News & Events
 
Stephen Brown’s Arctic Blog is Live!
Stephen Brown, Director of Shorebird Science at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, is back in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for another season of field research. Stephen is posting updates, including podcasts, from the field on his blog. To access Stephen’s blog, click here.
Recent Shorebird Recovery Project Meeting with Chilean National Oil Company
Underscores Value of Collaborative Conservation Efforts
The Director of Manomet’s Shorebird Recovery Project, Dr. Charles D. Duncan, and Carol Lively, Coordinator of the U.S. Forest Service’s “Wings across the Americas” were warmly received in Santiago, Chile, recently by Sr. Rodrigo Azócar, the new Director General of the Empresa Nacional de Petroleo (ENAP), the $5 billion Chilean national oil company. Others attending the meeting were Sr. José Luís Rodríguez, Director of ENAP’s program of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sr. Hernán Dinamarca, Communications Director for ENAP in its Magellanic Region, and Sr. Diego Luna Quevedo, Advisor to ENAP’s Program for the Sustainable Use of Wetlands.
At first glance, shorebird conservationists and oil company executives might seem like unlikely partners but in fact the overlap of interests and approaches is far greater than might be imagined. ENAP has off-shore oil and gas platforms very near Bahía Lomas, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, a large wetland recognized as a being of international importance by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, a global treaty organization. Bahía Lomas is also the most important wintering site in the New World for Red Knots and Hudsonian Godwits, a fact recently celebrated with its designation as a Site of Hemispheric Importance, the first in Chile, by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). Carol Lively is a member of WHSRN’s Hemispheric Council; Charles Duncan directs WHSRN’s Executive Office, a key program at Manomet.
Aware of Bahía Lomas’s importance, ENAP’s program of Corporate Social Responsibility has been a leading proponent of the site’s designation by WHSRN and a leader in ensuring its protection and sustainable use. For instance, when an analysis they commissioned of the threats to the wetland showed that the highest ranked risks were from the possibility of a spill at two of their platforms and the possible rupture of a pipeline, they responded by taking the platforms out of production and closing the pipeline.
In their meeting with Sr. Azócar, who began his position as the chief executive in January of this year, Lively and Duncan thanked ENAP for their proactive stance, taking action before any spill or accident, and for support and leadership of international wetlands protection. The pair, along with the members of the ENAP team underscored the importance of Bahía Lomas at the hemispheric scale by telling him about the migrations of shorebirds. They emphasized the value of the example ENAP is setting toward collaborative, voluntary conservation both for other corporations and indeed for national and local governments.
From left: José Luis Rodríguez (Director, Corporate Social Responsibility-ENAP), Carol Lively (U.S. Forest Service), Rodrigo Azócar (General Manager-ENAP), Charles Duncan (Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences) and Diego Luna Quevedo (Advisor, Sustainable Use of Wetlands Program-ENAP) Photo credit: ENAP © 2009
Bay of Panama WHSRN Site Included in National Protected Area System
Designation Will Strengthen Conservation of Ecosystem Vital to Shorebirds and People
 Manomet is delighted to share the news just received from our partners at Panama Audubon Society (PAS), the leading bird conservation organization in Panama, that the wetlands known as the Bay of Panama have recently been declared a Protected Area, part of that country’s National Protected Area System. The area involved has already been recognized as a Site of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) and as a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The designation as a Protected Area now adds new legal weight to the lasting conservation of the more than 200,000-acre site.
Every year, the Upper Bay of Panama is visited by as many as 2 million shorebirds that travel from North America through the Isthmus of Panama and into South America. Hawks, songbirds, and shorebirds provide a spectacle for the Panama Bay, an important feeding and resting place for the migrating birds—some of whom fly almost the entire 20,000-mile roundtrip from pole to pole, at heights of 20,000 feet. The site is used by more than 30 percent of the world’s population of female Western Sandpipers and is globally important for at least six other species of shorebirds. Such rich feeding sites are rare and its loss to the birds would result in irreparable damage to shorebird populations.
Since 1998, the Panama Audubon Society has worked to conserve this vital area for migratory shorebirds. In 2005, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, home of the Executive Office of WHSRN, collaborated with PAS and other partners to celebrate the Bay of Panama as the first site in Central America to join WHSRN. This week-long event involved the First Lady of Panama, cabinet-level officials, the Mayor of Panama City, and the ambassadors of Canada and the United States. The event recognized the area’s ecological importance and appealed to the surrounding community to ensure a safe and friendly place for shorebirds that contributes to the quality of life of the city’s citizens and visitors.
Several projects and activities around and within the site furthered its conservation. PAS conducted many newspaper and magazine interviews, always with the purpose to make all Panamanians aware of the important role the Bay of Panama wetlands play in the annual migration of migratory shorebirds, in protecting local communities against adverse climate-related conditions, and in providing nursery areas for many species of commercially important fish and shrimp, among other ecosystem services.
