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| Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Strategy | |
|---|---|
| Name | Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Strategy |
| Formation | 2008 |
| Type | Conservation plan |
| Region served | Pacific Americas Flyway |
| Parent organization | Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network |
Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Strategy The Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Strategy is a coordinated international plan to conserve shorebirds across the Pacific Americas Flyway. It sets population objectives, spatial priorities, and management recommendations developed through collaboration among federal agencies, conservation NGOs, academic institutions, and Indigenous governments. The Strategy links regional conservation action with global frameworks and multilateral agreements to halt declines of migratory shorebirds.
The Strategy articulates measurable objectives for population recovery, habitat protection, and threat mitigation, aligning with frameworks such as the Ramsar Convention, Convention on Migratory Species, North American Waterfowl Management Plan, Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and national plans of United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (Mexico). Goals include maintaining viable populations for priority taxa like the Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Red Knot, while coordinating with biodiversity targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Strategy aims to facilitate cross-jurisdictional cooperation among entities such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act implementers, the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles partners where habitat overlap occurs, and regional organizations like the Pacific Islands Forum.
The Strategy covers the Pacific Americas Flyway, encompassing territories and political units including Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut, Washington (state), Oregon, California, Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Pacific islands such as Hawaiian Islands and the Aleutian Islands. Key stopover and wintering sites include Cook Inlet, Willapa Bay, San Francisco Bay, Baja California Norte, Burgos Lagoon Complex, and the San Ignacio Lagoon. Priority species extend across Charadriiformes and include Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, Hudsonian Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Long-billed Dowitcher, Short-billed Dowitcher, and region-specific taxa like the Aleutian Cackling Goose where habitat interactions are relevant. The Strategy recognizes Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas such as Kachemak Bay, Zaldivar Bay, and Esteros de Farrapo as conservation priorities.
Threats identified include habitat loss from urbanization in regions like Los Angeles County and Vancouver Island, wetland conversion across California Central Valley and Sonoran Desert margins, and disturbance from coastal recreation in places such as Mission Bay and La Jolla Shores. Climate change impacts—sea level rise affecting San Francisco Bay Estuary, altered precipitation in Sierra Nevada, and increased storm frequency along Gulf of Alaska shores—compound pressures. Other challenges include degradation from industrial activities near Prince Rupert, contamination from oil spills in corridors like the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System vicinity, invasive species management on islands such as Midway Atoll and Kure Atoll, and unsustainable harvest in some traditional use contexts tied to fisheries around Gulf of California. Disease risks exemplified by avian influenza outbreaks, predator proliferation linked to feral cat and red fox populations, and overlap with wind energy development near sites like Altamont Pass further complicate conservation.
Actions promoted include habitat protection via land acquisition by organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, Conservación de la Naturaleza (Mexico), and creation of reserves modeled after Point Reyes National Seashore and Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. Habitat restoration projects mirror efforts at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Elkhorn Slough, Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, and Estero de Urias. Management prescriptions address disturbance reduction through visitor management at sites such as Padre Island National Seashore and Long Point, and predator control informed by programs at South Georgia and island restoration by Island Conservation. Policy measures advocate integration with marine spatial planning initiatives like those in British Columbia Marine Protected Areas and regulatory approaches under Migratory Bird Treaty partners. Threat reduction includes contamination prevention modeled after Exxon Valdez response reforms and oil-spill preparedness aligned with standards used by IMO conventions.
Implementation relies on multi-level governance involving agencies such as the National Park Service, NOAA Fisheries, Parks Canada, and state/provincial departments like California Department of Fish and Wildlife and British Columbia Ministry of Environment. Governance structures incorporate stakeholder engagement with Indigenous authorities including Aleut Tribal Council, Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and Purépecha communities, alongside NGOs such as BirdLife International partners, Wetlands International, and regional groups like Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture. Decision-support tools draw on conservation planning approaches used by IUCN, NatureServe, and The Ramsar Sites Information Service to set site-level priorities and performance indicators.
Monitoring frameworks emphasize coordinated surveys—shorebird counts following protocols akin to the International Shorebird Survey, banding programs linked with USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and telemetry studies using methods from Movebank and Motus Wildlife Tracking System. Research priorities include stopover ecology at sites like Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, carry-over effects studied at Baja California Sur, and demographic analyses leveraging data from eBird and museum collections at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and Royal Ontario Museum. Adaptive management cycles incorporate assessments comparable to the Adaptive Harvest Management model and peer review by academic units including University of California, Davis, University of British Columbia, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Funding stems from public sources including the North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants, philanthropic foundations like the Packard Foundation and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and corporate partners engaged through conservation offsets with companies operating in regions like Port of Vancouver and Port of Los Angeles. Partnerships include collaborations with Indigenous stewardship initiatives such as Tribal Wildlife Programs, citizen science networks like The Cornell Lab of Ornithology programs, and ecotourism enterprises modeled on Whale Watching operators that support local economies in places like Baja California Sur. Community engagement emphasizes education in coastal municipalities including San Diego, Vancouver, and Punta Mita, volunteer habitat restoration events led by groups like Surfrider Foundation and Conservacion de la Naturaleza affiliates, and capacity-building through workshops with conservation science centers such as Point Blue Conservation Science and PRBO Science.
Category:Bird conservation