Atlantic coast joint venture waterfowl implementation plan

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93,766

231,700
Vermont
	Connecticut River - VT	101	250								101	250
	Lake Champlain	1,467	3,625					142	350		1,609	3,975
	Lake Memphramagog	2,064	5,101								2,064	5,101
	Subtotal	3,632	8,976		0	0		142	350		3,774	9,326
Virginia
	Delmarva Peninsula	16,321	40,330		3,264	8,065		1,632	4,033		21,217	52,428
	Lower James River	12,200	30,147		2,439	6,027		1,219	3,012		15,858	39,186
	Rappahannock River	6,388	15,785		1,278	3,158		639	1,579		8,305	20,522
	Roanoke River	5,000	12,355		4,461	11,023		1,487	3,674		10,948	27,052
	Southeast Virginia	12,180	30,097		2,436	6,019		1,218	3,010		15,834	39,126
	Lower Potomac River	2,889	7,139		1,078	2,664		289	714		4,256	10,517
	Western Bayshore	5,670	14,011		1,134	2,802		567	1,401		7,371	18,214
	York/Poquoson River	5,000	12,355		1,000	2,471		500	1,236		6,500	16,062
	Outside of Focus Areas
	Shenandoah River Planning Area	1,000	2,471		1,000	2,471		100	247		2,100	5,189
	Upper Potomac River	2,500	6,178		1,000	2,471		250	618		3,750	9,267
	Subtotal	69,148	170,868		19,090	47,171		7,901	19,524		96,139	237,563
West Virginia
	Canaan Valley	1,376	3,400					40	100		1,416	3,500
	Tygart Valley	40	100								40	100
	Meadow River	51	125		24	60					75	185
	Ohio River	202	500		20	50					222	550
	Subtotal	1,669	4,125		44	110		40	100		1,753	4,335
	ACJV Totals	345,230	853,090		148,264	366,376		99,975	247,055		638,420	1,577,594

1 – Based on GIS analysis of what is feasible within 10 years.

2 – Goals based on step-down of NAWMP continental population goals converted to duck-use days. Stated goals are what is believed to be feasible within 10 years.

3 – Expert opinion that accounted for historical and current waterfowl use within each focus area; perceived amount of habitat loss with focus area; cost/benefits of protecting habitat within each focus area along with current ownership patterns and prevailing economic market conditions. Goals are for the next 10 years.

7. STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES


7.1 Conservation Coordination and Delivery
The following text, goal, objective and strategies are excerpted from the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Strategic Plan approved by the Management Board in 2004.
The joint venture offers the opportunity to coordinate among the many partners planning and implementing bird conservation in the ACJV area. While acknowledging the mission and accomplishments of individual partner agencies and organizations that make up the joint venture, the ACJV partners recognize that, by coordinating planning and delivery among partners, the joint venture can focus limited resources on the highest conservation priorities and tie together individual conservation efforts in a meaningful way throughout the flyway. ACJV partners share a common responsibility for implementing continental, national and regional bird conservation plans in the ACJV area. Implementing these plans and providing effective bird conservation requires planning and implementing at a variety of scales, including flyway, region, state, focus area and project. The joint venture needs to provide the infrastructure to support planning and implementation at these scales and translation among these scales. In order to effectively coordinate and deliver habitat conservation, the joint venture will need increased funding for both administration and implementation.
Goal: Provide a structure and process that attracts partners, leverages and generates funding, and implements projects that support ACJV goals and objectives.

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  Objective 1 - Structure: Maintain capacity and structure to facilitate partnerships at various scales.
  
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    Strategy 1: Develop and follow a strategic plan for the joint venture and update at least every five years;
    
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    Strategy 2: Design and host at least annual or semiannual meetings for ACJV Management Board and technical committees to facilitate communication and effective implementation within the ACJV;
    
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    Strategy 3: Hire adequate staff to maintain an effective partner-based structure to facilitate project development, implementation, evaluation and communication at multiple scales;
    

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  Strategy 4: Facilitate state working groups, composed of state agencies and key partners, to step down regional goals and determine implementation strategies at the state scale;
  
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  Strategy 5: Support formation of partnerships in key focus areas in the ACJV or where there is sufficient interest.
  

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  Objective 2 - NAWMP: Ensure the effective delivery of waterfowl habitat conservation in the joint venture area consistent with the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
  
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    Strategy 1: Maintain an active, functioning ACJV Waterfowl Technical Committee;
    
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    Strategy 2: Complete a revised ACJV Waterfowl Implementation Plan that steps down the NAWMP continental goals and objectives and provides priority species, population and habitat objectives, focus areas and conservation strategies for the joint venture and for each state in the joint venture;
    
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    Strategy 3: Using priority conservation actions under NAWMP, develop and implement priority projects in the ACJV area;
    
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    Strategy 4: Ensure that waterfowl priorities are incorporated into BCR and state level planning.
    
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  Objective 3 - NABCI: Integrate planning and implementation to more efficiently and effectively meet habitat needs of all birds throughout the flyway and BCRs consistent with all the major continental, national and state bird conservation initiatives.
  

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  Strategy 1: Maintain an active, functioning Integrated Bird Conservation Committee (IBCC) that represents the major bird conservation initiatives in the ACJV area;
  
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  Strategy 2: Provide input from the IBCC to the management board and partner agencies and organizations on priority projects to be included in agency and organization plans;
  
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  Strategy 3: Facilitate BCR workshops and initiatives with key partners in each BCR to identify highest conservation priorities within each BCR;
  
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  Strategy 4: Work with partners to step down regional goals to each state consistent with continental, national and BCR plans;
  
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  Strategy 5: Assign a joint venture coordinator or point of contact for each state and BCR (coordinators may have multiple BCRs and states assigned to them);
  
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  Strategy 6: Facilitate support for international projects to conserve ACJV priority species.
  

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  Objective 4 – Project Funding: Seek increased funding for coordinating the activities of the joint venture and providing seed funding for projects; effectively obtain funding through federal grant programs; provide information that informs and guides the delivery of other funding sources.
  
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    Strategy 1: Maintain an active list of priority projects to respond to calls for proposals from foundations and other funding sources;
    
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    Strategy 2: Seek additional joint venture project seed funding and develop a sound process for prioritizing and tracking joint venture funded projects;
    

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  Strategy 3: Maximize success with federal habitat conservation grant funds (including North American Wetlands Conservation Act, National Coastal Wetland Conservation Act, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation) by informing partners of funding opportunities, matching joint venture priority projects with appropriate funding sources, facilitating project-scale partnerships, providing biological information to support grant applications, and providing efficient administrative support with grant processes;
  
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  Strategy 4: Seek new and non-traditional partners and funding sources to meet the expanded habitat conservation priorities in the joint venture;
  
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  Strategy 5: Provide products from biological planning efforts to deliver bird conservation programs through non-traditional funding sources (e.g., Farm Bill, Forest Legacy);
  
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  Strategy 6: Provide products that inform the state Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy process to ensure that regional needs are met by individual State Wildlife Grants and other state grants.
  
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  Strategy 7: Provide support to National Wildlife Refuges and National Forests seeking funding for habitat protection and restoration.
  

