Conservationists in the Northeast can be proud of a long history of cooperative, collaborative conservation efforts. Even as threats to wildlife and habitat seem to grow, state fish and wildlife agencies have banded together to address pressing regional conservation problems. With increasing demands on scarce federal and state funds, these types of coordinated activities appear to have an especially bright future. Collaboration provides states with opportunities to share funds, staff and staff time, equipment and technical expertise, and other limited resources. Through collaborative efforts with adjoining states, each of the individual Northeast states can help address shared conservation concerns and tackle larger-scale regional priorities that would be difficult for each state to address alone. The NEAFWA and its partners provide a firm foundation for regional collaboration, and these continued efforts will help to ensure that the Northeast states continue to teem with fish and wildlife for generations to come.
In order to continue this collaboration and maximize its effectiveness as a region, the Synthesis Steering Committee recommends:
Recommendation 1: Develop a Regional Threats Assessment
There has not yet been a comprehensive review of the threats and stressors that influence Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (RSGCN) and habitats in the Northeast states. A partial list of threats and stressors that affect Northeastern bird species has been developed, but it does not include all threats to all species. A comprehensive review of threats and stressors, undertaken at a regional level across state boundaries, could be of value for wildlife conservation managers in the Northeast states, by providing them with better information about threats and stressors and a framework for addressing threats and stressors. It should include the updated information from each SWAP revision. This review would complement several projects funded by NEAFWA, including the recently-completed reviews of the conservation status of species and habitats in the Northeast states, and would bring together many disparate data products on individual threats developed through the RCN Grant Program, SWG program, and other sources. The process of conducting this review could serve as a useful catalyst for regional collaboration across state boundaries and would likely lead to further joint projects to address high-priority threats and stressors across the entire Northeast landscape. Funding for such a review could be provided through the RCN Grant Program, the competitive SWG program, or other funding sources.
Recommendation 2: Maintain the Regional Synthesis as a Dynamic Document and Web–Based Planning Tool
The synthesis should continue to incorporate additional information and tools as they become available and provide them to states for incorporation into their Wildlife Action Plan revisions. Providing this information will save considerable time and effort of each state by making it accessible electronically and providing regular updates of this regional conservation planning toolkit.
Recommendation 3: Continue to Develop a Regional Landscape Conservation Design Approach and Toolkit to Prioritize Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Decisions in the Face of Change
To effectively develop and implement the regional conservation approach and address regional threats and uncertainty, the states and their partners in the Northeast should continue to work together to develop a set of information, tools, and maps that guide habitat conservation decisions with an understanding of how conditions are likely to change in the face of climate change and other key threats. There is a need for decision support frameworks that allow managers to understand the combined impacts of threats and the most effective conservation actions to take to address them.
Recommendation 4: Work with the Northeast Climate Change Working Group to Compile and Integrate Regional Climate Change Data and Develop Consistent Guidance and Context for Wildlife Action Plan Revisions
A working group was formed by NEAFWA to coordinate regionally on this important threat. Since climate change will be addressed in each state revision, there is benefit, great economy in scale, and efficiency to work with this regional group to include their regionally consistent approach and information.
Recommendation 5: Work with the Northeast Conservation Information and Education Association to Develop Consistent Guidance and Context for SWAP Revisions and Implementation
The support of partners, stakeholders, and the public is essential to both the revision process and to the implementation of SWAPs. While states may differ in their resources and ability to accomplish this, the approaches used to communicate with each of them will be similar. Significant economies of scale and consistency in messaging will benefit all states and the region by working together to share their approaches and use regional tools and communications planning developed for the region. These tools will encourage the use of common terms and shared outreach processes and methods for regional outreach consistency and effectiveness.
Recommendation 6: The Northeast Fish and Wildlife Diversity Technical Committee Should More Regularly Review and Evaluate Its Projects, Products, and the RSGCN List
The charge to the Committee from NEAFWA is a formidable responsibility that requires significant coordination, research and evaluation of each state agency’s staff and expertise. Since SGCN species statuses, as well as their threats, are constantly changing, this requires more regular updates to the RSGCN list. The RSGCN species selection process itself continues to evolve as additional information becomes available and additional taxa are able to be fully evaluated. Additional scheduled time and coordination is required for the Committee to meet these important obligations.
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