Bird Conservation Region 13

Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain

Description: The Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain covers the low-lying areas to the south of the Canadian Shield and north of various highland systems in the United States. In addition to important lakeshore habitats and associated wetlands, this region was originally covered with a mixture of oak-hickory, northern hardwood, and mixed-coniferous forests. Very little of the forests remains today due primarily to agricultural conversion. The highest priority bird in remnant forests is the Cerulean Warbler. Because of agriculture, this is now the largest and most important area of grassland in the Northeast, providing habitat for such species as Henslow’s Sparrow and Bobolink. Agricultural abandonment may temporarily favor shrub-nesting species, such as Golden-winged Warbler and American Woodcock, but increasingly, agricultural land is being lost to urbanization. This physiographic area also is extremely important to stopover migrants, attracting some of the largest concentrations of migrant passerines, hawks, shorebirds, and waterbirds in eastern North America. Much of these concentrations occurs along threatened lakeshore habitats.

Bird Conservation Plans:
Landbirds - Lower Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Plain, Allegheny Plateau, BCR 13 in Ontario
Shorebirds - Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes Region, Ontario Region
Waterbirds - Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes Region
Waterfowl - UMR/GL JV Implementation Plan, Eastern Habitat JV (CN)

Joint Venture area: In Midwest U.S.: UpperMississippi River/Great Lakes
Barbara Pardo, Joint Venture Coordinator
Paul Richert, Assistant Joint Venture Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
One Federal Drive
Fort Snelling, MN 55111-4056

Joint Venture area: In New York and New Enlgand: Atlantic Coast
Mitch Hartley, Assistant. JV Coordinator - North
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
103 East Plumtree Rd
Sunderland, MA 01375-9480

Andrew Milliken, Joint Venture Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035-9589

Joint Venture area: In Canada: Eastern Habitat
Reg Melanson, JV Coordinator
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada
Env. Conservation Service - Atlantic Region
17 Waterfowl Lane
PO Box 6227
Sackville, NB E4L 1G6
Canada

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Note: Hawaii (not shown) is BCR 67

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