U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Division of Conservation Partnerships

Ecological Services
Southeast Region
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Vision: The vision of the Division of Conservation Partnerships (DCP) is to conserve federal trust resources through a partnership approach. By working together, the component programs in this division (Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Coastal program, National Wetland Inventory, and ESA recovery tools) will achieve more than each can independently.

We approach our job by:

• Focusing on the resources

• Taking every opportunity to define the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the public and ensure they are aware of our mission

• Seeking to engage more people in accomplishing the mission.

We see it as a priority to:

• Demonstrate the effective and efficient use of limited conservation dollars and personnel which produces the largest conservation achievements in line with the Service's mission

• Create incentives for conservation

• Maximize the technical and fiscal resources that get put on the ground in strategic locations to achieve specific resource targets

• Organize and distribute the best information, materials, tools, and techniques to support and implement our strategic approach to conservation

• Demonstrate leadership in implementing the strategic habitat conservation approach

• Facilitate a RDT team that will establish cross-program agreement on priority species and geographic focus areas; collate information (spatial and otherwise) on priority species and focus areas; manage information relative to the identified priorities; and show leadership in driving the conservation actions that should occur to address these priorities We share the following guiding principles:

• Partnerships are essential to our success: We work in partnership with customers inside and outside the Service

• We are committed to a highly trained and diverse work force

• We strive to achieve enhanced communication across program and agency boundaries so that all can better utilize limited resources for conservation

• We work to increase administrative efficiency and eliminate unnecessary processes and procedures

• We work to federal funds with other resources

• We are committed to the concept of strategic habitat conservation-a priority landscape approach to sustainable habitat conservation where on-The-ground actions are based on conservation planning and design and measured through monitoring and research

Anticipated five year accomplishments:

CROSS PROGRAM ACTION ITEMS:

• Chair a yearly meeting among all discretionary fund managers to help ensure that Regional Director's priorities are reflected in funding decisions

• Ensure that all DCP programs work within ES and with other Service Programs in developing and adjusting a working list of regional priority habitats, species and geographic focus areas by end of year FY 2007

• Explore and develop efficient access and guidance for use of existing data base information, and identify and develop new data sets needed to answer specific questions by mid-year 2008

• Develop and carry out, by the end of FY 2008, one regional workshop for Service Program staff to address the continued collaboration between habitat improvement and the conservation of listed and candidate species and species of concern

• Develop and carry out, by the end ofFY 2008, two workshops with key partners and stakeholders regionwide to address continued collaboration and cooperation in achieving mutual conservation goals as established in strategic plans

• As part of the end of year closeout, evaluate all DCP functions to determine which, if any, can be delegated to the field

• Develop and carry out by the end of FY 2008, a workshop with regional contracting, budget and other support programs to explore, develop and implement streamlining methods and processes .. Initiate, by the end of FY 2009, a working group to develop and implement an effective monitoring protocol to track baseline project conditions and biological responses to specific habitat improvement actions e Immediately assign a DCP staff person to coordinate the development and implementation of the Strategic Habitat Conservation initiative with the U. S. Geological Survey, other Federal agencies, States, Universities and others and assist with the development and implementation of long-term validation monitoring and research designed to evaluate the population response of specific focal species to habitat improvenlent actions

• By the beginning of FY 2008, update Individual Development Plans to ensure that all DCP staff include training in partnership devdopment, communication and negotiation methods, and education/outreach strategies; Work closely with The National Training Center to develop a training module that addresses these topics • Develop and make available through the Internet or other approved forums, one or more partnership and species success stories each year that effectively demonstrate cross-program conservation efforts with measurable results

• Provide a quarterly accomplishment briefings to the Regional Directorate and Project highlighting DCP success stories, partnership initiatives, and other pertinent information

• Provide by mid-FY 08, guidance to all Service staff on internet information sources for Farm Bill information and training specific to how conservation programs (Service and USDA) can contribute to achieving specific conservation goals

SPECIFIC PROGRAM ACTION ITEMS:

Conservation Partnership Deveiopment:

