Waterbird Conservation for the Americas: North American Waterbird Conservation Plan

Managing Wetlands for Waterbirds: Integrated Approaches

Toxic Harvest: The Unseen Costs of Chemical Agriculture

Tracking Spotties

Best Management Practices: Spotted Turtles and Cranberry Cultivation

Waterbird Conservation for the Americas: North American Waterbird Conservation Plan
Manomet’s Kathy Parsons has been instrumental in the development of the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan over the past three years. Working with an independent partnership of individuals and organizations, Manomet led the important task of assessing conservation status of 210 species of colonial and solitary-nesting waterbirds. The North American Waterbird Conservation Plan was published fall 2002.

The Plan provides an overarching framework and guide for conserving waterbirds. Species include the loons, grebes, albatrosses, shearwaters, petrels, storm-petrels, tropicbirds, boobies, pelicans, cormorants, frigatebirds, herons, egrets, bitterns, ibises, storks, rails, cranes, gulls, terns, skuas, jaegers, auks, murres, puffins, murrelets and guillemots. The Plan sets forth goals and priorities for waterbirds in all habitats from the Canadian Arctic to the offshore islands of Venezuela, from Bermuda to the US Pacific Islands, at nesting sites, during annual migrations and during nonbreeding periods. It advocates continent-wide monitoring; provides an impetus for regional conservation planning; proposes national, provincial, state and other local conservation planning and action; and creates a larger context for local habitat conservation. Taken together, these activities will assure healthy populations and habitats for the waterbirds of the Americas.

To obtain a free copy of the plan, send an email to Jennifer_A_Wheeler@fws.gov.

Managing Wetlands for Waterbirds: Integrated Approaches
A special publication of the Waterbird Society (Waterbirds Volume 25:2) edited by Manomet staff members Katharine Parsons, Stephen Brown, and Helen Czech, this volume 1) evaluates science-based knowledge of wetland and waterbird management techniques, 2) presents specific case studies of successes and failures in attempts to manage for multiple species of waterbirds, and 3) identifies areas in need of further management research. These collected papers provide wildlife managers and scientists with practical information for integrating waterbird conservation in existing wetland management plans and contexts. Through the discussion of numerous, on-the-ground examples of integrated wetland management, this volume identifies successful approaches and challenges not yet met.

To order a copy of the volume, contact jrobbins@manomet.org.

Toxic Harvest: The Unseen Costs of Chemical Agriculture
Agricultural lands play a critical role in sustaining biodiversity, since nearly half the land of the continental U.S. is farmed or ranched. Pesticide exposure is one of the most important factors negatively affecting wildlife using these lands. The winter 2003 issue of Manomet’s magazine Conservation Sciences explores the unintended impacts to wildlife and habitats of our chemically-dependent agriculture system.

To read the featured article, click here.

Tracking Spotties
An article in Massachusetts Wildlife magazine that describes Manomet’s research on the annual movements and health of an uncommon, elusive turtle in cranberry country.

To read the article, click here.