Landscape Level Conservation

This is the geographic scale at which ABC does the vast majority of its domestic habitat work. We work within Bird Conservation Regions, 35 ecologically delineated areas covering all of the United States , as our major planning unit. We work administratively within Joint Ventures, which are autonomous public-private partnerships dedicated to bird conservation within a particular region, most of which are defined by BCRs. Landscape level conservation is guided by principals of Strategic Habitat Conservation.

The first step is to lay a solid Biological Foundation. This involves identification of priority birds, knowledge of their population status, habitat relationships and needs, and establishment of population objectives. The second step is Conservation Design, which involves detailed mapping of a BCR and construction of a vision of sustainable bird populations at prescribed levels. It becomes a road map for on-the-ground conservation, which is a site-based activity. The final component of Strategic Habitat Conservation is evaluation, in which the response by bird populations to changes in land conditions, either through management or undirected activities, is assessed. The key to evaluation is that results must be used to re-evaluate assumptions used in setting the Biological Foundation and Conservation Design. This feedback loop is known as adaptive resource management.

ABC and its partners are involved in all aspects of Strategic Habitat Conservation in many parts of the country.