The North American Waterfowl Management Plan
The 2012 Plan Revision
Version: April 2012
Sustaining Waterfowl & Wetlands
How can we sustain waterfowl & wetlands in the
face of…
•Budgets being slashed
•Decline in our traditional support base …hunters
•Ongoing loss of habitat
•Accelerating environmental change
•Accelerating social change
We need a Plan that is …
• Relevant
• Adaptable
• Efficient
The 2012 NAWMP
• Extensive consultations:
• 15 workshops; 300+ participants
• Webinars, flyway and JV meetings, etc.
• Public draft July 2011; comments by Sept. 26
• 50+ comments; ~400 pages
• Subsequent revisions
• Latest draft posted on NAWMPrevision.org website Feb.
13th
• Plan Committee approved the NAWMP latest draft on
Feb. 21st
 This draft now advancing for formal approvals within
the signatory federal agencies
Highlights of the 2012 NAWMP
• The NAWMP has been an outstanding success, but needs
to adapt to a changing world
• The fundamental elements of waterfowl management –
waterfowl populations, habitat, and people – are tightly
linked
• Understanding and explicitly addressing the needs of
people will be increasingly important
• An integrated system of waterfowl management should
increase efficiency and better position us for the future
• Securing the gains of the last 25 years, and achieving new
successes, will be challenging but do-able
Goals
Goal 1: Abundant and resilient waterfowl populations to
support hunting and other uses without imperiling
habitat.
Goal 2: Wetlands and related habitats sufficient to sustain
waterfowl populations at desired levels, while
providing places to recreate and ecological services
that benefit society.
Goal 3: Growing numbers of waterfowl hunters, other
conservationists, and citizens who enjoy and
actively support waterfowl and wetlands
conservation.
Linkages Among Goals
“A” – Conserving landscapes helps maintain healthy populations
“B” – Healthy populations are essential for hunting and viewing opportunities
“C” – Conserved landscapes provide places to hunt and view waterfowl
“D” – Hunters and other users fund habitat conservation and influence public policies
Intrinsic Values of Goals
&
Utility Values of Linkages
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
1. Develop, revise or reaffirm NAWMP objectives so that all facets of North
American waterfowl management share a common benchmark
• Quantifiable objectives inspire action and establish a
benchmark against which we measure progress
• Step-down objectives are needed for all three goals:
waterfowl populations, habitat, and people
• Under an integrated management system, objectives
need to be developed in consideration of interactions and
tradeoffs
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
1. Develop, revise or reaffirm NAWMP objectives so that all facets of North
American waterfowl management share a common benchmark
Populations:
 New NAWMP population objectives should be developed
in a manner that reflects the natural variation in
populations and habitat features (especially wetlands)
 Criteria should be established to evaluate population
trends on a periodic basis
 Management actions in response to significant population
increases or decreases should be devised and agreed upon
as part of the planning process
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
1. Develop, revise or reaffirm NAWMP objectives so that all facets of North
American waterfowl management share a common benchmark
Habitat:
Habitat should be sufficient to support hunters and
viewers as well as waterfowl
The waterfowl habitat management community – in
particular the Joint Ventures – should enhance efforts to
inventory their habitat base and assess the degree to which
critical resources may be at risk
Joint Ventures should devise monitoring systems that
track net change in critical landscape features
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
1. Develop, revise or reaffirm NAWMP objectives so that all facets of North
American waterfowl management share a common benchmark
People:
 Set objectives related to sustaining waterfowl hunting
traditions and also to build broader public support for
waterfowl conservation efforts across the continent.
 Determine the monitoring and evaluation systems that
will be needed and employed to assess progress towards
meeting public use objectives
 Evaluate controllability
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
2. Build support for waterfowl conservation by reconnecting people
with nature through waterfowl, and by highlighting the environmental
benefits associated with waterfowl habitat conservation
• We need public support for funding and policies to
achieve our conservation goals
• As people become increasingly disconnected from
nature, they place less value on conservation of
waterfowl and associated habitat
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
2. Build support for waterfowl conservation by reconnecting people
with nature through waterfowl, and by highlighting the environmental
benefits associated with waterfowl habitat conservation
Considerations:
•Waterfowl are charismatic, widespread and easily
viewed… and therefore offer an opportunity to reconnect
people with nature
•Absent an emotional connection with waterfowl, the
environmental goods and services provided by waterfowl
habitat may be a lever to maintain/increase support for
conservation… but we need to make the case and market
the connection
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
2. Build support for waterfowl conservation by reconnecting people
with nature through waterfowl, and by highlighting the environmental
benefits associated with waterfowl habitat conservation
• Consider modest wetland developments in strategic
urban/suburban locations build a greater appreciation for
waterfowl and educate the public on waterfowl
conservation issues
• Compile a comprehensive review of the environmental and
societal benefits of waterfowl habitat conservation. Invest
in new research and monitoring as appropriate
• Joint Ventures should assume the lead in communicating
the regional benefits of waterfowl conservation to the
general public and to policymakers
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
3. Focus resources on important landscapes that have the greatest influence
on waterfowl populations and those who hunt and view waterfowl
•Waterfowl occur across North America, but some areas
stand out as particularly important to waterfowl demography
•The NAWMP goal related to “people” may require
consideration of additional landscapes beyond those
important to waterfowl
•An updated map of “areas of greatest continental important
to waterfowl” is provided in the 2012 NAWMP. However,
additional decision support tools will be required for
programmatic targeting purposes
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
3. Focus resources on important landscapes that have the greatest influence
on waterfowl populations and those who hunt and view waterfowl
Identify significant areas at multiple spatial scales, based on
several criteria:
 Estimates of regional waterfowl population abundance
 Distribution of waterfowl species of greatest concern
 Relative risk of habitat loss or conversion
 Relative abundance of public lands
 The distribution and abundance of waterfowl hunters,
birders, and potential outdoor recreationists
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
4. Adapt harvest management strategies to support attainment of
NAWMP objectives
•In the U.S., Adaptive Harvest Management (AHM) has
been used for 16 years to set duck hunting regulations
•AHM has functioned well… so well that there is an
ongoing proliferation of AHM-like strategies for individual
species and stocks
•Are the incremental gains in hunting opportunity resulting
from these new harvest strategies worth the investment of
time and resources?
