Advancing landbird conservation on western federally managed lands with management- and policy-relevant science

A philosophy of ecosystem conservation has influenced a progressive history of conservation policy in the United States, resulting in a management paradigm with the ecosystem management and adaptive management models at its core. However, as progressive as our conservation policies are, ecosystem management and adaptive management are not currently being implemented to the extent that is needed to realize broad-scale ecosystem conservation. For example, there is evidence that landbird populations are declining in North America due to threats they face throughout their lifecycle, including threats to breeding, migration, and wintering habitats in the United States. The Partners in Flight (PIF) bird conservation initiative was formed to (a) address these threats, (b) reverse at-risk landbird population declines, and (c) keep common birds common. The PIF science-based approach to conservation offers solutions to ecosystem conservation challenges by serving as a catalyst for better ecosystem management and adaptive management. To demonstrate this I collaborated with many partners to develop and test a participatory strategy for using management- and policy-relevant science to integrate landbird conservation and federal land management in the western United States. The results offer a model for improved ecosystem conservation within the current management paradigm. The strategy and community learning approaches outlined here offer a means for meeting the tremendous promise that federal lands hold for bird conservation. With science-based, nongovernment organizations playing a key role, the strategy serves as an interdisciplinary model involving researchers engaging with a community of conservation actors to transform management challenges into conservation opportunities and action. This research advances collaborative and applied learning within higher education, which has been identified as critical for moving towards a more sustainable future through Sustainability Education.