Wednesday, December 10^th

Introductions, updates, and requests for information

8:30

Welcome, introductions, and agenda.  Steve Matsuoka, USFWS-Migratory Bird Management 

8:50

Update on the national front: population objectives for landbirds and the PIF Continental Plan.  Bob Altman, American Bird Conservancy 

9:10

Examples of implementing national and regional conservation goals on the land units.  Karen Murphy, USFWS-Refuges

9:40

Update on landbird conservation from the Yukon Territory.  Wendy Nixon, Canadian Wildlife Service

10:00

A request for general information on the breeding chronologies of Alaskan birds.  Maureen deZeeuw, USFWS-Anchorage Fish and Wildlife Field Office

10:10

Break

10:30

Regional updates on current and emerging issues challenging the conservation of landbirds in Alaska.   BCR Coordinators

11:00

Update on raptor conservation in Alaska.  John Wright, Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Phil Schempf, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management

11:20

Update on developing protocols for monitoring owls in Alaska.  Deb Nigro, BLM-Northern Field Office and Carol McIntrye, NPS-Denali National Park and Preserve

Monitoring bird populations using point count methods

11:30

A call for an integrated plan for monitoring landbirds in Alaska—Part I.  Steve Matsuoka, USFWS, Karen Oakley, USGS-Alaska Science, and Carol McIntyre, NPS

11:40

Progress on the Boreal Monitoring Strategy.  Craig Machtans, Canadian Wildlife Service

12:00

Lunch

1:10

Estimating trends in the population size of landbirds in Alaska from 1993-2002 using data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey and Off-road Point Count Program in Alaska.  Steve Matsuoka, USFWS and Colleen Handel, USGS-Alaska Science Center

1:25

Alaska Landbird Monitoring System (ALMS)—Program Update.  Colleen Handel, USGS

1:50

ALMS report from the field—Northwest Interior Forest.  Chris Harwood, USFWS-Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge and Carol McIntyre, NPS

2:10

ALMS report from the field —Western Alaska.  Michael Swaim, USFWS-Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge

2:30

ALMS report from the field —Northwest Pacific Rainforest.  Melissa Cady, USGS-Alaska Science Center

2:50

Results on training observers in estimating distance to birds.  Kevin Hannah, Alaska Bird Observatory

3:10

Break

3:30

ALMS Overview—what did we learn from our field efforts in 2003.  Melissa Cady, USGS

3:55

Discussion:  What worked and what didn’t work—on refining protocols and techniques of data collection for ALMS.  Colleen Handel and Melissa Cady, USGS-Alaska Science Center

5:00

Adjourn

Thursday, December 11th

Monitoring bird populations using point count methods (continued)

8:00

Introduction to the day’s topics.  Steve Matsuoka

8:05

A relational database for data from point counts.  Christopher Harwood, USFWS-Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge

8:25

A call for support for a region-wide proposal submitted through the Refuge Operating Needs Support Program.  TBA

8:40

Linking birds to management through habitat—a means of increasing the utility of data collected from the ALMS program.  John Morton, USFWS-Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

9:00

Discussion:  Linking birds to management through habitat—what variables can be collected to make our data more useful to land managers, project planners, fire ecologists, foresters.  John Morton, USFWS, and Colleen Handel USGS

10:00

Break

10:20

Discussion:  What steps need to be taken in to implement the Alaska Landbird Monitoring System? —Outlining goals and tasks for ALMS in 2004.  Colleen Handel

12:00

Lunch

Monitoring bird populations through mark-recapture methods and volunteer-based approaches

1:15

Results from the evaluation of the first 10 years of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) Program in Alaska and adjacent Canada (Part 1 and 2).  Steve Matsuoka, USFWS, Joel Schmutz, USGS-Alaska Science Center, David DeSante and Danielle Kaschube, Institute for Bird Populations

1:50

Discussion:  The future of the MAPS program in Alaska—balancing long-term monitoring of continental populations against shorter-term regional assessment of declining species.  Steve Matsuoka and Joel Schmutz

2:50

Break

3:10

Landbird Migration Monitoring Program in Alaska: the need to evaluate past and current efforts to direct future sampling.  Buddy Johnson, USFWS-Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge

3:30

Monitoring of marshland birds.  Kevin Hannah, Alaska Bird Observatory

Integrating monitoring programs and closing business

3:50

Discussion:  a call for an integrated plan for monitoring landbirds in Alaska—Part II. Karen Oakley, Steve Matsuoka, Carol McIntyre, and Colleen Handel

4:50

Wrap up and assignment of a new chair for Boreal Partners in Flight

5:00

Adjourn