American Bird Conservancy Brief Chronology

Early 1994

• Bird Conservation Alliance formed to explore how International Council for Bird Preservation, Pan American and U.S. Sections might merge into a single entity.

November, 1994

• Bird Conservation Alliance hires first staff leadership; finalizes plans for merger of predecessor organizations.

January, 1995

• BCA takes name of one of its predecessor organizations: American Bird Conservancy.

April, 1995

• ABC’s first five-year plan distributed. U.S. Important Bird Areas program launched.

May, 1995

• First ABC Policy Council meeting held.

October, 1995

• ABC names San Pedro River, Arizona as first U.S. Important Bird Area.

February, 1996

• 100 Birds of Belize published by ABC.
• Policy Council increases to 50 organizational members.

June, 1996

• ABC staffer and PIF U.S. Coordinator David Pashley announces PIF goal of comprehensive plans for every ecoregion in the U.S.
• Staffer Gerald Winegrad focuses the Policy Council on poisoning of thousands of Swainson’s Hawks by pesticides in Argentina.

August, 1996

San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike. Photo: Tom Grey

• ABC and Policy Council convince U.S. Navy to take emergency steps to prevent the extinction of the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike.

September, 1996

• ABC succeeds in having monocrotophos pulled from the Argentine markets and receives its first feature in the New York Times.

October, 1996

• First issue of Bird Conservation published.

January, 1997

• Logging road stopped at El Carricito, Mexico, ABC’s first on-ground conservation project.

March, 1997

Swainson's Hawk. Photo: USFWS

• Swainson’s Hawk deaths reported as minimal, due to monocrotophos ban.
• All the Birds of North America field guide is completed and delivered.

June, 1997

• Gerald Winegrad and the Policy Council lead campaign to restrict horseshoe crab harvest in the Mid-Atlantic area.

September, 1997
• Cats Indoors! The Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats is officially launched.
• First draft of new ABC-inspired North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) issued.

October, 1997

• An emergency effort to raise funds for the Montserrat Oriole generates $36,000.

May, 1998

• ABC partners with World Parrot Trust to launch conservation program for parrots.
• Ten small grants sent to 10 different countries.

June, 1998

• Team funded by ABC Small Grants discovers breeding colony of extremely rare Yellow-eared Parrot in Central Andes of Colombia.

October, 1998

• Agreement between ABC partner, Bosque Antiguo and Huichol Indian community signed, protecting 25,000 acres at El Carricito, Mexico.

November, 1998

• NABCI kick-off meeting held in Puebla, Mexico with 200 participants.

December, 1998

• ABC launches Pesticides and Wildlife Program.
• The Commission for Environmental Cooperation asks ABC to lead in organizing NABCI.
• ABC-supported project at Infierno, Peru stops killing of Harpy Eagles in Peru; community builds ecotourism lodge.

January, 1999

Pale-headed Brush-finch. Photo: Fundacion Jocotoco

• Pale-headed Brush-finch rediscovered in Ecuador by team funded by ABC.

May, 1999

• ABC supports 15 projects in 10 Latin American countries addressing bird conservation problems resulting from agricultural practices.

June, 1999

• U.S. Steering Committee for NABCI is formed and the vision of “wall to wall” conservation delivery partnerships for birds is described.
• Policy Council begins tackling the tower kill issue.

August, 1999

• Policy Council scores victory in Hawaiian long line by-catch issue.
• ABC and Hawk Mountain file a petition with the FCC to prevent cell tower construction near the sanctuary.

September, 1999

• Pesticide program scores victory in stopping chlorfenapyr registration.
• ABC commissioned by EPA to analyze the likely impacts of global warming on U.S. bird distributions.

October, 1999

• Grant to Bosque Antiguo leads to first ABC-sponsored land purchase at El Carricito, Mexico.

November, 1999

• ABC staffer David Pashley becomes U.S. NABCI Coordinator.

February, 2000

Horseshoe Crab. Photo: USFWS

• ABC and partners persuade Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to reduce horseshoe crab harvest by 25% to protect migrating shorebirds.
• Under EPA contract, ABC initiates the Avian Incident Monitoring System to develop a repository for collection and analysis of all information on bird kills by pesticides.

