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Download recent achievements of the Important Bird Areas Program!

Photo by Don McIvor. Walker Lake, Important Bird Area in Nevada

Conservation activities at Important Bird Areas are happening across the United States and range from land acquisition to habitat restoration, advocacy on the behalf of IBAs and the education of local communities about their unique birds and bird habitats. Here are highlights of our successes from 2006.

For a summary of successes from previous years, see 2005 Successes, 2003-04 Successes, and Successes Prior to 2003

PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2006

• Identified approximately 200 new IBAs, bringing the total number of IBAs to 2,000 throughout 41 states. States adding sites this year include Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Virginia, Wisconsin.
• IBA activities initiated in two new states, Hawaii and Oklahoma, bringing the total of state IBA programs to 48.
• Approximately half of the states taking full advantage of the IBA Database, entering and updating data and making information available online through the Audubon web site.
• Implementation of the IBA Search Tool, a powerful new tool that will allow birders to find IBAs in a particular area or with particular species and allow the conservation community to aggregate IBAs by threat, region or other IBA characteristics in order to more easily plan conservation activities.

Photo by Dan Scheiman. Overflow National Wildlife Refuge, Important Bird Area in Arkansas

• Over a dozen states working with national staff towards prioritizing Global IBAs. This prioritization will assist Audubon in our conservation planning efforts and will also allow us to come in line with the BirdLife goal of having all global IBAs in the Americas determined by the end of 2007.
• Development of a report analyzing sites significant to waterbirds nearing completion. Report will demonstrate how IBA data can be used at a regional and national scale to help identify conservation issues and target conservation actions to address threats at Important Bird Areas, in this case describing waterbird IBAs in an agricultural matrix and recommending possible actions to improve or maintain the conservation value of targeted sites.
• New IBA coordinators or Bird Conservation Directors hired in California, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and a staff member added at the national IBA program level.
• IBAs recognized through public events in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin

LOCAL EXAMPLES

Here are some recent examples of how States are using the IBA Program to advance local conservation efforts, often by linking IBA goals to other initiatives. For more information on IBA activities at the state level, go to our IBA map and select a state.

• Audubon California teamed with San Bernardino Valley Audubon to help protect southern California’s largest remaining Tricolored Blackbird colony in San Jacinto Valley Important Bird Area through an agreement with a local farmer.

Photo by Dave Menke/USFWS. Tricolored Blackbird

• IBA efforts by Audubon Connecticut have led to the conversion of a 10-acre undeveloped area of Cove Island Park in Stamford into a bird sanctuary by the City of Stamford, with funding provided by a $400,000 grant from the State of Connecticut. Audubon worked with the city in planning the proposed bird sanctuary, and has also worked with over 200 GE Elfun Volunteers and other stakeholders on three habitat restoration projects, including the construction of nature trails, planting native vegetation and installation of nesting boxes for Purple Martins and Eastern Screech Owls, as well as helping to organize a field day at the Park with 500 students from a local elementary school.

Photo by Patrick Comins. Volunteers planting trees at Bent of the River Important Bird Area in Connecticut.

• Audubon Connecticut secured protection of a privately owned IBA, Menunketesuck Island in Westbrook, as part of Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. The IBA is important for nesting Piping Plover and Least Terns, migrant Red Knot and other shorebirds. 
• Audubon New York, partnering with New York City Audubon and New York City Parks and Recreation undertake habitat restoration at North Brother Island IBA, removing invasive trees and shrubs and planting natives.
• Audubon North Carolina, working with the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society, initiated a long-term project to monitor bird populations on the Highlands Plateau IBA, an area important for species such as the Blackburnian Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. These studies will help in understanding how the development and growth in the surrounding areas impact birds, especially the ones that are highly dependent on the forests, mountains and streams around Highlands.

Photo by Gus Van Vliet/USFWS. Marbled Murrelet

• In Oregon, volunteers were trained in conducting presence surveys for the threatened Marbled Murrelet in Yachats, to raise awareness and to initiate a citizen science monitoring effort at the proposed Marbled Murrelet Important Bird Area.
• IBA Program in Virginia organized 200 local volunteers, including groups from Philip Morris, Virginia Commonwealth University, Boy Scouts, DuPont, bird clubs and conservation groups, at the James River Wetlands in restoring degraded habitat to native trees and shrubs. Volunteers removed invasive Johnson grass and planted 3,500 native trees over the course of a month. At the end of this time, a recognition event was held at the site, which focused on the site’s importance as an IBA for Bald Eagle and Prothonotary Warbler, and recognized the efforts of the volunteers and partners making the event possible.

Photo by Aimee Weldon. Restoration project at James River Wetlands Important Bird Area in Virginia.

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Updated March 2008