AAPY Representatives, from left to right: Gonzalo Merediz of Amigos de Sian Ka'an A.C., Ann Snook of The Nature Conservancy, Marco Lazcano of Reserva Ecológica El Edén A.C., Rodrigo Migoya of Niños y Crías A.C., Mari Andrade of Pronatura Península de Yucatán A.C., AAPY Coordinator Almira Hoogensteyn of CINVESTAV

Summer 2007

The Central Hardwoods Joint Venture is working with the newly formed Yucatan Peninsula Alliance for Birds (AAPY) to identify and protect critical wintering and stopover habitat for migratory bird species.

In July, CHJV representatives Tim Churchill, Jane Fitzgerald, Bob Ford, Allan Mueller, Lee O’Brien and Greg Wathen traveled to the Yucatan to meet with representatives of several local conservation organizations. Each group has its own focus - such as environmental education, water quality, or jaguar preservation - but all share an interest in environmental conservation.

To help them structure a coalition that will allow each group to continue to operate individually, yet also enable them to cooperate effectively on common goals, CHJV representatives shared their experience in bringing diverse partners together.

“The meeting encouraged a synergy among partners there,” Ford said. “Like in a lot of places, there were a lot of people working on similar projects and everybody knew each other, but they had not come together in a formal partnership.”

By the end of the meeting, the AAPY had been formed, with goals and potential sources of funding identified. In August the AAPY presented a detailed proposal to executive committees of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative in both the U.S. and Mexico.

"For the first time they put their individual projects on the same sheet of paper and came up with a comprehensive project for the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula,” Ford said. “The scope of the project concerns not just endemic birds, like the Yucatan wren, but also migrants and other species like jaguars and crocodiles.”

Working with our partners in the Yucatan will allow the CHJV to help protect habitat for migratory birds, in fitting with the goals of the Tri-national Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. The Yucatan Peninsula is vital wintering or stopover ground for an estimated 600 million to 1.5 billion birds every year. Fifteen species are priority birds for both the CHJV and the AAPY, including the Blue-winged, Worm-eating and Kentucky Warblers, the Louisiana Waterthrush and the Wood Thrush. Rampant development, forest fires and water pollution all threaten this critical habitat.

The new partnership will make conservation work on the Yucatan Peninsula more effective, and it should make proposals more competitive for funding.

More on the Yucatan Project

Promoting ecotourism and teaching children and adults about native birds are two ways that environmental organizations in the Yucatan are raising awareness of the economic value of environmental conservation. Motmots by Allan Mueller of The Nature Conservancy, Flamingos by Tim Churchill of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.