The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP or “the Plan”) began as a response to declining waterfowl populations and has served as the foundation for continental conservation of waterfowl and their habitats for nearly four decades in Canada and the United States, and for three decades in Mexico. The NAWMP partnership has been adaptive and extraordinarily successful in its efforts. Much of the NAWMP’s work is conducted by regional Joint Ventures (JVs) in the United States and Canada. Two JVs also operate in Mexico, but much of the work there is conducted in Management Units for Wildlife Conservation (UMAs). In Mexico, the federal government owns all waterbodies; naturally, these are critical for accomplishing NAWMP goals.

This 2024 NAWMP Update reviews the progress made toward achieving the goals outlined in the 2012 Revision, as detailed in the 2014 Addendum (NAWMP 2014) and further refined in the 2018 Update. It also offers recommendations for decision-makers within the waterfowl management community that address changing conditions and new opportunities for conservation success. The NAWMP has an unprecedented opportunity to engage current and potential new partners and ramp up its efforts to achieve goals for waterfowl populations, habitats and people.

Despite the success of the NAWMP and relatively high current population numbers, waterfowl habitat losses continue at scales and rates that challenge the NAWMP’s goal to sustain continental waterfowl populations. The landscapes that support waterfowl are not static; they change dramatically through natural wet/dry cycles and are increasingly affected by human influences, such as agricultural intensification, urban and industrial development, and increased demands for water. Additionally, climate change introduces both known (e.g., sea-level rise) and less understood impacts that may exacerbate the challenges the NAWMP faces in sustaining habitats for waterfowl, other bird species and overall biodiversity.

The future success of waterfowl conservation hinges on the NAWMP’s ability to grow and diversify its partnership base, achieving conservation at a scale that reverses habitat loss. Expanding the NAWMP umbrella by listening to and engaging with new and diverse partners is a timely and logical step to secure the additional resources needed to fulfill the NAWMP vision and goals for waterfowl populations, habitat and people.

The U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan presents the major conclusions and recommendations of the technical and regional working groups that contributed to the development of a coordinated national initiative for shorebird conservation. Many of the details pertaining to the development of specific goals and objectives are presented in the accompanying technical reports, which are part of the Plan and are listed at the end of this document. These additional reports should be consulted whenever greater detail is required. This document is intended to provide an overview of the current status of shorebirds, the conservation challenges facing them, current opportunities for integrated conservation, broad goals for the conservation of shorebird species and subspecies, and specific programs necessary to meet the overall vision of restoring stable and self-sustaining populations of all shorebirds.

This 2016 Plan Revision documents widespread declines in populations of many of the 448 species of landbirds in the U.S. and Canada—a foreboding indicator that the health of ecosystems upon which we all depend is being degraded. Although we have made much progress over the past 20 years, the daunting task of conserving several hundred landbird species across vast and varied landscapes under diverse ownership requires unprecedented levels of cooperation among the public, private, and industrial sectors.

In 2004, Partners in Flight (PIF) published the first North American Landbird Conservation Plan (NALCP, Rich et al.), presenting the results of a comprehensive landbird species vulnerability assessment for the U.S. and Canada. The 2004 NALCP presented a Watch List that identified the species of highest conservation concern, along with a summary of their status, monitoring needs, and the first estimates of population size, leading to bold continental population objectives. Compelling new science that refines the biological foundation of our conservation indicators and objectives, combined with new opportunities for conservation throughout the full lifecycle of these species, prompted us to revise and update the Plan.

The North American Waterbird Conservation Plan (the Plan) is the product of an independent partnership of individuals and institutions having interest and responsibility for conservation of waterbirds and their habitats in the Americas. This partnership—Waterbird Conservation for the Americas—was created to support a vision in which the distribution, diversity, and abundance of populations and habitats of breeding, migratory, and nonbreeding waterbirds are sustained or restored throughout the lands and waters of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

The Plan provides a continental-scale framework for the conservation and management of 210 species of waterbirds, including seabirds, coastal waterbirds, wading birds, and marshbirds utilizing aquatic habitats in 29 nations throughout North America, Central America, the islands and pelagic waters of the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic, the U.S.-associated Pacific Islands and pelagic waters of the Pacific. Birds as familiar as herons, loons, pelicans, and gulls, as well as the lesser known albatrosses, petrels, auks, and rails are among the species considered in the Plan. These birds' dependence on aquatic habitats such as wooded swamps, stream corridors, salt marshes, barrier islands, continental shelf waters and open pelagic waters make them especially vulnerable to the myriad threats facing water and wetland resources globally. In addition, the congregatory behavior of many waterbirds increases population risks by concentrating populations in limited areas.