrants. (Subsequent site-selection efforts in Florida may need to use a "2%" or "3%" criterion to select the state’s IBAs).

The deadline for submission of comments is 15 August 2002 (or 31 August for reviewers of the entire manuscript). Minor comments or corrections may be e-mailed to <bpranty@audubon.org>; please put "IBA review" in the subject line, or FAXed to 813-623-4086. All other comments or corrections must be made on printed copies mailed to me at the above address. Please do not submit an edited electronic copy of this manuscript.

The entire manuscript can be downloaded as a single PDF file (1.6 MB): entire_ms.pdf or the manuscript can be downloaded in sections: intro.pdf (329 KB), western_panhandle.pdf (119 KB), eastern_panhandle.pdf (140 KB), northern_peninsula.pdf (236 KB), central_peninsula.pdf (557 KB), southern_peninsula.pdf (246 KB), and keys.pdf (94 KB), and outro.pdf (157 KB).

All comments, additions, and especially corrections of errors of omission or commission are sought. Significant contributors will be acknowledged as reviewers of the Florida IBA book.

On behalf of Audubon of Florida and the Florida IBA Executive Committee, I thank you for your assistance.