FWS maintains(?) a list of major bird festivals. It would be interesting but is certainly not a priority to map these and other regularly occurring events!

I plan to casually maintain a list of ongoing and discontinued monitoring data efforts and data sources.

Data sources

• FWS major data programs
• hunter surveys

Sites to mine

• FWS surveys
• AKN
• Point blue
• FWS data assets

Wanna help? Cool!

Drop me a line here (or via email).

Looking for folks interested in helping paint a clear(er) picture of bird conservation in the US and ideally those to help with contributions in the following areas:

• Data collection
• UX/UI (esp. using maps)
• Database design
• Database maintenance
• Designing mechanisms for soliciting and fielding feedback

I'm sure you are thinking about this already, but it seems like you are going to need some intensive focus on describing and encoding the routes to all source data and information for this model. None of this is static. You can produce a snapshot in some way, but we really need a whole set of algorithms designed to keep this information up to date and sorted out over time.

You'll run into the inevitable cases where some human has to click a link and do some work on a given dataset to whip it into shape for use in this integrating context. But even in those, we need a framework that maximizes what machines can do and minimizes human intervention. Behind every data and information asset in your stubbed out data structure, I would expect to see metadata describing access to the original source material and processing steps instantiated as code. Maybe you are already thinking along these lines, and I apologize if I missed something in the documentation.

A wish list for cool stuff to overlay our core data:

• Ecological disturbances
• Cat colonies
• Climate conditions and projections
• Habitat variability
• Major weather events (e.g., drought, severe winters)
• Cropping patterns

Ensure the data and elements are such that those with visual impairments (limited vision, color-blind) can benefit from the tool.

Cats!

Trap-neuter-release

A very interesting proposal via Twitter (by @therealmo777) to "please address the serious problem of feral cats and the misguided TNR programs". This is a very curious request, and would be pretty cool (and perhaps depressing) to visualize if it doesn't already exist.

We could reach out to those in anti-TNR advocacy for more info or ideas (e.g. Chris Lepczyk). (JLB contacted CAL 20191212)

Outdoor cats - policy, facts

Surely there are existing layers of predicted threats of cats

Collisions

Any existing layers/interpolations of predicted building, car, etc. collision impact?

Illegal take

Same ^?

Example of a potential concept map to use within the usavian framework.

This map is inspired by ongoing discussions within the PIF WWG limiting factors subcomm

https://cmapscloud.ihmc.us/viewer/cmap/1VX1S62CZ-1W1TP49-8P

CLICK ME for a list of identified data sources, urls, and descriptions

JLB try to check each data source or webpage as done as it is mined or is added to the data list (^) so as to make progress on this Issue and related Milestones 2 and 3.

Identify geographical boundary data layers, and confirm which are/are not in PAD-US or SFR.

Actively managed properties

Federal and state

• Dept. of defense properties (some or all are in PAD-US, need to check!)
• Fish and Wildlife Service refuges (some or all are in PAD-US, need to check!)
• Bureau of land management (some or all in PAD-US, need to check!)
• State managed lands (some may be in PAD-US)

NGO and privately owned

• TNC property
• Audubon property
• Land trusts
• Conservation easements (see next Section)

Conservation units and boundaries

• Collectives/cooperatives (e.g., GOMAMN)
• Migratory bird joint ventures
  • directory and contacts
  • map image
  • shapefiles on data.gov; alternate source for shps
• NABCI Bird conservation regions (note: PIF uses this unit)
• Fish and Wildlife Service regions
• Habitat joint ventures
• FWS administrative flyways
• Flyway initiatives (e.g. Atlantic flyway shorebird init.
• Landscape conservation cooperatives (LCC)
• Natural heritage program e.g., North Carolina's
• Conservation easements database (probably already in PAD-US; info here)

Nation-wide partnerships or plans

• US Shorebird conservation plan(by the us shorebird conservation partnership)
• Adaptive harvest management plan (FWS AHM)
• PIF partners at national and regional scales
• PIF science plans

Regional, Local partnerships or plans

• Bird Conservation Network, Chicago Area ebird webpage
• PIF partners at regional scales. Includes links to the JVs
• Prairie pothole jv plans
• PIF WWG western working group plan

Observatories

• Rocky mtn bird conservancy
• Point Blue
• Should we map the MAPS stations? Idk if they do any local conservation, but I assume conduct outreach...

Some webpages to mine for more information and potential layers

• FWS major partner list + others; make sure all partners are represented in our list
• ABC bird conservation alliance partners.
• Cornell land trust program and the associated pub
• BirdLIfe international's important bird areas and associated map
• Nature Serve
• Birdnet orgnizations list
• Birdnet observatories list
• Scrape this webpage for state agencies and other partners!
• NatureServe has a great mapping tool already--LandScope-- but unfortunately the data is not retrievable, it only produces maps. Map layers/data sources include Land Trusts, threatened spp, ecosystem/region boundaries (e.g. TNC)

To avoid the "build it and they will come" model of product and tool development, I'd like to informally identify what our end users' objectives are (unless a non-fed wants to take the lead on surveys or structured interviews).

