|THE NORTH AMERICAN BIRD BANDING PROGRAM:
INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | 
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 

The panel examined the legal, scientific, and philosophical underpinnings of
the Bird Banding Program [BBP], with emphasis on the U.S. Bird Banding
Laboratory [BBL], but also considering the Canadian Bird Banding Office [BBO].
In this report, we review the value of banding data, enumerate and expand on the
principles under which any modern BBP should operate, and from them derive our
recommendations. These are cast into a Mission Statement, a Role & Function
Statement, and a series of specific recommendations addressing five areas: (1)
permitting procedures and practices; (2) operational issues; (3) data
management; (4) BBL organization and staffing; and (5) implementation. Our major
tenets and recommendations are as follows:

- banding provides valuable data for numerous scientific, management, and
educational purposes, and its benefits far outweigh necessary biological costs
and fiscal costs, especially those incurred by the BBL and BBO;
- because of the value of banding data for management of avian resources,
including both game and nongame birds, government support of the program is
fully justified and appropriate;
- all banding data, if collected to appropriate standards, are potentially
valuable; there are many ways to increase the value of banding data such as by
endorsing, promoting, and applying competence and/or training standards for
permit issuance; promoting bander participation in well- designed projects; and
by encouraging the use of banding data for meta-analytical approaches; the BBL
should apply, promote, and encourage such standards, participation, and
approaches;
- the BBP should be driven by the needs of users, including scientists and
managers;
- all exchange of data and most communication between banders and the BBL
should become electronic in the near future;
- the computer system at the BBL should be modernized to one designed for a
true client-server relationship and storage of data in on-line relational
databases;
- the BBL should continue to maintain high quality control and editing
standards and should strive to bring all data in the database up to current
standards;   however, the BBL should transfer a major portion of the
responsibility for editing banding data to the bander by providing software that
will permit the bander to edit his/her own data electronically before submission
to the BBL;
- the BBL should build the capacity to store additional data tied to
original band records able to be pre-edited and submitted electronically, such
as recapture data, appropriate data from auxiliary marking (e.g., resightings of
color-marked birds), and other data that gain value when pooled from many
banders (e.g., measurements);  however, the BBL should only accept such data if
they are collected using standardized methods and as part of an established
program designed to utilize such data;
- now is the time to consider options for implementing a Western Hemisphere
banding program, with leadership from the BBL;
- the Patuxent Electronic Data Processing Section should become part of the
BBL;
- additional scientific and technical staff must be added to the BBL;
- an Implementation Team should be formed to expedite our recommendations,
following some timetables outlined in this document.

1. INTRODUCTION
2. LEGAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS
OF THE BIRD BANDING PROGRAM
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS