Building on the initial IBA successes in other states, New Jersey Audubon Society, working closely with the New Jersey Endangered and Non-game Species Prorgam (ENSP) and the National Audubon Society, is launching an expanded initiative, the Important Bird and Birding Area (IBBA) Program. The NJ IBBA program will identify both sites that are essential for sustaining native bird populations (Important Bird Areas), and areas that are exceptional for birdwatching (Important Birding Areas).

Our Goals

• Identify a network of key sites (Important Bird Areas) that will help sustain naturally occurring populations of birds in NJ.

• Identify sites exceptional for birdwatching in NJ (Important Birding Areas).

• Ensure the continued viability of these Important Bird and Birding Areas.

• Raise public awareness of the value of habitat for birds and other native wildlife.

• Generate increased support for conservation by educating private industry, landowners, and other stakeholders about the economic and educational value of birdwatching.

The IBBA Process

Step 1: Committee Formation and Criteria Development

Committees play a crucial role in coalescing the many state agencies, conservation groups and tourism associations around the IBBA Program and ensuring the greatest impact. The Bird Areas Technical Committee consists of the top ornithologists and conservation experts in the state. This committee develops the state Important Bird Area selection criteria, assists in collecting data on sites, and reviews the data on nominated sites to determine which sites qualify to be designated as Important Bird Areas.  The Bird Areas Criteria are based on the goals of large-scale bird conservation planning efforts including the Partners in Flight landbird species assessment process (and similar processes for waterbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl).  The Birding Areas Technical Committee, comprised of expert birders, conservation agencies, and ecotourism professionals, will select and promote sites that are great for birdwatching (Important Birding Areas). The Birding Committee will seek to tie birding sites into opportunities for the local, regional, and state economic growth.

Step 2: Public IBBA Site Nominations

Grassroots participation and local stakeholder involvement are key to the success of the IBBA Program.  Local residents and other volunteers will engage in the process of identifying and collecting data on potential sites through the public site nomination process.  We will conduct outreach to municipalities, counties, public and private conservation agencies, and civic associations to solicit nominations for sites.  All nomination forms and ancillary materials are available on the IBBA website.  See the Get Involved page for information on how to nominate your favorite site.

Step 3: Review and Selection of Sites

After nominations are received, the Technical Committees will review the data and recommend qualifying sites. To ensure that this inventory is as complete as possible, we will also draw upon available data from our Breeding Bird Atlas, the state’s Heritage Database, Christmas Bird Count data, and other sources.  At this time, the committee members may request additional data from nominators and may also propose additional sites for consideration.

Step 4: Site Boundary Delineation and Mapping

We will develop ecologically robust GIS mapping criteria to be approved by a GIS Committee, comprised of those proficient in GIS theory and application, including NJ Landscape Project staff, GIS professionals, and university faculty. This mapping process will have profound positive long-term conservation benefits, because our spotlight will be based upon biological habitat needs rather than land ownership patterns.  This will allow our sites to be seamlessly incorporated in the NJ DEP's Landscape Project, the map of critical wildlife habitat used extensively for planning purposes at the state and local levels.

Step 5: Production and Dissemination of IBBA Site Reports

The state coordinator will produce a preliminary report describing selected sites in New Jersey which will be disseminated widely through the website and print media. This will be used as the basis for a book with further detailed documentation on all New Jersey Important Bird Areas and Important Birding Areas which we expect to have completed in 2006. The information will also be entered into a statewide and national database and will include the location of each site, a habitat description, quantitative data on the important species, and conservation issues. The book will include an overall analysis of the sites and a set of preliminary recommendations for conservation. We will provide the book to decision-makers, land-use planners, conservationists, agency personnel, and other key stakeholders throughout NJ to use as a blueprint for conserving and promoting vital habitats for bird and other wildlife. A summarized version of the book will also be posted on our website.

Ongoing: Conservation and Outreach Activities

The conservation and outreach phase of the program is ongoing and long-range in its goals. In the first phase of the program, we will select sites in NJ that clearly meet the criteria as “model” Important Bird Areas and Important Birding Areas. We will use these as keystone sites to demonstrate the process, promote the concept, and implement simple conservation measures where needed. For example, we will hold one or more public site designation events to draw attention to the importance of the site. Similar events in Pennsylvania and New York have generated media attention and helped focus the spotlight on birds and their habitats.

In second phase of the project, we will work with the committees and other essential partners to prioritize sites and several sites will be chosen for the development of conservation plans. These plans will be carefully coordinated with the input of landowners and land managers, land trusts and conservation groups, and other local stakeholders. Audubon chapters and local groups will be called on to take a leadership role. The goal is to have a draft plan for each of these areas detailing the key threats to the birds at the site and outlining a conservation strategy– involving direct protection by public acquisition or easement, adopting best management practices, landowner education, or other alternatives.

We will continue working with the Birding Technical Committee and other stakeholders to develop site-based ecotourism plans to promote and improve NJ Important Birding Areas.  We will build upon the successful models used to develop the Texas and Virginia Birding Trails, while conducting extensive public and media outreach to raise awareness of the value of birding and possible economic opportunities for local stakeholders.  The ecotourism plans will outline action items and lead agencies, seeking to integrate its implementation into existing initiatives and identify new mechanisms for ecotourism development.  We will work to integrate sites into existing conservation initiatives and programs, including landowner incentive grants, acquisition funding, and land use regulations, to further develop mechanisms for site protection. Finally, we will initiate citizen science monitoring procedures on and use the resulting data to maintain current site-specific avian and habitat data, monitoring the progress of the program and changes in bird populations.