global leaflet

sentinel species. Migratory birds depend 

on stopover points such as wetlands, 

protected areas, coastal zones, and water 

treatment ponds.

Migratory bird conservation can 

promote peace in the Middle East by 

bringing people together around shared 

goals. Through organizations as diverse as 

Tel Aviv University, the Palestinian Wildlife 

Society, the Amman Center for Peace 

and Development, and the Society for 

the Protection of Nature in Israel, farmers 

have united across the Jordan Valley to 

share best practices in integrated pest 

management. Barn owls and kestrels, for 

example, are now being used for rodent 

control, with researchers calculating 

the economic benefits of using barn owl 

nesting boxes rather than rodenticides in 

farmfields.

The Forest Service, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture (USDA), has joined such 

international efforts to protect the Great 

Rift Valley Flyway, drawing on lessons 

learned in conserving migratory flyways 

in the Americas. The agency supports 

initiatives that pair conservation benefits 

with regional partnerships. For example, 

Israeli and Egyptian biologists are being 

trained in bird monitoring techniques 

at PRBO [Point Reyes Bird Observatory] 

Conservation Science in California through 

Forest Service support. The Forest Service 

has also supported a range of programs in 

the Middle East to rehabilitate degraded 

rangelands, promote integrated watershed 

management practices, and advance 

holistic approaches to protected area 

management. Agency specialists link 

conservation objectives with community 

development through capacity building, 

environmental education, and shared best 

management practices. By conserving 

the natural resource base and stimulating 

community and economic development, 

the Forest Service works with local 

partners to rehabilitate habitat and mitigate 

pressures on migratory birds. 

This Barn owl, along with other

species that migrate along the

Great Rift Valley, is the focus

of conservation efforts by the

Forest Service and its partners

in the Middle East.

Migratory Bird Conservation in the Middle East

by Dr. Yossi Leshem, Jennifer Peterson, and Christopher Soriano 

WHAT’S INSIDE?

M I G R A T O R Y 

BIRD,BATS,

AND BUTTERFLIES

◆ International Perspective: The Mystery of Migration: 

Conserving Migratory Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

◆ Migratory Birds Tie the World Together . . . . . . . . 3

◆ Reaching Across Borders To Conserve the Monarch 

Butterfly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

◆ Bats and Ecosystem: A Critical Connection . . . . . 5

◆ Community Partnerships Get It Right . . . . . . . . . . 6

◆ Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

No. 8, July 2009: Migratory Birds, Bats and Butterflies

ach year, half a billion birds 

make a miraculous journey from 

their breeding grounds in Europe 

and Asia to wintering grounds in Africa’s 

Great Rift Valley. People along the way see 

a variety of winged migrants, including 

Eurasian cranes, corncrakes, red-footed 

falcons, spotted eagles, and pelicans. These 

birds traverse harsh desert landscapes 

fraught with peril, partly due to increasing 

pollution, diminishing food and water 

resources, and changes in vegetative cover. 

Three northern bald ibis, a highly imperiled 

species, were recently found dead in 

Jordan—unintended victims of agricultural 

pest control.

Partners in the Middle East are working 

hard to ensure safe passage for these 

News From International Programs of the Forest Service

continued on p. 7...

Dr. Yossi Leshem, Tel Aviv University

E

1

Dr. Yossi Leshem is the Director of the International 

Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Tel Aviv University, Israel; Jennifer Peterson is the coordinator of the 

Middle East Program of the Forest Service, International 

Programs, Washington Office, Washington, DC; and 

Christopher Soriano is a specialist for of the Middle East 

Program of the Forest Service, International Programs, 

Washington Office, Washington, DC.

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 1 6/23/09 6:18
2

very spring, the world pours 

through my backyard. Maybe 

not the whole world—just most 

of the Western Hemisphere. I can walk 

outside and find bits of the humid jungle of 

the Orinoco Basin or the Maya Mountains 

of Belize; the cool highlands of the Sierra 

Madre de Oriental or the elfin cloud forest 

of the eastern Andes. If I know where to 

look, I can find the windswept tundra of the 

Ungava Peninsula and the boggy muskeg 

of Newfoundland. On a single day, the 

Arctic coastal plain, the sandy beaches of 

the Carolinas, and the grasslands of the 

Argentine pampas may pay a visit. 

I’m speaking, of course, of the birds that 

crisscross the hemisphere, stitching the 

world together, linking distant and exotic 

lands at either ends of their epic migration 

routes, and weaving those strands through 

the dogwood thickets and fencerows of our 

small plot of land, here in the mountains of 

eastern Pennsylvania.

Migration is the most astounding of all 

natural events (see the article by David 

King on page 3). It’s remarkable enough 

that a blackpoll warbler weighing less 

than half an ounce will fly from the boreal 

forests of the Northwest Territories to 

the Amazon basin—but it will do so by 

traversing Canada west to east, departing 

Cape Cod on a blustery night and making a 

90-hour, nonstop flight across the western 

Atlantic to Guyana or Venezuela.

