On February 25, the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge coordinated a meeting of individuals interested in royal tern conservation and management. The meeting was held to define management and research objectives for royal terns from the perspective of a royal tern metapopulation. Attendees included biologists from the states of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, The Nature Conservancy, University of North Carolina, U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A working group was formed and a follow-up meeting was held at the refuge on April 8. Researchers from Clemson University (South Carolina) and North Carolina Audubon also attended. As a result of the meeting, a publication on numbers of royal terns nesting on the Atlantic coast north of Georgia will be published. Another outcome will be a 2004 nest count in the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Methods for nest counts will be consistent among states. They will include transects and count at first hatch (one time only).

The working group will meet again in Wilmington, North Carolina, in November.

NORTHEAST REGION, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE -- Conserving the Nature of the Northeast