“This was a team effort,” said Rosabel Miró, Panama Audubon Society Executive Director and Ramsar’s NGO National Coordinator for Communication, Education, Participation and Awareness. “An alliance among Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the government and individuals for the protected area designation of the wetlands of the Bay of Panama was born and paid good dividends. To all of you our message is simple: let us continue finding ways to collaborate for the conservation and protection of this magnificent site!”
 The legal Resolution from the Environmental Ministry recognized the WHSRN designation as a valuable “title” for the Bay of Panama, “something that I found VERY important for the Council. It means a lot for me because they sincerely think the WHSRN declaration shows how ecologically important the area is for the hemisphere,” said Rosabel.
According to WHSRN Executive Office Director Charles Duncan, “The Bay of Panama is vital to the millions of migratory shorebirds that come from as far away as Northern Alaska and Central Argentina. The leadership vision, commitment and cooperation that have gone into protecting this site have led to an extraordinary provision for the conservation of these birds and the natural heritage of the Panamanian people. We congratulate the government and people of Panama, and are inspired by their leadership."
About WHSRN: The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network is the oldest and most important hemispheric-scale voluntary conservation collaborative in the World. Its mission is the conservation of shorebird species and their habitats through a network of key sites in the Americas. WHSRN currently comprises 70 sites in 10 nations, some 22 million acres. The Executive Office of WHSRN is a key program of Manomet’s ambitious hemispheric scale Shorebird Recovery Project.
About Manomet: The mission of Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences is to conserve natural resources for the benefit of wildlife and humans. Founded forty years ago as an independent, nonprofit environmental research center, Manomet brings together stakeholders—communities, individuals, universities, government agencies, and businesses—and guides them through cooperative, science-based solution development. Manomet's programs focus on enabling communities to measure, manage, and sustain natural systems and the wildlife and people dependent on them. Initiatives include Climate Change, Natural Capital, and Conservation of Migratory Wildlife.
About Ramsar: The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. It was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975, and it is the only global environmental treaty that deals with a particular ecosystem. The Convention's member countries cover all geographic regions of the planet. The Convention's mission is "the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world.”
 
Manomet Awarded Major Grant to Foster Shorebird Conservation Throughout Western Hemisphere
Shorebird Recovery Project Receives its Fourth Grant from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to address shorebird declines
MANOMET, MA, January 30, 2009 – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation recently approved a grant of $497,661 to the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences for work contributing to the recovery of Red Knots, American Oystercatchers and other priority shorebirds. The granted funds will be matched by an equal amount of non-Federal dollars, bringing the project total to just under $1 million.
This grant is the fourth awarded by NFWF to Manomet’s shorebird efforts, and reflects the Foundation’s increased commitment to stabilize and increase declining (but still common) populations of select bird species or suites of species and accelerate recovery of imperiled species. Both the Red Knot and the American Oystercatcher have been identified by the Foundation as “keystone species.”
With previous funding from the Foundation, Manomet led the development of Species Conservation Action Plans for these and other shorebird species of conservation priority. The plans reflect a science-based consensus by expert authors on the status, threats and most strategic actions to achieve recovery, as well as explicit indicators of success. The actions to be undertaken with this new funding from the Foundation derive from those plans.
Through this funding, new conservation initiatives will be implemented for Red Knots in Canada, the east coast of the United States, especially the Delaware Bay, the Atlantic Coasts of Uruguay and Patagonia, Argentina in South America. The oystercatcher work will be undertaken at the species’ breeding sites along the east coast of the United States, from Massachusetts to Florida.
“We are pleased to again support Manomet’s shorebird conservation efforts,” said Jeff Trandahl, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Executive Director. “Their focus on partnerships and measurable, on-the-ground increases in shorebird populations matches the Foundation’s commitment to outcome-based conservation.”
“Conservation of species as spectacularly migratory as shorebirds requires coordinated action across enormous landscapes, crossing state and national boundaries,” said Charles Duncan, director of Manomet’s Shorebird Recovery Project. “This generous continued support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation enables us to continue to provide a hemispheric-scale vision for and coordination of our many capable, committed and far-flung partners.”
“Over the course of 40 years, Manomet’s research has helped document precipitous declines in these populations. It’s unusual that research can be converted into such real action on the ground, and at the scale that is needed. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation understands what it takes to make real progress on species conservation.” said John Hagan, recently-named president of Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. “And we don’t just focus on the species, we focus on the people who live at these important conservation sites, because their well-being and the species’ survival are inextricably linked.”
The projects that the grant will support include:
• Training for community leaders and journalists at key Red Knot sites in Argentina
• Coordinating oystercatcher recovery efforts among multiple partners and determining the species’ population response
• Genetic analysis to determine the relation of the three major wintering populations of Red Knots
• A business plan for the restoration of key shorebird habitat at the Delaware Bay
• Monitoring knot populations on migration in South America along with quantitative determination of factors limiting their population size
• Communication and outreach tools for Oystercatcher and Red Knot Working Groups
• Leadership of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network
A selection of the accomplishments with their many partners of Manomet’s Shorebird Recovery Project (SRP) and the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) includes the following:
• Development and publication of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan
• Creation of nature education centers and interpretative trails at key Red Knot sites in South America
• Consensus-driven Species Conservation Action Plans for high priority shorebirds
• Protection of 20,000 acres of key shorebird habitat at the Llano de Soledad, Mexico
• The longest-running shorebird population survey in the Americas
• The first scientific and quantitative demonstration of the crucial role of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for breeding shorebirds
• Raising awareness and resources for shorebird conservation across the hemisphere including from national and state governments, wildlife agencies, corporations and individuals
About Shorebirds
Shorebirds are a biologically distinct group of small to medium-sized birds generally with long legs, long bills and pointed wings. Shorebirds can be found at the shores of oceans and lakes, in grasslands and marshes, and even in dry uplands.
About Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences is dedicated to building science-based, cooperative solutions to environmental problems. Founded forty years ago as an independent, nonprofit environmental research center, Manomet brings together stakeholders--communities, individuals, universities, government agencies, and businesses--and guides them through cooperative, science-based solution development.
Manomet's programs focus on enabling communities to measure, manage, and sustain natural systems and the wildlife and people dependent on them. Initiatives include Climate Change, Natural Capital, and Conservation of Migratory Wildlife.
About the Shorebird Recovery Project
Manomet’s Shorebird Recovery Project seeks to recover and sustain populations of shorebirds at the levels called for in the U.S. and Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plans. Our approach is built on the tripartite (“3-S”) pillars of Site-based Conservation action; building the Science Foundation for action; and explicit Success Measures to monitor progress. The Shorebird Recovery Project’s site-based conservation is intrinsically linked to the work of the Western hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), a voluntary coalition of hundreds of partners across the Hemisphere. WHSRN comprises 70 sites in 10 nations, protecting more than 22 million acres of key shorebird habitat. Staffing and operating WHSRN’s Executive Office is a long-term program of Manomet.
About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and plants, and the habitat on which they depend. The Foundation creates partnerships between the public and private sectors to strategically invest in conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Foundation awarded over 7,000 grants to more than 2,600 organizations in the United States and abroad and has leveraged – with its partners – more than $300 million in federal funds since its establishment, for a total of more than $1 billion in funding for conservation. The Foundation is recognized by Charity Navigator with a top 4-star rating for efficiency and effectiveness. Ninety-two cents of every dollar contributed to the Foundation is directed to on-the-ground conservation projects, with five cents supporting management and administration of the Foundation’s multi-million dollar grants program and three cents funding partnership development and fundraising. For more information, visit www.nfwf.org.
"Astonishing Journey" of Bar-tailed Godwits Captures Media Attention
 It has recently been demonstrated by scientists at the Alaska Science Center of USGS that Bar-tailed Godwits routinely fly from Alaska to New Zealand in a journey of 7,200 miles, with no food, rest or water on their southbound migration. The 9-day non-stop journey of this bird is practically inconceivable and was recently covered on major television networks and radio. Once we get over our initial astonishment, though, we must ask: what are the conservation implications for this and other shorebird species that migrate such enormous distances?
Read more…
"Hope is the Thing with Feathers"
~Emily Dickinson
"B-95" The Red Knot: UPDATE
Plymouth, MA, September 2008 — In his presentations this summer on the Shorebird Recovery Project, Dr. Charles Duncan shared the amazing story of the Red Knot known as “B-95” who, at age 13+, has already flown the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Read more…
Arctic Wings: Miracle of Migration
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Sept. 13 - Dec. 31, 2008Migration is one of nature's greatest wonders- each year millions of birds travel great lengths, sometimes across the globe, to find feeding and breeding grounds. Many of the birds in your own backyard come to the Puget Sound from around the world, often on their way either to or from the north coast of Alaska.
A new environmental photography exhibit at Seattle's Burke Museum explores the phenomenon of bird migration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a region that is environmentally crucial to the survival of over 190 bird species, yet is a hotbed for political controversy.
To learn more about the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, click here.
Arctic Refuge MythsOver the years, during the contentious debate about whether to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain to oil exploration, there have often been outreach materials with misleading or incorrect information, regularly from the pro-development oil interests, and occasionally from the environmental community as well. An e-mail that has been circulating recently includes some of these often-repeated but inaccurate statements regarding the issues. Read more...
Habitat Conservation: Good News for Shorebirds and People
Threats to shorebirds and their habitats are tipping many species toward the precipice of extinction.
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"The Shorebird Strategy"Article by Dr. Peter Stangel, Wildbird Magazine, Sept/Oct 2006
Arctic Refuge Project Update
Stephen Brown, Manomet's Director of Shorebird Science, and his team, will head back to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this summer to conduct an intensive season of fieldwork that includes a major coastal survey, a survey of a critical portion of the National Petroleum Reserve, as well as Avian Flu testing.
Saving Shorebirds and Their Habitats on a Hemispheric Scale Manomet Hosts Event in Falmouth, MA
The plight of shorebirds, one of nature's most amazing migrant species, and the conservation of their habitats will be the topic of a special lecture at the West Falmouth Library, Falmouth, MA, Thursday, June 19, 7:30 p.m. The event will be hosted by Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences to raise awareness of one of its key initiatives, The Shorebird Recovery Project.
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