And a dove-sized shorebird from 

Alaska, the bar-tailed godwit, puts even 

that feat to shame. Last year, using satellite 

technology, scientists followed a godwit 

that left Alaska and flew nonstop more 

than 7,000 miles across the entire Pacific to 

New Zealand—a journey that took 8 days.

Nor are there only birds awing and aloft. 

Monarch butterflies drift like confetti on 

the wind, but they navigate thousands of 

miles as deftly as any falcon (see the article 

by Janet Ekstrum and Karen Oberhauser 

on page 4). The large bugs that feed on the 

pale greenish seed pods of the milkweeds 

in our meadow will migrate to the Gulf 

Coast for the winter, then return in spring. 

Migratory tree bats of several species pass 

south on migrations only dimly understood 

(see the article by Dennis Krusac and Bob 

Locke on page 5).

Borders and boundaries mean nothing 

to winged migrants, and partnerships are 

needed on every scale to protect migratory 

habitat (see the article by Jim Chu, Michael 

Rizo, Margee Haines, and Guadalupe del 

Río Pasado on page 6). Americans spend 

tens of billions of dollars each year on 

bird-related activities such as hunting, 

photography, and birdwatching. Through 

the Duck Stamp alone, more than $700 

million has been raised since 1934 and 

used to acquire more than 5 million acres 

of bird habitat on national wildlife refuges. 

This money would be wasted without 

complementary partnerships to protect 

habitat for migratory birds outside the 

United States.

Wings Across the Americas—the 

overarching Forest Service program for 

The Mystery of Migration: Conserving Migratory Species

by Scott Weidensaul

I n t e r n a t i o n a l P e r s p e c t i v e 

migratory species protection—mobilizes 

resources across its various departments, 

coordinating with partners to help protect 

breeding grounds, wintering areas, and 

flyway stopover points for migratory 

species. These partnerships reach across 

continents, connecting northern Michigan 

with the Bahamas (for Kirtland’s warbler) 

or Chicago with Michoacán, Mexico (for 

monarch butterfly), just to name a few.

Such partnerships hold the key to a 

future where children will still see birds 

flocking and butterflies swarming and 

be able to wonder where they are going. 

Perhaps even then no one will know for 

sure. That’s part of the allure of migration, 

that whiff of mystery—not only how they 

do it, these small scraps of life borne up on 

the wind, but why. Whatever the answer, 

they carry us along with them. Look up. 

The world is passing by, if only we stop to 

notice.

E

Scott Weidensaul is the author of more than two dozen 

books on natural history, including Of a Feather: A Brief 

History of American Birding.

Through the Wings Across the Americas

program, the Forest Service—National Forest 

System, State & Private Forestry, Research & 

Development and International Programs—

works with a wide range of partners here in the 

United States and overseas to conserve habitats 

and populations of birds, bats, and butterflies.

Together, the partners support habitat 

conservation activities across landscapes, 

ownerships, and boundaries; assist in national 

and international assessments of conservation 

needs and opportunities; provide training 

opportunities for biologists, land managers, 

and administrators; and share knowledge about 

global conservation needs. 

What Is Wings Across

the Americas?

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 2 6/23/09 6:18
inging your way across the ocean 

at 35,000 feet in a passenger jet, 

you might marvel at the human 

ingenuity that made such travel possible—

and yet birds have been doing it since time 

immemorial. For many birds, migration is 

the secret to reproductive success, giving 

them access to rich seasonal resources 

in temperate regions. Access to these 

resources makes larger broods and greater 

nesting success possible, as well as offsets 

the hazards of travel.

In the United States, migratory birds 

range from waterfowl, to owls and hawks, 

to the familiar thrushes, warblers, and 

other songbirds. Migration strategies vary. 

Whereas many larger species travel by 

day, most small birds fly at night, when air 

conditions are more settled and the birdeating hawks are asleep. As they travel, 

they emit characteristic “contact calls” to 

help keep the flock together.

Although birds are designed to 

withstand migratory rigors, long flights can 

W

Migratory Birds Tie the World Together

by David King

put them at risk. Migrating birds sometimes 

arrive onshore in a state of exhaustion, 

without enough energy to find food or 

escape predators. They desperately need 

stopover areas. For example, the future of 

North America’s shorebirds could hinge 

on initiatives to protect stopover habitats 

through the Western Hemisphere Shorebird 

Reserve Network.

