Integrated Bird Conservation in the U.S.

NABCI and Bird Habitat Joint Ventures Honor
Wild at Heart, Gwen Brewer, and Steve Wendt for Outstanding Contributions to Bird Conservation

NABCI and the Bird Habitat Joint Ventures selected three recipients for the 2008 Bird Conservation Award: Wild at Heart, the Arizona raptor rehabilitation organization, Gwen Brewer of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and retired Canadian Wildlife Service employee, Steve Wendt, who worked for more than three decades for bird conservation at the national and international levels.

At the March 2008 North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director and US NABCI Committee Chair, Dale Hall, honored Wild at Heart with an award for their unparalleled contributions to bird conservation at the local and regional levels. Gwen Brewer, of the Maryland DNR, was honored with a certificate at the recent Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Management Board meeting in North Carolina for her outstanding work at the regional level for bird conservation. She will receive her official award at a meeting this summer. Steve Wendt will be honored at an event this summer in Canada.

This is the second year of the Bird Conservation Awards from NABCI and the Association of Joint Venture Management Boards, given to those individuals and groups who have significantly advanced integrated bird conservation and management by increasing funding, broadening partnerships, and/or facilitating monitoring, research, modeling, or habitat conservation work.

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The Wild at Heart organization is coordinated and managed by a core group of remarkably dedicated and energetic individuals. Their enthusiasm and hard work have significantly contributed to the conservation of the Burrowing Owl and its habitat, benefiting local, regional, and national populations. Along the way, they have developed a legion of supporters and educated thousands about the threats to this species, and have influenced land managers to take practical steps in conserving them.

Wild at Heart has established cooperative relationships with municipalities and agencies to identify potential relocation sites, and to obtain assistance with artificial burrow excavation, when mitigation strategies to protect the threatened Burrowing Owl become necessary. It has also provided assistance to the Arizona Bird Conservation Initiative to promote Burrowing Owl conservation on private and public lands.

Wild at Heart has provided consultations, design specifications, and monitoring protocols that will assist in finalizing Habitat Conservation Plans and Burrowing Owl Management Area conservation strategies. It continues to work with Arizona Game and Fish Department to maintain a statewide raptor database that helps track locations of natural and artificial Burrowing Owl burrows.

The organization has been uniquely successful in relocations and hacking due to careful attention to seasonal changes and nesting chronology and development of tailored release protocols. Through effective communications and outreach, it has developed a working relationship with the development community such that Burrowing Owl conservation activities are now part of many development projects.

Wild at Heart offers training to volunteers and interested groups and students in temporary and long-term captive handling, care, feeding, rehabilitation and transport of raptors. It works with students with disabilities from a local high school, assisting them in skill development as they move from school to competitive employment. A number of artificial burrow sites promote public education through interpretive signage with species information.

With limited resources, Wild at Heart fully embraces the values and principles of NABCI through their unwavering dedication to protecting and restoring western Burrowing Owl populations and habitats in Arizona. Back to Top

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Gwen Brewer is the Science Program Manager for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She has shown tremendous leadership and dedication to protecting and restoring populations and habitats of North American birds by increasing the effectiveness and coordination of integrated bird conservation in the Atlantic Flyway region. Gwen is the Maryland representative on the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Management Board, and the first and current chair of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Integrated Bird Conservation Committee, a position she has held since its inception in 2004.

In her position as Chair, Gwen works to increase communication among the regional bird conservation initiatives, to integrate information and priorities from each, and to present the highest common priorities for consideration by the Board and other partners. The Board is then able to use its resources to address these common issues and to seek funding and support from various sources.

She also led the effort to ensure that Bird Conservation Region plans, and other technical documents in the Joint Venture, receive a full peer review by all initiatives prior to their approval by the Board. She is now working to strengthen the relationships between the Integrated Bird Conservation Committee and the the Atlantic Flyway nongame technical section, resulting in better coordination between habitat and regulatory aspects of bird conservation in the flyway -- a model for similar efforts in other flyways.

Gwen has served as Co-chair of the Northeast Partners in Flight Working Group since March 2003. During this time Gwen has demonstrated exceptional leadership in helping Partners in Flight and integrated bird conservation efforts in the Northeast transition from conservation planning to implementation. Gwen's contributions have significantly influenced two areas of work: (1) incorporating the priorities and recommendations from existing bird conservation plans into the States' Wildlife Action Plans and (2) improving bird monitoring efforts through better coordination, cooperation, and the use of sound science across the Northeast region.

Gwen has persistently encouraged the Working Group to develop habitat management guidelines and best management practices that can be applied in a coordinated manner across jurisdictions and organizations. She has been an articulate advocate for improved bird monitoring in the Northeast region to the point where creation of a formal coordinated bird monitoring effort was possible.

Gwen works extremely hard to promote these regional partnerships in addition to fulfilling her full time responsibilities for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource's Wildlife and Heritage Service. In Maryland, she is involved in bird habitat conservation, research and monitoring, and many volunteer efforts on behalf of birds. Back to Top

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For over 30 years, Steve Wendt has been a visionary leader in bird conservation. Steve possessed the requisite scientific expertise and communications skills to guide the development and implementation of several bird conservation initiatives. He served as the chair or Co-chair of various national and international committees such as Partners in Flight (PIF) Canada, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee, and the Arctic Goose and Black Duck Joint Ventures, among others.

As Director of the Canadian Wildlife Service's (CWS) Populations and Conservation Management Division, he unfailingly looked for solutions to problems, and built functional networks and partnerships to achieve results. His ability to work in English, French, and Spanish created a culture of inclusion. By focusing on constructive contributions, he brought an attitude of respect, integrity and professionalism to all interactions with partners in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

Steve played an exemplary role in initiating and broadening partnerships for bird conservation. During formative talks to establish NABCI, Steve was instrumental in engaging US participation. He was also the first to propose that the US PIF Landbird Conservation Plan be expanded to a North American Plan. He played a formative role in the creation of the Canadian Intermountain Joint Venture, Canada's first all-bird joint venture.

As Chair of PIF Canada, he established a seed-fund to support early conservation planning efforts for Canadian BCRs; these funds are still regarded as the driving force behind this initiative in Canada. He allocated a significant portion of the CWS Migratory Birds budget and staff time to support the development and maintenance of PIF, the Canadian landbird and waterbird initiatives, and a small grants program, the Latin American Program, that fosters opportunities for collaborative research and conservation between CWS biologists and Latin American partners.

Steve negotiated the expanded mandate for Canadian joint ventures to include all birds, and created an all-bird culture within the CWS. He supported research on population monitoring within the CWS, and financially supported the founding and annual operation of Bird Studies Canada to improve monitoring of bird populations across Canada through citizen science initiatives.

Steve is a gifted communicator and artist. He has authored various scientific articles on bird conservation research and monitoring, and encouraged CWS staff to author both scientific articles and popular publications on bird conservation. He delivered popular talks on bird conservation to community organizations, and encouraged and supported non-government publications on bird conservation such as Nature Canada's Birdquest. Back to Top