March, 2000

• Policy Council attains 80th organizational member.

April, 2000

• ABC helps defeat misguided managed cat colony law in Hawaii.

May, 2000

• ABC leads coalition in successfully suing to stop the destruction of the world’s largest Caspian Tern colony in the Columbia River.
• Cape Hatteras National Seashore (NC) and Gateway National Recreation Area (NY) become first public participants in Cats Indoors.

June, 2000

• ABC publishes Communications Towers: A Deadly Hazard to Birds.
• ABC begins project to study effects of climate change on grassland birds, funded by USGS.

July, 2000

• Florida becomes first state to undertake its own ABC-inspired, statewide Cats Indoors! campaign.

August, 2000

• Conservation of Landbirds of the United States published by ABC.
• The Department of Commerce announces a closure of the horseshoe crab fishery in Virginia.

October, 2000

• The pesticide ethyl parathion voluntarily withdrawn from the re-registration process under pressure from ABC.
• ABC protests lead Beal Aerospace to cancel plans to build rocket-launching facility on seabird rookery, Sombrero Island, Anguilla.

February, 2001

• Red Siskin recovery project launched in Guyana.

March, 2001

• Horseshoe crab sanctuary declared off the mouth of Delaware Bay.

April, 2001

• ABC publishes Hilty and Brown’s Birds of Colombia.
• ABC co-publishes Guide to Neotropical Shorebirds in Spanish with World Wildlife Fund, Manomet Center, and Calidris.
• Minnesota becomes second state to launch its own Cats Indoors! program.
• Global Environmental Facility approves $4.8 million silvipasture program led by ABC and international partners.
• ABC assists in EPA cancellation of the insecticide, chlorpyrifos.

May, 2001

• ABC signs contract with USDA Forest Service to hire and support NABCI Bird Conservation Region coordinators in 11 new regions across the country.
• Peruvian Polylepis forest conservation project begun.
• Department of Defense and ABC sign Cats Indoors! contract for military lands.

June, 2001

• The North American Wetlands Conservation Council broadens its emphasis from waterfowl to all wetland bird species in its grant decision-making - a reflection of new conservation thinking wrought by NABCI.
• Newly published Hawaiian longline regulations predicted to reduce seabird mortality by 90%.
• ABC asked by Centers for Disease Control to help fund development of a vaccine for West Nile virus.
• American Veterinary Medicine Association passes a resolution encouraging owners to keep cats indoors.

August, 2001

Caspian Tern. Photo: Tom Grey

• ABC begins program to promote use of efficient “bait bags” with Delaware Bay conch fishermen.
• Cats Indoors! campaign launched in San Francisco area.
• ABC and partners win Caspian Tern lawsuit.

September, 2001

• ABC begins collaborating with the Conservation Fund on restoration of Bird Creek Ranch with National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding.

October, 2001

• ABC holds Tip of the Iceberg pesticides symposium at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
• ABC transfers funds received from Amos Butler Audubon Society to Panama Audubon Society through Conservation Counterparts for purchase of forest at El Chorogo, Panama’s highest priority IBA.
• A major ABC grant to Fundacion Jocotoco allows purchase of expansion of cloud forest reserve in southern Ecuador, home to El Oro Parakeet and 26 other range-restricted species.
• Cats Indoors! kicked off in Austin, Puget Sound, and Cape May.

December, 2001

California Brown Pelican. Photo: USFWS

• ABC leads successful NGO efforts to allowing removal of rats from Anacapa Island to enhance seabird breeding.

January, 2002

• ABC publishes the report, Sudden Death on the High Seas - Longline Fishing: A Global Catastrophe for Seabirds.
• Brevard County, Florida adopts tower ordinance in response to proposal based on ABC recommendations.
• Navy adopts a favorable new policy on feral cats supported by ABC.

April, 2002

• ABC and its partners win lawsuit protecting the world’s largest Caspian Tern colony in the Columbia River Basin, Washington.
• ABC begins work on Alliance for Zero Extinction with Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, and World Parks Endowment.

May, 2002

• First tri-national NABCI projects identified.
• Home Depot removes diazinon from store shelves and ABC succeeds in restricting its use in commercial applications for fruits.
• The Birdwatcher’s Guide to Global Warming is published by ABC and National Wildlife Federation.

