After years of concerted efforts on the part of many dedicated individuals, Montana has the opportunity to become one of the first states in the nation to develop and implement a comprehensive statewide All-bird Monitoring Plan.  When implemented, this plan will serve the needs of federal and state agencies, tribal entities, private industry, and non-governmental organizations and will eliminate the need for any one entity to design and conduct monitoring activities entirely independently.

Numerous partners are working collaboratively with the Avian Science Center to garner the scientific value and financial benefits of this statewide monitoring program. Presently, the ASC is spearheading the writing of this CBM plan. 

**We have a new draft available as of October, 2006.  We welcome any feedback or comments and hope partners will take the necessary next steps.

Montana draft CBM plan 4.0 (.pdf)

Montana draft CBM Appendix IV (.pdf)

Recently, a number of national plans and initiatives have been put forth, all advocating collaboration in developing and carrying out state- region- or nation-wide monitoring.  For example, the North American bird Conservation Initiative Subcommittee on Monitoring has a new report available (Sept. 2006): The Opportunities for Improving North American Avian Monitoring.  For more partnerships and plans, see National Bird Coservation Initiatives.

For more information, contact Jock Young at 243-6499 or jock.young@mso.umt.edu