introduction - Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program

*Defined as: 2,000 waterfowl (at one time), 100 shorebirds (at once), 50 breeding pairs of wading birds, or 10,000migrant raptors/season.Pennsylvania’s Important Bird Area (IBA) Program is part of a dynamic worldwide effort to identify and protectoutstanding habitats for birds and all wildlife. The IBA concept was first developed in Europe (in 1985) byBirdLife International. The program’s resounding success in the Old World quickly spread to North America,where the IBA Program has become pivotal to a continent-wide bird conservation strategy. Working in partnershipwith the American Bird Conservancy, the National Audubon Society has already identified over 400 Important BirdAreas in the U.S.Pennsylvania was the first state to develop an IBA program in the United States. Based on strict scientific criteria(given above), a group of scientific advisors (known as the Ornithological Technical Committee) selected 73 IBAsites encompassing over one million acres of public and private lands. These areas include migratory staging areas,winter feeding areas and roost sites, and prime breeding areas for songbirds, wading birds and other species. Theyalso include critical habitats, such as spruce-fir bogs, tidal salt marsh lands, bottomland hardwood swamps, andopen grasslands. The technical committee, on an ongoing basis, will select additional IBA sites in Pennsylvania.More information on the Important Bird Area program in Pennsylvania can be found on their website, athttp://pa.audubon.org/Ibamain.htm.19