Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Initiative
| We have made a 40-year commitment to bird research and conservation in the Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor. Our integrated approach includes mapping habitat areas, characterizing land cover, reforestation, education, and community outreach. Under the direction of Paso Pacifico's Director of Conservation Science, Kim Williams-Guillén, the initial stage of the project aimed to protect and restore migratory bird habitat, to establish a long-term monitoring program to describe the migratory bird populations, and to create a participatory migratory bird education program and promote sustainable tourism for birders. |  |
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| Our strategic plan for bird conservation in the Paso del Istmo highlights species in decline, and specificies strategies to protect and restore their habitat. In just one year, we restored 600 hectares of migratory bird habitat, planting over 100,000 native trees, with an emphasis on threatened species and fruit-bearing trees which benefit migratory birds. Thanks to the addition of three new private farms into our conservation area which include dry and moist forest habitat, and we constructed fire breaks and extinguished small fires in coastal dry forest and mangrove habitat. |
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Our bird monitoring team includes a dozen secondary students trained to monitor bird populations, read data, and identify individual species. This program provides them with skills on which to build future studies and careers in conservation, and provides us with skilled local knowledge, which we have found to be more dependable in the field. Working with environmental educator and ornithologist, Lynn Crew, we also trained teachers from eight schools, and brought together 300 students for our first annual International Migratory Bird Day celebration. Thanks to our partners at Optics for the Tropics we put 240 pairs of binoculars into the hands of students who participated in this curriculum. Part of a sling-shot amnesty, new binoculars were awarded to older students for turning in their slingshots and pledging to protect birds. |
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| Bird Species Spotted in the Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor | Trees Planted in Restoration Area | ||
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| Project partners include the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF). | |||
© 2006 Paso Pacífico • info@pasopacifico.org
USA Address: PO Box 1244 • Ventura, CA 93002-1244 • Phone: 1-805-643-7044
Nicaragua Address: Carretera a Masaya Km 12.4 • Residencial Villas del Prado, Casa No. 7 • Managua, Nicaragua • Phone: +505-2279-8423 or +505-2279-7072