International Conference Lauds Bird Conservation Champions

Birds like these eagle chicks in Panama City are among the many species that benefit from international cooperation on conservation.

Washington — Bird conservationists gathering in Utah for the Fifth Annual Partners in Flight (PIF) International Conference on August 28 celebrated six winners of this year’s PIF awards.

The awards recognized outstanding bird conservation achievements throughout the Americas in the areas of communications, innovative leadership, insightful ecological investigation, lifetime achievements and sound land stewardship.

“I congratulate the award winners for their vision, dedication and exceptional commitment in protecting migratory birds,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Assistant Director for Migratory Birds Jerome Ford. “Each of these conservation champions has demonstrated exceptional passion for achieving bird conservation on many levels.”

These are the 2013 award winners:

• George Angher, for his collaboration with diverse organizations and agencies and his involvement in publishing The Birds of Panama guide, as well as his critical scientific research about Panama’s important bird areas. His work has resulted in worldwide recognition of Panama as a country of global significance to migratory birds.

• Barbara Bresson, for more than two decades facilitating partnerships throughout Oregon and Washington state on behalf of PIF. She integrates avian conservation programs into federal agency activities, helping ensure PIF priority species are considered in land management plans.

• David Buehler, for his contributions to the success of the Cerulean Warbler Forest Management Project. Under his direction, the project has identified how and where forest management can be used to create, restore and enhance cerulean warbler breeding habitat. This knowledge has led to the development of cerulean warbler best management practices that show forest landowners and managers how to manage proactively for these birds.

• Thomas Will, for his work in Minnesota as a wildlife biologist for USFWS. He has tackled important challenges facing migratory birds, such as the need to better understand anthropogenic causes of bird mortality and the effects of climate change on birds.

• The National Trust for the Cayman Islands, the only nongovernmental organization implementing land purchases for biodiversity protection in the Cayman Islands. It has secured all or a large part of four of the Cayman Islands and 10 important bird areas to protect 179 nonbreeding migrant species, including the threatened Cuban parrot, the Vitelline warbler, the white crown pigeon and the West Indian whistling duck.

• Jennie Duberstein, for her work as the USFWS education and outreach coordinator for the Sonoran Joint Venture. Her work in the United States and Mexico brings training and materials to communities, schools and biologists and shares critical bird conservation messages across borders.

PIF was launched in 1990 in response to growing concerns about declines in the populations of many land bird species and to emphasize conservation of birds not covered by existing initiatives. The central premise of PIF is that the resources of public and private organizations in North America and South America must be combined, coordinated and increased to achieve success in conserving bird populations in the hemisphere.

PIF is a cooperative effort involving partnerships among federal, state and local government agencies, philanthropic foundations, professional organizations, conservation groups, industry, the academic community and private individuals. For more information, visit the Partners in Flight website.