Intermountain West Joint Venture

Summary of Shorebird Planning

The shorebird planning effort builds upon the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan initiated in the mid-90s and the 2005 Intermountain West Joint Venture Coordinated Bird Conservation Plan. The Intermountain West Regional Shorebird Plan (IWRSP) falls almost entirely within the IWJV and will provide the scientific foundation for the development of objectives for shorebird habitat conservation. The larger goal is to support the IWRSP by implementation of its habitat goals through the tenets of Strategic Habitat Conservation, specifically by developing shorebird population objectives linked to quantifiable habitat objectives.

A team of leading biologists focused on shorebird conservation in the Intermountain West was convened to develop and guide the process. This team has developed a two-pronged approach to setting population/habitat objectives based on spatial and temporal use of the JV. It will develop geospatial models for the highest priority breeding shorebirds and will scale them at the Bird Conservation Region level. Given that the common currency in these models is density of breeding species, and considering the complexity and sheer size of the JV and shorebird use of this area, the team believed a large-scale modeling effort would not adequately address the needs of passage (migrant or staging) shorebirds. Therefore, the team decided to develop energetic models for passage shorebirds at a site scale. This is particularly relevant to passage shorebird use of the JV, since the majority of passage shorebird species consistently use a discrete number of sites in the JV as “oasis.”

In addition, Key Sites have been identified, which can be used to develop more sophisticated conservation planning objectives. This will maintain the historic focus of this JV to on-the-ground initiatives. “Key Site Conservation Strategies” will be developed in coordination with local area partners to serve as models of how the IWJV Implementation Plan will be used at important shorebird sites. The following initial Key Sites were selected for development of pilot plans based on their level of importance to migrant shorebirds and the existence of partners interested in developing a Key Site Conservation Strategy: Great Salt Lake, UT; Blanca Wetlands, CO; and Lahontan Valley, NV.