With many bird populations declining, scientists are looking for new ways to help protect and conserve vital species. Thanks to a partnership with the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, Virginia Tech is now home to a new, high-profile position that aims to build social science capacity within the bird conservation community through research, partnerships, and outreach. According to Ashley Dayer, assistant professor of human dimensions in the College of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, two national-level workshops of bird conservation community leaders in the past three years helped elevate the need for integrating social science
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Joint Ventures work together to build a healthy world for birds, other wildlife, and people. As we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of this model for international collaboration in 2017, Joint Ventures look ahead to the next thirty years and beyond of building strong, effective partnerships for bird and habitat conservation. Access a new Story Map that illustrates some of the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures recent accomplishments.
The growing popularity of our partnership’s Cerulean Warbler Appalachian Enhancement Project is evident in the number of stories in national and state outlets that are being filed on its behalf. In West Virginia, the state’s Division of Natural Resources and WCHS news featured the project on its edition of West Virginia Wildlife. The television segment documents how landowners can help improve its shrinking habitat, with interviews from West Virginia Cerulean Warbler Partnership Coordinator Kyle Aldinger and John Cobb, a private landowner enrolled in the project. At the national level, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Conservation Service recently
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Barb McWhorter, State Forester with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in West Virginia, has been awarded the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture Outstanding Partner Award for her instrumental role in the development and initial implementation of our Cerulean Warbler Appalachian Forestland Enhancement project. AMJV Coordinator Todd Fearer presented Barb with the award at the West Virginia NRCS State Technical Committee meeting in Morgantown on January 25th. The AMJV Management Board voted in 2016 to create this award to recognize partners who go above-and-beyond in their contributions to and support of our Joint Venture activities, but whose efforts are largely behind
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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
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The Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to plan and implement a series of workshops across USFS Region 9 for land owners detailing management practices that can improve forest habitats for birds and other wildlife. The workshops will describe how specific forest management practices can benefit birds and other wildlife, and includes discussions of cost-share and easement programs that facilitate this type of management. AMJV staff and partners, working with Allegheny National Forest staff, have a workshop scheduled for June 9-10, 2017, targeting forest landowners in northwest Pennsylvania and southwest New York. The AMJV is
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