Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 8, Number 4 • July-August 2000
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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Summer is the time of year when wetlands are teeming with life on all levels. This is the season when wetland birds are actively searching for insects, other animals, and plant-life to feed their young. It will not be long until fledglings are learning what needs to be learned to begin flights south for next winter or to cope with the cold weather just a few months away.
Birds like the Prothonotary Warbler, Virginia Rail, and Least Bittern that breed in Ohio wetlands all travel south in the winter and must face a variety of dangers along the way. Accidents, disease, and exhaustion claim many.
An even greater danger is the loss of wetland habitat. While an accident with a tower may destroy lives one by one, destruction of a wetland can destroy a whole suite of lives and even affect significant portions of a population. Acres and acres of wetlands continue to be dredged and drained for human activities. Upon the heels of the desmise of wetlands comes the disappearance of those species which depend upon these habitats. Evidence detects declines in avian populations over the past 40 years.
The National Audubon Society has joined with a number of bird conservation organizations in this country and around the world in a wide-ranging effort to reverse these alarming trends. A critical first step in this process is to identify and protect the places where birds breed, overwinter, or stop on migration. We call these places Important Bird Areas, or IBAs.
To qualify as an IBA, a site must meet one of the several rigorous criteria. An IBA Technical Committee of Ohio bird experts judges a nominated IBA to see if it stands out from other areas because it has large concentrations of birds, species of high conservation priority, or birds associated with a unique habitat. IBAs may be on public or private land, range from a few acres to several thousand, and be either protected or unprotected.
Once Important Bird Areas are identified, cooperative steps are taken to ensure their continued value as safe havens for birds. Local conservation groups, birdwatchers, public officials, and most important, the private land owners or public land managers, come together to plan the best possible management strategy for the area. This can involve the public purchase of key habitats from willing sellers, the creation of conservation easements on private lands, or simply the perpetuation of sound land-management techniques.
Audubon Ohio anticipates the cooperation and assistance of everyone who cares about wetland conservation in identifying IBAs and protecting critical habitat, especially wetlands. A list of IBA sites should be released in the fall of 2000.