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Working with Partners to Save the Saline Lakes of the Americas

Marcela Castellino, Saline Lakes Conservation Specialist,

Marina Castellino, Education and Youth Engagement Specialist

Throughout the Americas, millions of migratory shorebirds depend upon saline lakes. These lakes and their water sources also benefit millions of people, their livelihoods, and their quality of life. Yet, alarming stories and photos of drying (and dying) lakes point to the devastating impacts that arise when too much water is extracted from the lakes or their inflows. One of the species most dependent on saline lakes is Wilson’s Phalarope. Through the lens of this species, we will share how Manomet is working to build a coalition of partners to conserve the saline lakes network through a combination of research, monitoring, education, and community engagement.

Available on Zoom.

Coalitions for Shorebird Conservation

Brad Winn, Vice President, Resilient Habitats

Rob Clay, Ph.D., Vice President, Flyways

Long-lasting conservation success for migratory shorebirds requires strategic collaboration among many stakeholders both at the local level and across each species’ full geographic range. Since 2020, Manomet’s “Coalitions” approach has been making significant strides with key stakeholders to address threats at 17 priority sites throughout the Americas. This concerted effort has brought together 130 organizations to inform management on 741,000 acres of critical shorebird habitat. During the breakout, we will share this notable progress and present a vision for scaling-up the work.

Available on Zoom.

Participatory Mapping and Coastal Change

Marissa McMahan, Ph.D., Senior Director of Fisheries

Sarah Risley, Ph.D. Candidate,

Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine

Join Marissa for a fun and interactive session that will explore how we’re using participatory mapping to document coastal change and understand how those changes impact shellfish harvesters and coastal community members. During this time, participants will engage in activities that reflect on their own observations of coastal changes.

This hands-on interactive session will not be available on Zoom.

50 Years of the International Shorebird Survey

Juliana Bosi de Almeida, Ph.D., Managing Director, Flyways

Arne J. Lesterhuis, Senior Shorebird Conservation Specialist

The International Shorebird Survey (ISS) is the longest-running shorebird monitoring program in the Americas. Over 2,450 volunteers have surveyed nearly 70 million shorebirds at over 9,700 sites in 36 countries since 1974. Survey data have facilitated the identification of important areas for migratory shorebirds, supported the nomination of WHSRN sites, and been a reliable data set to assess shorebird population status and trends, used, for example, in the State of the Birds of North America reports, and in the 2023 publication that revealed the loss of more than half of shorebird populations since the 1980s. ISS has a long history in Latin America, where almost no similar long-term data sets exist. We will highlight efforts to strengthen ISS in Latin America and use results from ISS Brazil as an example of the challenges and opportunities to grow the network of volunteers and ensure that during the next 50 years, we have the data necessary to conduct flyway-scale analyses of the state of shorebird populations.

Available on Zoom.