7.2 Important Geographic Areas for Waterfowl Habitat Conservation in the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture
In the process of defining important geographic areas for waterfowl conservation in the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, it has become clear that the original concept and definitions of focus areas are not adequate to map and describe important areas for waterfowl conservation in landscapes where the habitats and conservation needs are sparsely distributed over large areas or in areas where the targeted activity addresses other conservation issues such as protecting water quality. In order to capture the conservation needs in the diversity of landscapes in the ACJV, we used a three-tier, hierarchical approach to mapping and defining areas. From coarsest to finest they would be planning areas, focus areas and sub-focus areas. Definitions for each of the three types follow.
I. Planning Areas
Waterfowl Conservation Planning Areas are large areas within a state or region that generally contain small patches of suitable habitats for waterfowl dispersed across the landscape. The boundaries of the planning areas are based on units used to plan waterfowl habitat conservation within a state such as watersheds or physiographic areas. These ecological boundaries may be generalized or simplified by using recognizable cultural or political features such as roads, county or town boundaries. The boundary description and justification for planning areas should clearly state the justification for the planning area boundary and identify the habitats within the larger area that are in need of protection, restoration or enhancement. An example would be the watersheds feeding into Chesapeake Bay. In this region, watershed boundaries are the logical units used to plan for restoration of wetlands and water quality. The justification for the boundary would indicate the importance of restoring small wetlands and buffers throughout the watershed to provide habitat and food sources for waterfowl during spring and fall migration and to improve the water quality of the bay. Large wetland complexes and river corridors within the watershed planning areas are identified as focus areas and specific wetlands are defined as sub focus areas.

II. Focus Areas

Focus areas are habitat complexes that are priorities for waterfowl conservation. Unlike planning areas, they are defined by specific continuous or contiguous suitable habitat areas. Criteria for focus area delineations are:

1. 
   Regionally important to one or more life history stages or seasonal-use periods of waterfowl.
   
2. 
   Developed within the context of landscape-level conservation and biodiversity.
   
3. 
   Discrete and distinguishable habitats or habitat complexes demonstrating clear ornithological importance. The boundaries are defined using ecological factors such as wetlands and wetland buffers.
   
4. 
   Large enough to supply all the necessary requirements for survival during the season for which it is important, except where small, disjunct areas are critical to survival and a biological connection is made.
   

Examples of focus areas are complexes of salt marshes and coastal bays along the coast or river corridors and associated floodplain wetlands with known importance to waterfowl.

III. Sub-Focus Areas
Sub-focus areas are specific, discrete habitat patches such as marshes, bays or islands within a larger habitat complex focus area (e.g., a specific salt marsh within a coastal wetland complex). Many focus areas may not need to have sub-focus areas but they can be useful to help describe specific sites for waterfowl conservation.
Partners in the ACJV have identified 13 planning areas and 136 focus areas (Fig 7.1). Through this process more than 45 million hectares (>113 million acres) are targeted for conservation actions that will benefit waterfowl and other wetland dependent wildlife. These acreages are broken down by type of area (e.g., focus area or planning area) and state (Table 7.1). State WTC members and ACJV staff have developed detailed descriptions of each focus area that highlight priority species that occur in each area and note conservation actions that are likely to benefit waterfowl. These are organized by state (alphabetical order) in the following pages.

Figure 7.1. Areas designated for waterfowl conservation within the ACJV.

Table 7.1. State-level summary of acreage designated as waterfowl conservation areas. Two tiers of a three-tiered system are shown; sub-focus areas are not shown but their acreage is included in focus area totals.

A - Focus Areas
State	Hectares	Acres
CT	44,519	110,008
DE	373,959	924,069
FL	4,008,010	9,903,969
GA	5,125,823	12,666,134
MA	420,641	1,039,422
MD	1,037,169	2,562,890
ME	3,599,027	8,893,354
NC	3,326,589	8,220,148
NH	476,794	1,178,179
NJ	654,073	1,616,243
NY	1,849,570	4,570,369
PA	1,191,087	2,943,228
RI	10,454	25,832
SC	4,177,936	10,323,864
VA	2,595,022	6,412,414
VT	909,102	2,246,431
WV	438,395	1,083,293
Total	30,238,170	74,719,847
B - Planning Areas
State	Hectares	Acres
CT	380,960	941,369
MD	539,037	1,331,984
ME	7,671,676	18,957,049
PA	4,278,687	10,572,824
VA	1,280,624	3,164,478
WV	1,568,442	3,875,689
Total	15,719,426	38,843,393
Grand Totals	45,957,596	113,563,240