Bird Conservation Regions and Conservation Strategies

In response to concerns over declining populations of many species of once common birds, Canada, Mexico and the United States formed the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) in 1999.

In order to plan, implement and evaluate conservation actions across the whole of North America, NABCI partners from the United States, Mexico, and Canada developed a common, ecologically based set of 'ecoregions' appropriate to birds throughout North America. For integrated bird conservation purposes in North America, Bird Conservation Regions (BCR’s) function as the primary units within which biological planning is undertaken.

Through NABCI, Canada is committed to developing bird conservation strategies. These integrated, all-species ecoregional bird conservation strategies will provide a clear set of conservation objectives for birds of conservation concern across the country, developed according to a standard protocol. Conservation priorities and recommended actions from the BCR Strategies will be used as the biological basis to develop guidelines and beneficial management practices that support compliance with the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. The BCR strategies will assist Environment Canada in fulfilling its mandate to manage migratory bird populations.

We expect to begin posting some BCR strategies in September 2013.