Maine IBA Program

Important Bird Areas

Update: Maine Audubon finishes initial stage of its IBA program, identifying 22 Important Bird Areas across state. Read the complete article here. (PDF)

In September 2001, Maine Audubon, together with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, initiated an Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program that will identify and prioritize the most important areas for bird conservation in Maine. Maine Audubon will then help plan for the conservation and management of these bird-rich areas.

Part of a global initiative by BirdLife International, Important Bird Area Programs began in the late 1980s to identify and conserve high-priority bird habitat.

Thousands of IBAs have been identified in over 100 countries around the globe, which has helped promote much-needed conservation action. In the mid 1990s, the first U.S. IBA Programs were launched in Pennsylvania and New York, and there are now over 30 states engaged in the process.

A vital element of the Maine IBA Program is involving volunteers in all phases of development, from nominating and inventorying sites to long-term monitoring and assisting with management efforts. Through this kind of involvement, volunteers will become the voices in their communities for bird conservation and sound stewardship of IBAs.

Maine IBA Program Goals

• Identify areas key to the conservation of important bird populations or communities.
• Work cooperatively with land owners and managers to conserve these areas through habitat management and/or land acquisition/protection agreements.
• Promote public and private participation in bird conservation.
• Provide public education and community outreach at publicly accessible IBAs.

What Is An IBA?

An IBA is an area that provides important habitat for one or more species of breeding, wintering, or migrating birds.

IBA Characteristics

• Generally supports birds of conservation concern (including threatened and endangered species)
• Large concentrations of birds
• Birds associated with unique or exceptional habitat
• High historic research value for bird conservation
• May be either protected or unprotected
• May be publicly or privately held

   

  IBA Size

• IBAs may be of any size, but are usually discrete and distinguishable in character, habitat, or ornithological importance from surrounding areas.
• Where possible, IBAs should be large enough to supply all or most of the needs of birds during the season in which the site is important.
• Area boundaries may be either natural (e.g., rivers, ridges, islands, watersheds) or human-made (e.g., roads, property boundaries).
  

Nomination Process and IBA Selection

Selection of approximately 100 IBAs in Maine is being made from a pool of potential IBAs nominated by citizens, landowners, Audubon chapter members, government personnel, conservation organizations, and sporting groups. Additional nominations based on state and federal agency bird census work are included.

Nominations are reviewed by the Maine IBA Technical Committee, a group of almost two dozen natural resource professionals and citizens with expertise and knowledge about Maine's bird populations. There will be several rounds of IBA selection out of the pool of nominations.

The IBA Program seeks to identify the most important and highest priority areas across the state for bird conservation; however, every area that supports an endangered or threatened species does not necessarily qualify as an IBA. Rather, areas that are nominated are compared to each other and those deemed most important relative to the others are selected as IBAs.

Review of Maine IBAs will be necessary over time as bird conservation concerns change and species lists used as the basis for IBA criteria are updated (e.g., endangered and threatened species, special concern species, Partners in Flight priority ratings).

Nomination Criteria

Areas nominated for an IBA met at least one of three primary criteria. Two secondary criteria sometimes strengthened the case for nomination.

Primary Criteria

• Areas for threatened and endangered species
• Areas for species of conservation concern
• Areas with subtantial concentrations of birds and/or high species diversity

Secondary Criteria

• Areas important for research/monitoring
• Areas for species associated with rare, vulnerable, or exemplary habitat types
  

   

IBA Selection

IBA SELECTION

IBAs are selected based on how well they meet the criteria. although these criteria are not absolute and should be viewed as guidelines only. Other factors, such as relative importance or a unique combination of characteristics, may be considered when making final IBA selections.

IBAs may be dropped as bird populations and the associated IBA criteria change over time, and new IBAs may be added.