June, 2002

• Joint ABC, National Geographic, The Nature Conservancy, American Birding Association Important Bird Areas map published.

July, 2002

• ABC forms partnership to successfully oppose emergency EPA exemption allowing carbofuran use in Louisiana.

August, 2002

• ABC files petition with FCC contesting the location of new towers in the Gulf Coast region.

September, 2002

• National Pesticide Coalition is formed by ABC.

October, 2002

• ABC, Defenders of Wildlife, and Florida Wildlife Federation join to sue EPA regarding the pesticide, fenthion.

December, 2002

• ABC completes eighth consecutive year in which income exceeds expenditures.

February, 2003

• ABC, Forest Council, and Friends of the Earth file a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission to enjoin the FCC from issuing any new licenses for the building of communication towers in the Gulf Coast region.
• Delaware and New Jersey announce closure of horseshoe crab harvest May 1-June 7 and capping of landings at about 50% of last year.
• ABC begins project with Corps of Engineers about how to make dredge spoil islands suitable for nesting birds.

March, 2003

• Bird Creek Ranch project completed in Montana (flagship project for the larger Madison-Missouri initiative).
• New Jersey Cats Indoors! statewide campaign launched.
• Building the AIMS database completed; records being loaded.

April, 2003

• Bayer, the only manufacturer of fenthion, submits an irrevocable request to EPA to cancel all registrations of fenthion in the U.S.
• AZ Fish & Game draft policy against TNR.

May, 2003

Double-crested Cormorant. Photo: USFWS

• Study plots established and training accomplished to initiate bird monitoring program in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua for silvipasture project.
• Activist alert issued by ABC and partners opposing FWS Double-crested Cormorant depredation order successful in generating more than 10,000 letters.

June, 2003

• Oregon Cascades Birding Trail Guide published by ABC and partners.
• Under pressure from ABC and others, the pesticide diazinon is voluntarily withdrawn from registration in the U.S.
• ABC and NPC members successfully block emergency exemptions requested by four states to use carbofuran.
• The Red Siskin is listed as endangered in Guyana, culminating a long-term effort by ABC and others.
• Florida disallows feral cat colonies on state lands and restricts establishment of colonies in other locations.
• ABC begins new program with ED and American Tree Farm System to enlist tree farmers in endangered species protection in the Southeast.

July, 2003

• Due to ABC and partner efforts, WA Wildlife Service stops killing all Caspian Terns, and reduces take of waterbirds in 2003 significantly.

August, 2003

• ABC supports rat eradication on Kiska Island (AK).

September, 2003

• AZE presentation before World Parks Congress results in the Congress committing to AZE goals.

October, 2003

• Important Bird Areas of the U.S. published by ABC.

January, 2004

• With support from ABC, citizens of Alachua County, Florida persuade their Planning Commission to reject a proposed 306' guyed lattice communication tower and approve a bird-friendlier, self-supporting tower.
• ABC helped ProAves Colombia acquire 848 hectares to create the Reserva Natural El Paujil, to conserve the critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow (and other rare species).
• As a result of ABC intervention, the number of vultures killed by USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Service in Virginia declined from 562 in 2002 to 76 in 2003.

February, 2004

• As a result of ABC’s work, FAA issues a memorandum preventing the use of solid red lights on new towers except under extraordinary circumstances.
• ABC and the National Pesticide Reform Coalition succeed in getting EPA administrators to consider avian impacts in risk assessment and review for granting of experimental use permits for genetically engineered crops.
• The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Eastern Seaboard states will make permanent restrictions on the harvest of horseshoe crabs to prohibit all taking during their critical spawning in Delaware Bay.

March, 2004

• ABC launches Bird Conservation Alliance to draw the policy, habitat, and international communities of bird conservation into closer collaboration and communication for greater leverage and conservation results. The 88-member organizations of the Policy Council voted unanimously to become BCA.
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminants Division present ABC with their “Outstanding Partner Award.”
• ABC’s Merrie Morrison receives the Partners in Flight award, which recognizes exceptional contributions to the field of landbird conservation for ABC’s Bird Conservation magazine.
• The USDA Forest Service contracts ABC to support priority bird conservation work identified through NABCI in five regions (Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, Prairie Potholes, Central Hardwoods, and Atlantic Northeast).
• ABC leads in the writing, publication, and distribution of Partners in Flight North American Landbird Conservation Plan.

