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Bird Conservation
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Waterbird Conservation
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Essential Sites for Waterbird Conservation
Sites that provide essential habitat important to the survival of one or more bird species are considered Important Bird Areas (IBAs). As the U.S. partner of BirdLife International – the organization that initiated the IBA program in the mid-1980s in Europe – The National Audubon Society is responsible for identifying IBAs based on vulnerability and responsibility criteria, and then working to conserve the network of IBAs throughout the United States.
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Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge, AR. Photo by Dan Scheiman
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Since 1995, Audubon has identified approximately 2,000 state-level IBAs covering more than 200 million acres of habitat in 41 states. Many of these IBAs occur in agricultural landscapes, underscoring the significant role of the agricultural community in determining the quality and extent of habitat for birds and other wildlife.
One component of the Waterbirds on Working Lands Project has been to better understand and identify the IBAs that are important specifically to waterbirds – a significant conservation focus as both wetland and coastal habitats have been impacted by conversion to agriculture and other development over the last 100 years. The complete Important Bird Areas (IBAs) Significant for Waterbirds in Agricultural Landscapes report highlights the status of the IBA program throughout the United States, including information about the centralized Audubon Important Bird Areas Database that manages information and data about each IBA.
As of May 2006, 587 IBAs – encompassing 23 states and approximately one-third of all U.S. IBAs – were identified as significant for waterbirds, particularly along the coasts, major river systems, and lakes in the United States (see map below).
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Important Bird Areas for Waterbirds in the U.S.
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Of these, 141 IBAs are located within one of the seven Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) that have 10 percent or greater of their total land area in row-crop production. Analysis of 133 of these IBAs for which there is sufficient data reveals that:
- 33 sites – almost 25 percent – satisfy global or continental criteria.
- 118 sites – more than 80 percent – provide habitat for more than one focal waterbird species.
- Invasive species, natural events, and water diversions are the three most dominant threats.
Conservation of IBAs can only be effective if it involves the communities in which they are found. Landowners, government entities, community groups, and other stakeholders must be given the opportunity to understand the significance of these sites and the potential contributions they might make to their protection and restoration. Towards this end, detailed assessments of the status of waterbird populations and waterbird IBAs were undertaken in three states – Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi – that have significant area under row-crop production for the purpose of identifying opportunities for working with the grower community to address the conservation needs of waterbirds and waterbird IBAs. The resulting technical reports are available for download:
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