Monitoring and evaluation are integral components of an iterative, science-based approach to bird conservation and management. The value of monitoring and evaluation is often judged by how well information obtained from the results of conservation and management actions is regularly incorporated into future decision-making. It is essential to ensure that the components of monitoring are in place at the beginning of any conservation or management activity and that data collection and analysis are statistically sound and designed to provide useful information for future decisions.
The NABCI Monitoring Subcommittee was established in 2005 to provide technical expertise and recommendations for improving bird monitoring such that effective and efficient integrated monitoring programs are in place, institutionally supported, and informing conservation throughout the full annual cycle. The actions undertaken by the Subcommittee are intended to complement and support existing collaborative partnerships (i.e., Avian Knowledge Alliance), Joint Ventures, planning efforts, programs, and activities associated with the U.S NABCI Committee. The Subcommittee’s activities are directly linked to the overarching NABCI goal of “delivering the full spectrum of bird conservation through regionally based, biologically driven, landscape-oriented partnerships.”
In addition, this Subcommittee supports the goals stated in the February 2007 report entitles, “Opportunities for Improving Avian Monitoring,” as follows:
- Fully integrate monitoring into bird conservation and management practices and ensure that monitoring is aligned with management and conservation priorities.
- Coordinate monitoring programs among organizations and integrate them across spatial scales to solve conservation or management problems
- Increase the value of monitoring information by improving statistical design.
- Maintain bird population monitoring data in modern data management systems. Recognizing legal, institutional, proprietary, and other constraints provide greater availability of raw data, associated metadata, and summary data from bird monitoring activities and programs.
Projects, Products, and Resources
- Opportunities for Improving Avian Monitoring (2007)
- Data Management for Bird Population Monitoring Policy Statements (2009)
- Data Management Best Practices and Standards for Biodiversity Data Applicable to Bird Monitoring Data (2010)
- Standard Sampling Grids for Avian Monitoring Programs (2013)
- NABCI Demographic Monitoring Workshop Notes (2014)
- NABCI Monitoring Subcommittee Charter (2015)
Membership
Gray Anderson, Chair
National Flyway Council/Virginia Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Co-Chair
Cornell
Additional Members: John Alexander – Klamath Bird Observatory (PIF, AKN), Laurel Barnhill – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (PIF), Steve DeMaso – Gulf Coast Joint Venture, Jeff Gleason – USFWS, Dale Humburg – Ducks Unlimited, Todd Jones-Farrand – Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks LCC Science Coordinator, Katie Koch – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ed Laurent – Connecting Conservation, Charles Rewa – USDA NRCS, Ken Rosenberg – Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Clark Rushing – Smithsonian, Leo Salas – Point Blue Conservation Science, John Sauer – U.S. Geological Survey, Judith Scarl- NABCI/AFWA, NABCI Coordinator, Tanya Shenk – National Park Service, Susan Skagen – U.S. Geological Survey (USSCP), Brian Sullivan – Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ken Rosenberg – Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Clark Rushing – Smithsonian