At our Fall Management Board meeting, JV staff and resource managers from federal and state agencies held in-depth discussions on one of the major priorities of the AMJV partnership in 2017 – establishing a Focal Landscapes Initiative. The overarching objective of the AMJV Focal Landscapes Initiative is to work across public and private lands to enhance forest structure and species diversity in the long term while integrating forest restoration efforts with bird conservation objectives. The first step is for AMJV partners to identify focal areas that will serve as proofs of concept for setting manageable objectives, implementing strategies, tracking progress, and assessing effectiveness of both management actions and bird response.

Coming out of our Fall Meeting, Board Members from state agencies and JV staff agreed to:

• Initiate discussions with technical committee representatives and partners in their state to select a potential focal landscape.
• Identify one or two partners as leads at the local level – to ensure integration and capitalize on existing initiatives and work being done by partners.
• Present these potential landscapes to full Board for review at next Board Meeting (May 23-24 in Blacksburg, Virginia).
• Aid with planning and coordination among local partners as needed.

For each focal landscape, AMJV partners will develop comprehensive strategies that set specific long-term conservation goals, which may include habitat management, protection and restoration, reduction of key threats, or influence practices on working and commercial lands. Such management and conservation activities – along with focused outreach strategies to target key stakeholders and audiences – will meet a suite of complimentary objectives, such as enhancing forest health, resilience, and wildlife. An overall measure of success will be healthy populations of priority bird species that represent the range of forest types and habitats present in the focal landscape.