The Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture  is a bird conservation partnership of federal and state agencies and non-government organizations from across the Midwest.  The Laurentian Mixed Forest/Great Lakes Coastal Biology Network membership includes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge and private lands biologists and managers from the northern third of the region.  On December 9, 2008, Joint Venture staff met with network members to share information and improve connectivity between JV regional bird planning efforts and Service refuge and private land initiatives.  The meeting took place at the Green Point Nature Center, a public outreach facility of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Michigan.

In early 2008, the JV completed a revised Implementation Plan, which included development of regional habitat conservation strategies for waterfowl, shorebirds, landbirds, and waterbirds.  In addition, habitat objectives from the four JV bird-group strategies were melded and decision support maps were generated to better target bird conservation activities across the region.  This challenging process took three years to complete and required the assembly of bird conservation scientists with varied expertise.  Although the effort was spearheaded by JV staff, experts in bird biology, ecology, and modeling from several partner wildlife agencies and non-government organizations were instrumental in the planning endeavor.  Population and habitat trends, coupled with knowledge of how species should respond to landscape change, were used to build a biological foundation and set quantifiable conservation objectives. 

JV staff members are currently "marketing" these planning products to assure information is used by key land managers such as members of the Laurentian Mixed Forest/Great Lakes Coastal Biology Network.  Gatherings like the one at Green Point Nature Center result in two-way information sharing.  In addition to discussing regional bird planning products, JV staff learned about unique and interesting bird habitat and other conservation projects resulting from efforts of Service field personnel.  Moreover, cross-programmatic interaction typically results in follow-up one-on-one conversations, and this meeting was no exception.  Several associated discussions about specific bird conservation opportunities took place between network members and JV staff during meeting breaks. 

Although the JV Implementation Plan is a valuable decision tool at the regional scale, meeting participants were reminded that local area knowledge should normally supersede a regional plan when management information is conflicting.  Likewise, bird conservation information is incomplete and imperfect.  There are many assumptions and uncertainties identified in the JV plan, and evaluation needs (research and monitoring) to fill information gaps are stated explicitly.  The JV planning process uses an adaptive approach - plan, implement, evaluate - with future iterations of these documents being developed as new information can be incorporated.  For more information about the JV partnership and Implementation Plan, visit www.UpperMissGreatLakesJV.org