During this Centennial year of the Migratory Bird treaty between the U.S. and Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have looked back over a century of bird conservation successes and challenges as well as looked forward to a future of collaborative bird conservation. Stemming from a charge by the leaders of our three countries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico have been leading an effort to develop a hemispheric vision for bird conservation over the next 100 years.  The initial draft was released on 7 December 2016 at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. and serves both as a recommitment to collaborative tri-national bird conservation, as well as an invitation to the broader bird conservation community to collaborate on further development and implementation of a hemispheric bird conservation vision.

Over the next six months, we will seek additional input from our three countries’ NABCI Committees and communities to broaden the original federal vision to reflect all NABCI partners. This NABCI-endorsed vision will be presented at the Trilateral Committee of Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management meeting in Mexico next summer.  Our three countries will then use this tri-nationally approved vision to approach nations in Central and South America and invite them to partner with us to develop and implement a hemispheric conservation plan that addresses conservation issues at the scale most relevant to migratory birds.

In the US, NABCI’s International Subcommittee will lead the incorporation of a broader NABCI community perspective, but we invite feedback from anyone in the bird conservation community that is interested in contributing to this effort.  I have attached the draft vision here. To submit comments for consideration, please email vision@nabci.net no later than 15 April 2017.