•Might associated regulatory complexity actually be
discouraging hunter recruitment and retention?
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
4. Adapt harvest management strategies to support attainment of
NAWMP objectives
 As waterfowl population, habitat, and user objectives are
clarified, revised or developed, it will be necessary to revisit
harvest strategies to incorporate multiple, explicit
objectives
 Need to revise and/or clarify the interpretation of
waterfowl population objectives (e.g., under what climatic
conditions), and the role of harvest management in
attaining population objectives
 Decisions regarding modification of the regulatory process
or available regulatory packages must negotiate tradeoffs
among simplicity, harvest opportunity, hunter satisfaction,
and management risk
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
5. Establish a Human Dimensions Working Group to support development
of objectives for people and ensure those actions are informed by science
•People – hunters, viewers, and the public at large – are
critical to the future of waterfowl management
•The needs of people must be clearly understood and
explicitly addressed
•The waterfowl management enterprise needs expertise
to bring rigorous social science research to bear on
questions related to people
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
5. Establish a Human Dimensions Working Group to support development
of objectives for people and ensure those actions are informed by science
Considerations:
• The HDWG should be supported by, and report to, an
established institution
• The charge of the HDWG should include recruitment and
retention of hunters, addressing the needs of other users,
and enhancing public support for conservation policies
and funding
• Management actions related to people should be
monitored and evaluated with the same rigor as
population and habitat programs
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
6. Integrate waterfowl management to ensure programs are
complementary, inform resource investments, and allow managers to
understand and weigh tradeoffs among potential actions
• Waterfowl management is a tightly linked enterprise,
but our institutions (flyways, joint ventures) plan and
implement programs independently
• An integrated system of management would increase
efficiency and avoid working at odds with one another
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
6. Integrate waterfowl management to ensure programs are
complementary, inform resource investments, and allow managers to
understand and weigh tradeoffs among potential actions
• An integrated system will require:
 Quantifiable objectives
 System models that link objectives and are coherent
across scales
 Targeted monitoring programs that track progress
and learning
 Institutions that facilitate integration and adaptation
•The community must first agree on the “value” of various
outcomes
•Some entity must assume responsibility for the expanded
set of objectives, and oversee progress
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
6. Integrate waterfowl management to ensure programs are
complementary, inform resource investments, and allow managers to
understand and weigh tradeoffs among potential actions
 Need to determine how multiple objectives for waterfowl
management will be established (i.e., by what social process should
this be accomplished), and who will “oversee” the expanded set of
objectives
 The PC should assume an interim facilitation role and appoint an
interim Integration Steering Committee (ISC) to guide the
development of an integrated system of waterfowl management
 The three federal governments with over-arching management
authority for migratory birds and treaty responsibilities should
consider more comprehensive, long-term changes in processes
and/or institutions to ensure future success of integrated
waterfowl management
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
7. Increase adaptive capacity so structured learning expands as
part of the culture of waterfowl management and program
effectiveness increases
• Management decisions must often be made in the face
of considerable uncertainty
• In such situations, adaptive management is an approach
for making the best management decisions while
increasing our understanding
• Despite its advantages, formal adaptive management is
not routinely practiced in waterfowl management
Recommendations in the 2012 NAWMP
7. Increase adaptive capacity so structured learning expands as
part of the culture of waterfowl management and program
effectiveness increases
Considerations:
• Institutional barriers to adaptive management must be
overcome:
 Learning should be a performance metric
 Controlled risk-taking should be encouraged
• Good monitoring and evaluation systems are a critical
part of adaptive management
Next Steps
• Final approval of 2012 NAWMP revision
• Appointment of a NAWMP Implementation Committee
• Prepare and release draft NAWMP Action Plan – “who does
what by when”. By early summer 2012 …
 Balance specificity/prescription with community
involvement/ownership
 First priorities…
 Quantifiable objectives… esp. population objectives
 Framework for integrated system
 Creation of H-D Working Group