Please post relevant information, needs, articles, etc. here!

Popular articles
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDZQ3Vf4AqhwGweLxNOnw4DVPCVDa0fDBV1-hk7Oo9E/edit#gid=0

Would it be useful to add a layer comprising regular funding opportunities for those trying to conduct either or both bird research and conservation. There would need to be a compelling reason, however, as to why we would overlap with the efforts of Cornell's land trust fundraising page

Existing lists of funding

To mine and/or point to

• FWS grants
• Cornell
• Birds Canada

Funding types

Currently categorized as research, conservation, management, or outreach.

Conservation

Urban Bird Treaty
FWS coastal grants

Management

Outreach

Urban Bird Treaty

Research

Other relevant things

• FundingRef: persistent identifiers and information standards for funding sources

CLICK ME FOR LIST OF DATA SOURCES HERE

• (✔) symbol indicates the data was added to /data/data_sources.csv

Below is a list of A list of desired data sources for bird ranges and distributions:

• Bird Life international (requested by KRB)
• GAP predicted distributions (already available in the Biogeographic Information Systems)
• Birds of North America (BNA) maps (BNA is available via Cornell only as .EPS files--i.e. no spatially-referenced information is available. They will share with an agreement, but don't think these will be of value to us)
• GAVIA (non-native bird range maps); link to enitre zip archive

Data warehouses

• Rocky mtn avian data center
• Avian Knowledge Network
• IMBCR (map/visual and list of known products!)
• Borderlands avian data center
• Federal Avian Data Center
• California avian data center
• Midwest avian data center
• NEON point counts
• SWAP species-states (2005 and 2015 via USGS only)

Taxonomy

• ITIS monthly data dump

Starting a list of relevant bird/habitat policies or programs
x==have entered somewhere as /data/

United States

National

• Endangered species act
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act
• Conservation Easements
• Duck stamps
• BAEA and GOEA protection act
• Mig bird and hunting treaty act

Regional

State & Local

Canada

Mexico

We will partner with @aulenbac to create a database which is interoperable with the Biogeographic Information Systems, used to generate interactive visualization maps such as National Biogeographic Map.

Collect general conservation measures, plans and applications/results.

Conservation indices/proxies

• ACAD (avian conservation assessments database and PIF scores)

Conservation measures, generally

FWS

• FWS ESA species critical habitat
• ESA species and locations
• FWS IPAC locations
• Urban bird treaty program
• PIF
• NAWMP
• US Shorebird consv. plan

Example maps

• Here is a nice example of a map-based visualization of case studies (of use of model predictions and tools)

Would be nice to have the metadata comprising state agency management actions and monitoring programs/data collection efforts (thanks @atyre2).

In order to avoid the model of build it first ask questions later, I suggest we first identify our potential end user groups, and informally solicit feedback from persons (<9 non-feds or infinite feds) from groups in these communities.

We can certainly go about soliciting information this in a more systematic and scaled-up way at a later point, but to improve impact I'd like to do this sooner than later.

Here are the potential end users I see, please chime in with your opinions:

1. Conservation groups who buy, retain, or manage lands* (e.g., TNC, Audubon local and national)
2. Conservation and advocacy groups who do not buy, retain, or manage lands (e.g., GoMAMN)
3. Conservation advisory groups (e.g., NABCI)
4. Management agencies (federal and state management agencies, tribal agencies)
5. General population
6. Science producers (e.g. Auriel Fournier)
7. Birdwatching community

*Includes those who are managing habitat not directly for but which ultimately impacts birds

Summarise the state of conservation and management in the Great Plains region of US and Canada.

We will roll out the pilot USAvian tool for a region within the Great Plains, if not the entire ecoregion. Given our collaboration (and the fact that birds don't recognize political boundaries) with the Canadian Wildlife Service, we would prefer span the US/CAN border.

Create a blueprint for the data structures required to incorporate into the USGS Biogeographic Information Systems framework (e.g., interoperable with the framework used to build tools like USGS maps).

Here I will post relevant 'gap' projects:

• Grassland Gap Analysis. This project led by AFWA's Grassland Work Group is ongoing as of 20200602. Select users are outlining the geographical locations in which ongoing management and conservation efforts are taking place. Here's a presentation including an update on the gap project.

At its heart, what you seem to be building here is a knowledge graph with known and as yet unknown end members. I'd encourage thinking about it this way, building a conceptual model for the graph, and then instantiating it as the glue that holds everything together.