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THE
U.S. SHOREBIRD PLAN COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES AND PROPOSED ACTIONS
6 November
2002, 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Waterbird Society Annual Meeting
La Crosse Radisson, Wisconsin
Below are minutes of the above-stated Council meeting. Included are brief descriptions of the topics discussed and the actions that are needed to address specific topics. Note that many of these require timely completion. Support from the National Coordinator is implicit in the actions. Also attached is a brief review of activities undertaken by the National Coordinator over the last year. Thanks to all who contributed to the presentations and discussions.
INTRODUCTIONS. Vice-Chair Catherine Hickey opened the meeting and Council members and observers were introduced. Changes to the agenda were suggested and adopted.
COUNCIL CHAIR. The Council approved Brian Millsap to replace Jon Andrew as Council Chair. Brian took Jon's former position as Chief, Division of Migratory Bird Management, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Council applauded Jon's efforts to promote shorebird conservation. Brian's term corresponds with the rest of the Executive Committee and will run until April 2005. Several actions remain pertaining to operation of the Council:
Remaining Action: Solicit nominations and select an additional state representative to sit on the Executive Committee. [Steve Miller]
Remaining Action: Further define roles and purviews of working groups for inclusion as addendums to the Terms of Reference. [Catherine Hickey, Jon Bart, HeidiLuquer]
Remaining Action: Solicit participation on Council by industry representatives. [Brad Andres]
FUNDING FOR SHOREBIRD PLAN IMPLEMENTATION. A business plan to support infrastructure needs of the shorebird plan had been previously developed by Stephen Brown and submitted to the U. S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative committee. More recently, Jim Woehr, Wildlife Management Institute, is spear-heading an effort to coordinate requests for all migratory bird funding. The workshop held 26-27 January, will attempt to get requesters on the same page when they present their cases to Congress and the agencies. Although an agenda has not been completely formalized, the intent is to produce a list of a small number of priorities to pursue in Federal FY05. The business plan needs to be revised to reflect all unfunded shorebird needs. Most likely, some member of the Council will be asked to transmit these needs at the workshop.
Action: Education and Outreach Working Group [Heidi Luquer, Hilary Chapman], Research Group [Stephen Brown, Brian Harrington], and Regional Coordinators [Catherine Hickey and others] to review existing business plan and recommend changes (monitoring is ready). Regional Coordinators should specifically address amount and types of regional capacity needed to implement regional shorebird conservation plans. [Andres to send draft to those above by 31 December 2002]
Action: Compile suggested changes and submit revised business plan to the Executive Committee for prioritization. [Brad Andres]
Action: Combine shorebird needs with those of other bird initiatives, if possible, to present at January workshop. [Brad Andres]
Action: Post funding sources document on website. [Brad Andres, 2/01/03]
IAFWA DIRECTOR'S RETREAT. Rick Kearny is working with Garry Myers and Steve Miller to organize a presentation session for State wildlife directors at the IAFWA meeting next September. Details on content will be forthcoming but likely will include a test case of scaling down national and regional plans to the state level so that state directors can understand how to use and implement plans. Reported that there are new state directors on the IAFWA Shorebird and Waterbird Subcommittee. IAFWA-sponsored all-bird workshops have been held in numerous states and will continue over the next few months.
Action: Jennifer Wheeler, Brad Andres, David Pashley, and Terry Rich will help with scaling down process for test case and will enlist assistance from the appropriate regional coordinators.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVATION INITIATIVE. The NABCI committee will meet in late January. One of the items to be discussed is the endorsement of a Species Assessment Working Group (recently sent to all Council members). Several tri-national NABCI projects are emerging and Council partners may have the opportunity to participate in linkage projects with Marsimas Nacionales and other sites in Mexico. Any further actions items needing Council support will be distributed to the Executive Committee. As a reminder, information on NABCI can be found at http://www.nabci-us.org. An NABCI All-bird Bulletin is planned and will be distributed to Council members.
Action: Send SAWG Terms of Reference to Council and working group members responsible for development of shorebird prioritization efforts. [Brad Andres by 12/01/02]
Action: Jon Bart to send further description of SAWG, including goals and argument for shorebird initiative's endorsement of SAWG.
Action: Executive Committee to decide on endorsement of Species Assessment Working Group. [to Brad Andres by 12/15/02]
NORTH AMERICAN WATERFOWL MANAGEMENT PLAN - UPDATE 2003. In the updated version, the NAWMP Committee will not determine if JV implementation plans are meeting continental objectives for non-waterfowl populations. Although this will be challenging for shorebirds, the Council agreed to take on this responsibility. The Council will need to work with Canadian, and possibly Mexican, partners to provide a continental perspective. Discussions on setting habitat objectives arose in the Regional coordinators' meeting and continue in the research group meeting. Numerous folks present at the research meeting expressed interest in participating in this discussion.
