SAFE SHOREbirds Campaign to Combat Human Impacts

We’re excited to announce a new hands-on conservation program to aid in the fight against declining shorebird populations. SAFE SHOREbirds combines hands-on conservation with a policy and advocacy campaign targeting developed coastal areas and habitats.

“Shorebirds are facing unprecedented and increasing human impacts across landscapes during their annual migration cycles,” said Scott Artis, Executive Director of Urban Bird Foundation. “We know that successful conservation action depends upon and must be initiated locally, so as an organization already working on the ground in urbanized communities, we want to create a ripple flyway scale effect.”

Urban Bird Foundation is working to not only safeguard habitat but slow conversion and degradation that continues to stress coastal ecosystems and impact shorebird populations – providing innovative, science-based solutions, championing policies to reduce coastal environmental impacts, and working with businesses and communities to protect resident and migratory birds.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, “Many coastal habitats have already been altered by coastal settlements, jetties, beach armoring, and beach raking, essentially eliminating some areas as suitable habitat. At interior sites, 90% of the wetlands of the Central Valley of California have been transformed into agriculture, housing developments and industrial areas. Saline lakes across the Intermountain West are increasingly threatened by water withdrawals for urban areas and agriculture.”

“As we’ve seen with our work with burrowing owls, although it may appear that individual development projects have limited local impacts on shorebird habitats, the cumulative effects, in this case across the Pacific Flyway, could be catastrophic,” Artis said.

Learn more about our SAFE SHOREbirds Campaign!