Waterbird conservation planning in the northern prairie and parkland region: Integration across borders and with other bird conservation initiatives

The Northern Prairie and Parkland Region contain millions of wetland basins, which harbor large proportions of the populations of many North American waterbird species, several of which are of high conservation concern. However, knowledge of waterbirds in the region is limited, and there has been little direction for waterbird conservation planning or management. The Northern Prairie and Parkland Waterbird Conservation Plan is being developed to provide an overview of the status and current knowledge of waterbirds in the Region and outline strategies and priorities for monitoring, management, and research. This plan is being developed by Canadian and United States partners under the auspices of the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan and takes a landscape approach to help integrate conservation planning for waterbirds with conservation planning for other species. A working group involving federal, provincial, and state agencies of two countries in conjunction with non-governmental organizations is focusing on plan development with biological rather than political borders. The plan is supported by the Prairie Habitat and Prairie Pothole joint ventures, which largely will coordinate implementation of the plan.