April, 2004

• ABC files a petition to the FCC requesting an environmental impact statement in Hawaii, and that the FCC refrain from authorizing new towers in the Hawaiian Islands.
• ABC helps support expedition to Belize to explore key stopover habitat for Cerulean Warbler.

May, 2004

• ABC and the American Wind Energy Association co-sponsors a meeting attended by more than 60 groups: Wind, Birds and Bats Workshop: Understanding and Resolving Bird and Bat Impacts.
• ABC launches collaborative Birds and Crops project with EPA and George Mason University.

June, 2004

Laysan Albatross chick. Photo: USFWS

• ABC works with USFWS to implement a lead paint remediation plan to prevent lead poisoning and deaths of an estimated 1,000 Laysan Albatross chicks on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge each year.
• Fundacion Jocotoco purchases 32-hectares at Buenaventura Reserve to protect the El Oro Parakeet.

July, 2004

• ABC works with partners on the following land purchases: El Chorogo in Panama to protect habitat for Baird’s Trogon, Three-wattled Bellbird, and other important species.
• ABC and Conservation International sponsor a successful expedition to relocate the Cozumel Thrasher on the island of Cozumel, Mexico.
• The American Forest Foundation and ABC produced the Pine Ecosystem Conservation Handbook.

August, 2004

• ABC and Aves Uruguay co-sponsor 3rd International Albatross and Petrel Conference in Uruguay.
• ABC receives grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of $2.3 million over three years, to develop and implement conservation plans, acquire habitat, and manage sites critical to several AZE birds in the Upper Maranon Valley of Northern Peru and Southeastern Ecuador.

September, 2004

• ABC led efforts to gain inclusion of seabirds and their conservation in the Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.

October, 2004

Laughing Gull. Photo: USFWS

• ABC acts quickly to leverage funds purchase 298 hectares at the Jorupe Reserve to protect endangered Henna-hooded and Rufous-necked Foliage-Gleaner and threatened Red-masked Parakeet and Gray-cheeked Parakeet.
• Western Oak Habitat Project: ABC provides leadership to over 50 partners in British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California, Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala on two projects for oak habitat and bird conservation.

December, 2004

• ABC receives a multi-year grant from Mitsubishi International Corporation Foundation to support the Private Land Conservation Program in Sinaloa, Mexico. This grant will be used to purchase 3,000 hectares of wetlands, forming the nucleus of a private nature reserve for breeding colonies of Blue-footed Booby, Laughing Gull, Heermann’s Gull, and Royal and Least Terns, as well as high concentrations of wintering and transient shorebirds and waterfowl.

January, 2005

• First in a series of regional workshops on dredging, beach nourishment, and bird conservation, sponsored by ABC and the U.S. Corps of Engineers at Jekyll Island, Georgia.

March, 2005

• An ABC-sponsored expedition discovers a new population of Stresemann’s Bristlefront in Macarani County in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.
• ProAves purchases 2,200 ha (in six tracts) in Colombia to protect the critically endangered Colorful Puffleg and Munchique Wood-Wren.
• ABC’s online Avian Incident Monitoring System (AIMS) released to the public, along with companion database, Birds in Agricultural Areas (BIAA).

April, 2005

• ABC filed suit in federal court against the FCC, based on violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This litigation addresses communication towers in the Gulf Coast flyway.
• Under a two-year cooperative agreement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), ABC is developing bird management guidelines for habitats potentially affected by Farm Bill programs in every U.S. Bird Conservation Region.

May, 2005

• ABC staff appointed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to serve on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Recovery Team.
• ABC works with partners in Ecuador to acquire an addition to the Milpe Reserve, create a new reserve at Pedro Vicente Maldonado and acquire 47 hectares (two tracts) at Utuana by Fundacion Jocotoco to protect critical habitat for endangered Black-cowled Saltator and Purple-throated Sunangel.
• Letter-writing campaign by ABC and BCA successfully blocks an emergency request to EPA by farmers in Louisiana to apply the pesticide carbofuran.

