Vision Statement

Conservation planning that is integrated among bird initiatives and across borders to sustain or restore, at the landscape level, populations of all native birds and their habitats in the Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain Bird Conservation Region.

BCR 13 Initiative Goals & Objectives

The goal of the BCR 13 Initiative is to build a strong biological foundation that enables effective and efficient conservation of migratory bird habitat in the Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain Bird Conservation Region (BCR 13), through a coordinated international effort.

BCR 13 Coordinator: Mitch_Hartley@fws.gov

Specific objectives of this initiative are to:

  1. Determine the highest priority bird species and their habitat needs in this region;
  2. Delineate focus areas and other geographic areas to help guide high priority conservation activities;
  3. Develop population and habitat goals, if applicable, to sustain populations of priority species;
  4. Identify priority research and monitoring needed to test assumptions underlying population and habitat objectives, identify limiting factors, assess population sizes or trends, and guide adaptive management activities;
  5. Develop implementation strategies to deliver conservation actions that restore and sustain native bird populations in this region;
  6. Coordinate implementation efforts, build partnerships, and communicate among local, state, provincial, and international stakeholders.

The BCR 13 Conservation Plan accomplishes the first two objectives above, begins to address the fourth and fifth, and establishes a foundation with which to continue working on all the objectives. The BCR13 Conservation Plan provides strategic guidance for implementing conservation actions across the region. Developing, funding, and implementing priority research, monitoring, and habitat projects (e.g., protection, restoration, and management), and measuring success toward population and habitat goals in an adaptive management framework are long-term goals of BCR 13 partners.

Plan Components

BCR 13