The annual meeting of the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture Technical Committee convened at The Nature Inn in Bald Eagle State Park in Howard, PA on August 19-20. The group of bird biologists and land managers held discussions on a litany of issues regarding bird conservation and habitat in the Appalachian region. Major recommendations that came out of the meeting included:

• Setting up a Technical Advisory Group to act as an executive committee for the Technical Committee (7-10 members)
• Establishing Work Groups to focus on specific topics such as Coordinated Monitoring, Landscape Assessment, High Elevation Forests, and Legacy Surface Mine Restoration
• Increasing information exchange among partners through additional regional meetings or periodic webinars on recent findings, monitoring efforts, and ongoing bird conservation activities taking place across the AMJV landscape.

Also, the Technical Committee recommended including in the next AMJV Operational Plan:

• Develop a decision-support tool to help land managers determine how much and where various habitats are needed across the landscape to effectively sustain bird populations in the Appalachian Mountains
• Continue implementation and evaluation of priority AMJV habitats – early successional forests, mature forests, high elevation forests, and open pine communities. In addition, look into furthering work on grasslands and legacy surface mines
• Increase AMJV involvement in international conservation, working with international partners to enhance wintering ground habitat and full life-cycle needs of priority birds.

The AMJV hosted a follow-up webinar to discuss the Technical Committee meeting with those unable to attend in person this past Monday, September 29. For additional information contact Becky Keller at bkeller@abcbirds.org.