Fact Sheet
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
August 28, 2006

Purpose of Initiative
The Partners in Flight (PIF) partnership of public and private organizations, begun in 1990, assists with conservation of bird populations in the Western Hemisphere through improved monitoring and inventorying, research, management, and education programs on birds and their habitats. PIF was organized because of the concern regarding declining migratory bird populations. PIF works for the conservation of all terrestrial birds of the Americas.

Partners
PIF partners include 16 federal agencies, 146 NGOs, 15 industry members, 60 state and provincial fish and wildlife agencies, and numerous universities and individuals in North and Central America.

Partnership Targets
The partnership's main focus is to comprehensively address bird conservation issues in the Americas through the improvement of monitoring and inventory, research, management and education programs involving birds and their habitats.

Progress Toward Targets
In January 2004, the partnership published the North American Landbird Conservation Plan, which is a biological assessment with recommendations for conservation measures of 448 species of landbirds that regularly breed in Canada and the U.S.

To assist researchers and avian conservationists with research and monitoring needs, PIF launched a searchable database in October 2003, which is available at(www.partnersinflight.org/pifneeds/searchform.cfm). In September 2005, The Five Elements Process: Designing Optimal Landscapes to Meet Bird Conservation Objectives was published to provide a conceptual framework for multi-species conservation action at the landscape level.

Also in September 2005, the partnership completed High Priority Needs for Range-wide Monitoring of North American Landbirds. This document assesses the adequacy of long-term population trend data for 448 species of landbirds and make recommendations as to techniques and approaches that can improve the collection of long-term trend data.
In October 2005, the Partners in Flight Species Assessment Handbook was updated to describe the methods used to assess future vulnerability of landbirds. This process has been applied to other birds and some reptiles and seems to work well.

To help state and provincial wildlife agencies discover where they can best focus resources during the non-breeding season, in March 2006 maps were created and made available on the PIF website to show the overlap among winter ranges of priority Canadian and U.S. bird species.

Next Steps

• Update the North American Landbird Conservation plan by including nearly 500 species of landbirds that regularly breed in Mexico.
• Conduct workshops on species assessment in Mexico and Venezuela to explore the use of this process in prioritizing conservation work in Meso and South America.
• On the PIF web site, provide the data and background that were used to estimate the global population sizes for 448 species of landbirds that appeared in the North American Landbird Conservation Plan. Provide a mechanism to receive feedback from partners at various geographic scales to update and refine these estimates.
• Participate in the North American Bird Conservation Initiative's Monitoring Subcommittee to work out ways of obtaining improved population monitoring data in an efficient manner.
• Create an interactive web-based tool that will allow the user to choose up to 60-70 species and overlay their range maps. This will include both North American migrants and residents in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Improve on-the-ground conservation action by working more closely with Joint Ventures, the Important Bird Areas Program, and international NGOs and agencies throughout the Americas.
• Secure increased funding and a lowered match requirement for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act.

The 4th International PIF Conference will be held February 13-16, 2008, at the McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, Texas.

Resources
Funding for the various PIF activities and products are provided by the public and private partners, based on their interests and capabilities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the lead agency for this initiative and funds a national coordinator. The combined resources of federal, state, academic, and local NGO partners are used in the development and implementation of plans and other actions. For additional information, please visit the PIF website.

Point of Contact
Terrell D. Rich, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, (208) 378-5347, e-mail: terry_rich@fws.gov.

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