Habitat Tool Prioritizes Saltmarsh Sparrow Habitat The ACJV has adopted a long-term population objective of sustaining 25,000 breeding Saltmarsh Sparrows. To achieve this objective, we must first identify where the highest-priority habitat exists to support the population. To this end, the Saltmarsh Sparrow Working Group has developed a Habitat Prioritization Tool to identify the most [...]
Black Duck Decision Support Tool Helps Target Conservation Action The American Black Duck was once the most abundant dabbling duck in eastern North America. Black duck populations began declining steadily in the 1950s and reached an all-time low by the 1980s, having lost more than half of their historical population. Populations have stabilized since then, [...]
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Includes Black Duck Priorities in Chesapeake Bay Strategic Plan The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) partnered with the ACJV to identify restoration and enhancement priorities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that meet both water quality and American Black Duck habitat goals. Through the Black Duck Decision Support Tool, the [...]
Salt Marsh Bird Conservation Business Plan for the Atlantic Coast At a 2014 Partners in Flight meeting in Virginia Beach, a group of bird conservation partners from the Atlantic and Gulf coast began to develop a conservation business plan for tidal marsh birds. That planning process identified a suite of highest-priority bird species, which included [...]
Eastern Black Rail Listing Update In October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced their proposal to list the Eastern Black Rail subspecies as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). After a review of the best available information, the Service determined the subspecies meets the definition of threatened because it is likely to [...]
Saltmarsh Sparrow in the New York Times Saltmarsh Sparrows nest in high marsh grasses just above the mean high tide line. They have naturally adapted to occasional flooding events; eggs can survive short periods of inundation and young birds often climb to safety in the grass above the nest. However, more than a foot of [...]
At the 2014 Northeast & Southeast Partners in Flight meeting in Virginia Beach, a group of partners from the Atlantic and Gulf coast began to develop a conservation business plan (CBP) for tidal marsh birds. Led by the researchers involved in the Saltmarsh Habitat Avian Research Program (SHARP), a draft plan was partially completed, which [...]
Last summer, for the third year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with the Student Conservation Association (SCA), offered 59 fellowship opportunities nationwide, to students enrolled or accepted in undergraduate or graduate degree programs, for its Directorate Resource Assistant Fellows Program (DFP). The DFP is an 11-week summer fellowship designed to provide students [...]
In FY17, grants awarded to the ACJV contributed to the ACJV’s new focus on conservation of coastal marshes and three flagship species: American Black Duck, Black Rail, and Saltmarsh Sparrow. In FY17, 10 Standard North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grants, 11 NAWCA Small grants, 11 National Coastal Wetland Conservation grants, and 2 Great Lakes [...]
While flying above the Atlantic Ocean, one of the members of the joint Atlantis-International Space Station crews took this photo of the Delmarva Peninsula from the orbiting complex on July 16, 2011. NASA This August ACJV staff and partners secured a $75k grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) to increase and accelerate [...]