Action: Executive Committee to review NAWMP 2003 Update and determine whether comments are warranted. [Executive Committee with lead by Catherine Hickey 12/20/02]
Action: Develop national guidance on setting habitat objectives and flyway population objectives for shorebirds. [Jon Bart]
Action: Develop a strategy to review Joint Venture implementation plans for shorebird objectives. [Catherine Hickey]
RESEARCH TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP. The Council approved the formation of a Joint Canada-U.S. Research Working Group. The immediate purpose of the group will be to develop a proposal for a series of networks to address population limiting factors across a large portion of a selected shorebird species' range. The group met at the Waterbird Society and began developing topics and an approach.
Action: Develop a proposal for a network approach to determine limiting factors of shorebird populations. [Rob Butler, Stephen Brown]
MONITORING TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP. Meetings were held on Monday and Tuesday to discuss virtually all aspects of PRISM -- Arctic surveys, boreal surveys, regional migration monitoring assessments, and temperate breeding species. Susan Skagen developed a CD slide show on PRISM and will make a few changes before wide distribution. A separate report on some monitoring aspects will be distributed to Council members [Jon Bart].
OUTREACH AND EDUCATION WORKING GROUP. The working group met after the Council meeting and mainly discussed preparation of the January workshop and issues that the group might work on collaboratively. Outreach to Farm Bill implementers was one such topic. A new Shorebird Plan website can be found at http://shorebirdplan.fws.gov and contains all plan documents and copies of minutes and reports. Thanks to Beth Andujar for setting up the website. Birdscapes is willing to publish several shorebird articles, particularly those related to habitat management, and authors are needed. A separate report on education and outreach will be produced and distributed.
Action: Executive Committee to approve Hilary Chapman, USFWS, as co-chair of the Education and Outreach Working Group (along with Heidi Luquer).
BUILDING A WESTERN HEMISPHERE PERSPECTIVE. Several projects are expanding their perspectives south. At a meeting sponsored by the Prairie Pothole JV, the marbled godwit emerged as a focal species for efforts to link the prairie breeding habitats with west Mexico wintering areas. Several proposals have been developed to further this effort (Carol Lively). The Canadian Wildlife Service, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Birdlife International are pursuing funding to establish a South American Shorebird Network (Garry Donaldson). Development of a Mexican Shorebird Plan is proceeding, and six regional planning units have been established. Regional meetings are taking place and completion of the final document is scheduled for February 2003 (Keith McKnight). Waterbird, including shorebirds, planning efforts are underway in the Caribbean and Central America. Central America efforts need funding and any shorebird input is welcomed (contact Jennifer Wheeler).
CONSERVATION PLAN AND WHSRN UPDATES. Copies of the Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan, and the U.S. Shorebird Conservation, are available from Brad. Canada continues to develop regional plans and has put in much effort in developing PRISM. The inaugural meeting of the Mexico Shorebird Plan will be held 19-21 April in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. The plan will focus primarily on identification and management of sites important to shorebirds, and waterbirds where appropriate, in Mexico. The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network approved three site nominations during the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. WHSRN is submitting several proposals for Neotrop Act funding and has been working in Sinaloa on restoration of a former shrimp farm.
IMPORTANT SHOREBIRD AREAS. The Council continues to work with John Cecil, National Audubon, to refine the list of sites for consideration in the IBA program. Audubon is increasing national and state staff to work on the IBA programs and their 2020 nature center initiative. The IBA program, and associated Audubon volunteers, could help implement components of the Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring (John Cecil).
NEXT COUNCIL MEETING. The next Council meeting will be held in conjunction with the 68th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, either March 26th or 28th 2003, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Details will follow.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT
Catherine Hickey,
PRBO Conservation Science, Vice-Chair
Stephen Brown, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Executive Committee
Susan Skagen, Midcontinent Ecological Science Center, USGS, Executive
Committee
Jon Bart, Snake River Field Station, USGS, Chair, Research and Monitoring.
Bob Russell, USFWS, Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes region
John Cecil, National Audubon Society
Jennifer Wheeler, USFWS, Waterbird Conservation for the Americas
Bill Howe, USFWS Non-Game Coordinators
Marshall Howe, USGS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Garry Donaldson, CWS, Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan
Rick Kearney, International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Brian Harrington, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, North Atlantic
Region
Terry Rich, USFWS, National Coordinator, Partners in Flight
Rick Lanctot, USFWS, Alaska Region
Don Paul, Intermountain West JV, Great Basin BCR Coordinator
Brad Winn, Georgia DNR, Southeastern Coastal Plains - Caribbean Region
Hilary Chapman, USFWS, Shorebird Sister Schools Program
Suzanne Fellows, USFWS, Playa Lakes/Central Plains Region
David Pashley, American Bird Conservancy, U.S. NABCI Coordinator
MEETING OBSERVERS
Scott Johnston, USFWS
Diane Gransfor, USFWS
Neal Neimuth, USFWS
Rick Zarwell, Iowa IBA Cooridnator
Catherine Wightman, USGS
Laura Payne, University of Wisconsin
Sue Thomas, USFWS, Northern Pacific Region
Tara Zimmerman, USFWS
Stephanie Jones, USFWS
submitted by: Brad Andres, 9 December 2002. Please direct any questions, corrections, or comments to Brad_Andres@fws.gov