Assess the current partnership opportunities in the Region and various on-going activities at a regional and national level, prioritize activities and involvement

Assess the current level of partnership development in each field office and the conservation priorities and focus of the partnerships

Establish a Regional Office Working Group with representatives from all Service Programs to explore more effective information sharing and coordination mechanisms

Develop working list of Regional priority habitats, species and geographic focus areas for all Service Division/Trust Resources (mig birds, fisheries, Refuges, TIE)

Establish a Regional database coordination group to explore and develop efficient access and use of existing data base information, and identify and develop new data sets to answer specific information needs Species Assessment Program:

Assess current candidate species and identify species where conservation actions may preclude the need to list the species within a 5 year period

Assess current candidate species and identify species that would benefit from conservation partnerships and regulatory mechanisms within a 5 year period

Develop working list of Regional priority habitats, species and geographic focus areas for proposed and Candidate species

hare information developed with all programs Candidate Conservation and Safe Harbor Programs:

Develop and implement a regional cross- program Candidate Conservation Pilot initiative according to the Director's guidance (Draft document in preparation)

Participate in a National Workshop involving other Service programs to address effective and efficient coordination and conservation partnerships

Develop and carry out regional \vorkshops \vith the l'Jatural Resources

Conservation Service that address coordination issues involving Farm Bill conservation and other programs

Integrate on the ground habitat restoration programs such as Coastal and Partners with ESA financial and regulatory incentive programs using the most efficient and effective administrative mechanisms

Through adaptive management continue to refine and update priority species, areas,

Recovery Program:

Delist 2 species, Downlist 1 species

Complete 5-year reviews for all Southeast Region listed species based on existing plan

Complete recovery plans for 3 Southeast Region listed species lacking recovery plans

Ignite a landmark recovery effort (e.g. on the level of the whooping crane reintroduction)

Have a recognizable regional event for National Endangered Species Day (May 11th)

Develop a strategic education materials on the recovery program

Continue internal education and communication so that all are aware of existing recovery plans and recovery programs for listed species (e.g. do not reinvent the wheel)

Generate more success stories of where multiple conservation efforts are coming together and making results; and publicize those efforts

Ensure that Recovery Plans include existing habitat improvement programs (e.g., Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Coastal, Section 7, National Wetland Inventory, etc.) and their contributions to recovery.

Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal Programs:

Focus habitat improvement efforts in designated focus areas and for priority species benefits identified through cross-progranl collaboration

Continue each fiscal year to identify opportunities within designated geographic focus areas where the delivery of habitat improvement projects on private lands through voluntary partnership agreements will provide benefits to priority protected, candidate and species of concern

Fully implement our Strategic Plans, including our stated targets for habitats restored, enhanced, and protected

National Wetland Inventory (NWI) Program:

Ensure that all NWI products are made available to Service Programs

Produce and Provide NWI Program information to other Program areas in a timely manner

Explore the need for and availability of other geographic information data sets for yvetlands and wetland related factors (e.g., floodplains associated with ll1ajor river and stream systems; priority wetlands types such as Palustrine wetlands, mountain

Provide Disaster Planning as needed

Provide guidance and examples on how to use NWI wetland data to access the impacts of sea level rise, global cliInate change, and energy development

Investigate the possibility of using the NWI National website as a portal for education and outreach (The national site is accessed about 43 million times a year with ~ 2 million users actually extract wetland map data each year)

International Sea Turtle Conservation:

Investigate linkages between Atlantic Ocean threats and U. S. nesting populations of loggerheads and establish partnerships to address identifiable threats with appropriate countries such as Canada, Portugal, Spain

Ensure that reauthorization of Marine Turtle Conservation Act in 2009 includes amendments which expand support for all turtles species in foreign countries

Establish a conservation partnership program from Senegal to Angola to conserve West Afric~ leatherback populations

Provide leadership, technical and financial support to establish a Caribbean wide network of nesting beach monitoring sites for the Caribbean hawksbill population that encompasses at least 50% of important nesting beaches

 

National Strategic Habitat Conservation