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
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