{"id":711,"date":"2019-09-08T17:22:34","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T22:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wisconsinbirds.org\/iba\/?page_id=711"},"modified":"2019-09-10T15:55:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T20:55:59","slug":"leopold-reserve-pine-island","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.wisconsinbirds.org\/iba\/conservation\/leopold-reserve-pine-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Leopold Reserve-Pine Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nProject Description<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This IBA has been the flagship project in the development and implementation of our strategic conservation process.\u00a0 Four key features, or milestones, in the process stand out in the story of this project: Research<\/strong>; Partnership<\/strong>; Perspective<\/strong>; and Strategic Action<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Research:<\/strong> The seeds of this project were planted in 2004 when several local landowners, biologists, and advocates proposed expanding the boundary of an existing IBA nomination for Pine Island State Wildlife Area to encompass additional high-quality habitats on adjacent public and private lands.\u00a0 The lack of bird data on these parcels, necessary to evaluate them against IBA criteria, led to the development of a bird survey in which a system of points and transects was established across the entire proposed IBA and inventoried for breeding and migrating birds.\u00a0 The survey was designed to serve as a basis for long-term monitoring as well as for collecting information on bird-habitat relationships.\u00a0 Volunteers collected additional data on migrants and breeders through area searches and Breeding Bird Atlas-style observations. \u00a0The data from these survey efforts led to the site being approved as an IBA in late 2005.<\/p>\n

Leopold-Pine Island Points-and-transects map & Properties map (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n

Partnership:<\/strong> A dedication ceremony in the fall of 2007 gathered all the various partners in this diverse IBA together and generated a lot of excitement about next steps and how an active partnership could add value to each individual stakeholder.\u00a0 A core leadership team emerged at this time that was instrumental in developing project ideas, coordinating work and resources, reaching out to partners, and driving the project forward: Steve Swenson, ecologist with the Aldo Leopold Foundation; Mike Mossman, ecologist with WDNR; and Yoyi Steele, IBA Coordinator for WBCI.<\/p>\n

\"Leopold-Pine

Leopold-Pine Island IBA Dedication. From left to right: Frank Terbilcox, private landowner; Jeff Nania, Wisconsin Waterfowl Association; Matt Frank, WDNR Secretary; Greg Kidd, NRCS; Joan Pines, private landowner and host; Jim Lutes, USFWS; Phill Pines, private landowner and host; Yoyi Steele, IBA Coordinator; Kevin McAleese, Sand County Foundation; Nina Leopold Bradley; and Buddy Huffaker, Aldo Leopold Foundation<\/p><\/div>\n

After a series of partner meetings, discussions, data analysis, and GIS work, we developed a detailed report summarizing the results of the bird survey and laying out a vision for managing the IBA as a landscape while respecting the property goals of individual landowners and land managers.<\/p>\n

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Perspective:<\/strong> In this report, the comprehensive IBA-wide bird survey was our foundation for strategically identifying priority species, exploring bird-habitat relationships, determining relative opportunity for different species and habitats, and recommending how each property can contribute to the larger whole.\u00a0 We completed this report in 2009 and presented it to the IBA partnership, where it was very well received.\u00a0 This effort was instrumental in helping each partner gain valuable perspective: understanding what the IBA can do \u201cbest\u201d conservation-wise, and how their individual property fits in to the IBA and the larger landscape.<\/p>\n

We met with each partner individually to discuss management on their property in more detail and how the goals of the larger IBA could be integrated with their own property goals.\u00a0 Based on these conversations we delineated tentative management units on each property and proposed more specific management recommendations for them that follow from the \u2018big picture\u2019 laid out in the Strategic Vision<\/em> report.\u00a0 We also proposed IBA-wide population objectives for a subset of priority species and, where appropriate, stepped these objectives down to individual properties.\u00a0 This Detailed Stewardship Recommendations<\/em> document, with accompanying management unit maps of each property, was completed in early 2010 and presented to the larger partnership and to partners individually.<\/p>\n

Strategic Action: <\/strong>The partnership has now entered the \u2018implementation\u2019 phase of the strategic process, carrying out management based on our collaborative planning; evaluating its effects; and using existing and new monitoring efforts to determine whether management is having the desired effects on birds and their habitats.<\/p>\n

Next Steps<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For 2010 and beyond, the Leopold-Pine Island partnership is embarking on the following:<\/p>\n