June, 2005

• With funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, ABC and ECOAN purchased 250 hectares of Yungas forest to establish the Abra Patricia Nature Reserve, bringing the total size of the reserve to 400 hectares.

Least Tern. Photo: USFWS

• As part of a larger project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to establish scientifically-based management strategies to conserve and increase Interior Least Tern populations throughout their range, ABC and its partners concluded the first ever range-wide survey of Interior Least Terns and identified critical nesting sites for future management emphasis.

July, 2005

• Continued pressure from ABC and BCA results in unanimous approval of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Improvement Act, by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee.
• ABC, Forest Conservation Council, and Conservation Council for Hawaii files suit in federal court against the FCC for violating the ESA’s requirement to consult with FWS on the impact of seven towers in Hawaii on two ESA-listed species, the Newell’s Shearwater, and Hawaiian Petrel.
• ABC negotiates a formal settlement regarding two towers in Louisiana, resulting in the tower lighting being upgraded from existing fixed incandescent to bird-friendly strobes.
• The World Conservation Union (IUCN) decides to use AZE criteria for identifying priority conservation sites.

August, 2005

Male Dusky Starfrontlet. Photo:

• ABC and ProAves Colombia acquire 650 hectares to establish the Dusky Starfrontlet Bird Reserve in the “Páramo Frontino.”
• ABC and ProAves purchase a 200-hectare reserve in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia to protect key wintering habitat for the Cerulean Warbler—the first-ever protected area in Latin America designated for a North American songbird. It will also protect three rare endemic species including the threatened Gorgeted Wood-Quail.

November, 2005

• BCA launches its first fundraising project: protecting the endangered Worthen’s Sparrow and other threatened species in Mexico’s Saltillo Savannah region.

December, 2005

• More than 40 parcels of land -at 13 reserves- acquired through our partners in 2005!

January, 2006

• ABC raised emergency funding for Fundación ProAves to purchase 1,600 acres in Colombia to protect the sole breeding grounds for the globally endangered Santa Marta Parakeet.

March, 2006

• ABC provided funding to Fundacion Jocotoco to expand Tapichalaca reserve to protect the Jocotoco Antpitta, an Alliance for Zero Extinction target species.
• ABC launched the first U.S. postage stamps to support wildlife conservation.

June, 2006

• ABC succeeded in having the first language protecting albatrosses and other seabirds included in the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, our nation’s primary ocean fisheries legislation.

July, 2006

• With funding from ABC, the first conservation easement in northern Peru was signed between a local community and ABC’s Peruvian partner, Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos to protect priority habitat of the critically endangered Marvelous Spatuletail.

August, 2006

Red-tailed Hawk. Photo: USFWS

• ABC, the Bird Conservation Alliance, and the National Pesticide Reform Coalition won a major victory in convincing EPA to cancel the registration of carbofuran, a pesticide that is used on rice and cotton, but has deadly consequences for birds, especially eagles and hawks.

September, 2006

• ABC and the Piedmont Environmental Council produced and distributed a landowners’ guide to bird conservation for Piedmont birds.
• ABC organized and facilitated the 2006 Northeast Coordinated Bird Monitoring Workshop as part of a larger collaborative project with Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences to improve the effectiveness of bird monitoring from Virginia to Maine.
• A new species of bird, the Yariguíes Brush-Finch, was recently discovered on property adjacent to the new Cerulean Warbler Reserve in Colombia.

October, 2006

• The Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Improvement Act of 2006 (H.R. 518) was signed into law. ABC and the Bird Conservation Alliance fought for passage of the legislation, which provides $6.5 million in grants for the conservation of neotropical migratory birds.

November, 2006

• The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) announced it will propose a rulemaking that could help prevent the killing of millions of migratory birds at nearly 90,000 communications towers throughout the U.S.
• The critically endangered Magdalena Tinamou, among the most poorly-known and endangered taxa in the world, was described from a single specimen collected in the western foothills of Colombia's East Andes in 1943. With no further sightings, the species was considered extinct. This month, the tinamou was rediscovered within the Cerulean Warbler Reserve created with funding provided by ABC.
• ABC’s work with a coalition of conservationists in Delaware has led to the Department of Natural Resources declaring a two year moratorium on horseshoe crab harvest.