Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) is a breeding landbird monitoring program that spans the Great Plains to the Intermountain West. A nested, probabilistic sampling design allows us to make inference about bird populations at multiple scales across public and private lands. Click here for more information about the program including the IMBCR vision and mission statement.

We held the annual IMBCR Partners meeting remotely again this year with 48 participants. During the first session, we discussed updates to the IMBCR mission and vision statements, and changes to the data sharing protocol, such as an online submission form to request raw data. Breakout groups discussed how they might use the new IMBCR communication strategy and other information that could be added to improve its usefulness for communicating the program's value and applications. During the second session, we heard from presenters on three IMBCR data applications (see below for information on each presentation), and field implementers discussed issues, such as increasing rental vehicle rates and a lack of availability of appropriate vehicles for fieldwork. We wrapped up the meeting with a brief presentation from Kara Paintner-Green with the National Park Service Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network, 2021's IMBCR Partner of the Year. Thanks, Kara! Visit this folder to see a summary of the meeting and pdf's of presentations.

Field Season Prep: Hiring for the 2022 field season is in full swing! We still have a few positions to fill if you know someone with bird ID skills who is looking for work this spring and summer. The sampling effort will be similar to 2021's effort but with a few new overlay projects, including an expansion of a recreation study in Colorado and a juniper thinning study in Wyoming.

Please welcome TC Walker to the IMBCR team! TC will be leading the Colorado crew and providing GIS support for the program after assisting with the Southwest crew this year. TC spent many years backpacking, fishing and 4-wheeling before finally noticing how neat birds are. He landed his first field job with Bird Conservancy in 2014 conducting point counts in Colorado, and since then, he has returned to IMBCR almost every summer. He spent the off seasons working at raptor migration sites; monitoring projects for sage-grouse, waterfowl, & eagles; and fisher, deer, and wolf movement studies across much of the west before earning his BS at CSU. We're excited to have TC's talents and enthusiasm for meaningful science on the IMBCR team!

Check out the new IMBCR Story Map! Eric Chabot created it to provide a fun and interactive way to learn about the IMBCR program including its objectives, the sampling design, field methods, and how the results are used to inform management and conservation decisions. You can also pan in and out of the IMBCR footprint to view various strata within each state. Please share the Story Map with anyone who might be interested in learning about the program!

Zach Wallace is a biometrician at the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD), which is Wyoming’s State Natural Heritage Program and a service unit of the University of Wyoming. WYNDD has been involved in IMBCR since the start of the program, and Zach has been involved since 2017. He specializes in raptor research, but his work at WYNDD involves analyses and field surveys of diverse taxa, including songbirds, amphibians, bats, and plants.

WYNDD implements IMBCR surveys in US Forest Service Region 2 in Wyoming, which includes habitats ranging from alpine areas of the Bighorn Mountains to the montane forests of the Sierra Madre and the prairies of Thunder Basin National Grassland.

WYNDD distributes statewide IMBCR data to partners through their database and web applications, incorporates IMBCR data into heritage program data products, like species distribution models and range maps, and uses IMBCR trend estimates for species status assessment and ranking.

Sylvia Ringer with the Colorado BLM presented on her agency's involvement in the IMBCR program. She shared specific applications, such as using the trend estimates help the BLM maintain and update their Sensitive Species list, and using the density estimates to help estimate potential population impacts for NEPA projects. Field offices within the state also use overlay projects to inform management decisions, like the impact of roads and trails on sagebrush-associated birds. See Sylvia's slides here.

We developed the IMBCR Communication Strategy as a guide for IMBCR partners who wish to communicate to current and potential data users the value of the program, how to use estimates for management and conservation decisions, and how to get involved in the program. The strategy contains several sections to help partners convey a consistent message about the IMBCR program, including why we monitor bird populations in the first place, features that set IMBCR apart from other monitoring programs, identifying your target audience, real-world data applications, and various pathways to communicate your message.

Please let Jen know if you have any questions or feedback on the comms plan.

Check out the IMBCR Applications webpage for IMBCR-related resources. You can access publications, annual reports & field protocols, trend estimates, past IMBCR meeting notes, and factsheets, such as IMBCR FAQs.

Contact Jen Timmer (jennifer.timmer@birdconservancy.org) with questions, example applications of IMBCR data, pictures, or any other contributing material for future IMBCR e-newsletters.