ACJV staff and Partners conducted a Saltmarsh Conservation Workshop, Sunday July 19 in Albany, New York in conjunction with the annual summer ACJV and Atlantic Flyway meetings. The intent of the workshop was to compile and assimilate information from throughout the Flyway regarding many facts of saltmarsh conservation efforts. The workshop provided summaries of more than 30 different research and monitoring efforts that can help guide work on the ground, and included presentations about regional efforts by the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program (SHARP), the North & South Atlantic LCCs, National Audubon, and the Black Duck Joint Venture. Additionally, details about more than a dozen implementation priorities of ACJV partners were also presented. Also discussed was the Saltmarsh Conservation Business Plan currently being developed and how ACJV partners can provide quality input into that process. A “Proceedings” of this workshop is targeted for release by the end of August, and we will soon be setting up a website to share all the information from the workshop.
Salt Marsh Sparrow. Courtesy of Bill Hubick
Other notable action items from this workshop were to establish a saltmarsh subcommittee within the ACJV Technical Committee structure, address coordinated monitoring efforts for high priority species in the Flyway, finds ways to expand the efforts of SHARP to the southeast portion of the ACJV, and to identify high priority implementation action for saltmarsh conservation. This effort has brought together partners from throughout the flyway to look at a more coordinated perspective of saltmarsh science needs, research and monitoring, and management activities to address sea level rise and continued loss of saltmarsh. Target species are the saltmarsh sparrow complex and secretive marsh birds, including the Black Rail and MacGillivray’s Seaside Sparrow, which have recently been petitioned to be listed as threatened or endangered.
Check out results from workshop here.