Interior Secretary Gale Norton commemorated International Migratory Bird Day last week by signing a declaration of intent with Canada and Mexico to strengthen cooperation on bird conservation. She also announced $3.9 million in grants to conserve birds throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.
Three Midwestern projects—two in Illinois and one in Missouri and Mexico--received a total of more than $127,000 in grant funds. Partners contributed nearly $1 million in matching funds for these projects.
Norton signed the North American Bird Conservation Initiative Declaration of Intent to “conserve North American birds throughout their ranges and habitats, and ultimately to collaborate with all participant nations regarding bird cooperation.” More than 340 species of birds breed in the United States and Canada, and winter in Latin America. Examples of these birds include species of plovers, terns, hawks, cranes, warblers and sparrows.
The declaration will formalize the process for undertaking the initiative, which is designed to address the sharp decline of many migratory bird species in recent decades. Building partnerships to conserve habitat is one of the primary focuses of the initiative, Norton said.
At the same time, Norton announced $3.9 million in grants to conserve migratory birds in 18 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 25 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The partners who receive these grants will contribute nearly $18 million in matching funds.
The grants are made under the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 2000, which establishes a matching grants program to fund projects that promote the conservation of neotropical migratory birds in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The funds may be used to protect, research, monitor and manage bird populations and habitats as well as conduct law enforcement and community outreach and education. By law, 75 percent of the money goes to projects in Latin America and Caribbean countries while 25 percent goes to projects in the United States.
International Migratory Bird Day takes place on the second Saturday in May each year. It encourages bird conservation and increases awareness of birds through hikes, bird watching, information about birds and migration, public events, and a variety of other education programs. This year marked the 12th International Migratory Bird Day celebration
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act grants for 2005 in the Midwest are:
Illinois -- A partnership led by the Illinois Natural History Survey/University of Illinois will receive $22,736 and contributed $80,192 in matching funds to study channelization and forest drainage of southern Illinoiss Cache River watershed. Data collected will help guide management practices on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge, within the project area, and at other bottomland-hardwood forests elsewhere in the country.
Illinois -- A partnership led by the Audubon-Chicago Region will receive $55,041 and contributed $165,124 in matching dollars to restore native prairies for breeding birds outside Chicago. Efforts will be focused within three of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s preserves: Spring Creek Valley, Bartel Grassland and Orland Grassland. Partners will create two Bird Conservation Areas—one at Spring Creek Valley, with a core of at least 1,500 grassland acres, and one at Bartel Grassland, which incorporates the Orland preserve and has a core of at least 600 grassland acres.
Missouri/Mexico -- A partnership led by the American Bird Conservancy will receive $50,000 and provided $750,317 in matching contributions to create a conservation alliance to conserve forested and coastal habitats for birds that summer in the central hardwood region of the Lower Mississippi River. The forested and coastal habitats of Tamaulipas and Quintana Roo, Mexico, regularly serve as stopover and wintering sites for more than 220 neotropical migratory bird species, 29 of which are considered a conservation priority in the U.S. Central Hardwoods Joint Venture region.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