David King is a research wildlife biologist for the Forest 

Service, Northern Research Station, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Conservation Achievements Recognized:

Wings Across the Americas

2009 Awards Ceremony

In March 2009, at its annual Wings Across the Americas awards ceremony, the Forest Service recognized 

outstanding achievements in bird, bat, and butterfly conservation. Birds provide key ecological, recreational, 

and economic benefits throughout the Americas, but many bird species are declining. Bats are important 

pollinators, seed dispersers, and insect predators, but they too are in steep decline, mostly due to habitat 

destruction. The transcontinental migration of monarch butterflies is one of nature’s wonders, but habitat 

loss threatens the monarch as well. Interregional and international partnerships are vital in conserving 

migratory birds, bats, and butterflies; and the Forest Service has fostered them for years. The Wings Across 

the Americas awards ceremony brought partners together to recognize their outstanding achievements.

The Butterfly Conservation Award went to the Butterfly Inventory and Habitat Recovery Project on the Ottawa 

National Forest in Michigan; the Bat Conservation Award went to the Bat Inventory and Habitat Improvement 

Project in the Forest Service’s Northern Region; the Research and Management Partnership Awards went 

to projects called Status and Trends of Northern Spotted Owls and Ecology and Population Dynamics of 

Marbled Murrelet in the Pacific Northwest; the Habitat Management and Partnership Award went to the Glade 

Wetlands Restoration Project; and the International Cooperation Award went to a project known as Migratory 

Bird Conservation Using Alternative Coffee Cultivation and Processing Methodologies. For more information, 

see http://www.fs.fed.us/global/wings.

3

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Forest Service

The bar-tailed godwit leaves Alaska

and travels nonstop across the

Pacific to New Zealand—an 8-day

journey of more than 7,000 miles.

The success of migratory bird 

conservation in North America also 

depends on the system of national wildlife 

refuges for additional stopover areas. Also 

important are the national forests and 

grasslands as well as other Federal lands 

and State and local parks. For example, 

Central Park in New York City becomes a 

birdwatcher’s paradise in spring. Private 

lands, including individual backyards, also 

furnish critical habitat if properly managed, 

especially for songbirds. 

Migratory birds help tie the world 

together, from north to south, through 

the species we share and our mutual 

stake in conserving their habitats. Habitat 

conservation through local, regional, and 

international partnerships can help protect 

the timeless wonder of bird migration.

The Forest Service and its partners are

looking at alternative methodologies for

cultivating and processing coffee in order

to conserve migratory birds such as the

Golden-winged warbler.

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 3 6/23/09 6:18
4

tree shimmering with butterflies 

is a wonder to behold. Each 

year, monarch butterflies make 

a 2,000-mile trip from the central plains of 

Canada and the United States to overwinter 

on trees in central Mexico. How a butterfly 

as light as a paper clip can make the epic 

journey is not completely clear; its ability, 

year after year, to leave an area from Maine 

to Minnesota and to arrive, generations 

later, at the same few spots in central 

Mexico remains a mystery.

The oyamel fir forests in Mexico’s Sierra 

Madre provide ideal overwintering habitat. 

The monarchs cluster on individual trees, 

surrounded by forests that serve as both 

umbrellas, sheltering from downpours, 

and blankets, protecting from freezing 

temperatures. Whereas the monarch’s 

normal lifespan is 4 to 6 weeks, the 

overwintering butterflies can survive for 7 

to 8 months, as their metabolism is slowed 

by the cool mountain air. In spring, they fly 

north, mating and laying eggs on milkweed 

plants. The new generation emerges from 

emerald-green chrysalids and continues 

northward to recolonize southern Canada 

and the northeastern quarter of the United 

States, where they continue to breed 

throughout the summer. Adults emerging 

in late August and September strike 

southward again.

Migrating monarchs need flowering 

plants for a continuous supply of nectar. 

They also need milkweed, the only plant 

their larvae will eat. In the United States, 

prairies and savannas have given way to 

monocultures of corn and soybeans on the 

central plains, with few remaining patches 

of wildflowers. Others have been converted 

to urban use or overrun by invasive weeds 

and herbicides, as well as pesticides. 

Habitat has dwindled accordingly for 

monarchs and other organisms that share 

their biological needs.

Such organisms provide a key 

ecosystem service: pollination. The Forest 

Service has been working with partners 

to recover their habitat, planting native 

wildflowers on national forest land at 16 

sites across the Upper Midwest. At such 

sites, visitors can learn how to support 

pollinators; even a small backyard garden 

can attract breeding and migrating 

butterflies. The Forest Service International 

Programs is planning partnerships with 

schools, nonprofit organizations, and 

other agencies to conserve and restore 

pollinator habitat wherever possible. 

Working with partners in Michigan, for 

example, International Programs launched 

volunteer “citizen science” programs 

to monitor monarch migration and 

breeding on national forest land, providing 

researchers with much-needed data. In 

Reaching Across Borders To Conserve the Monarch Butterfly

by Janet Kudell-Ekstrum and Karen Oberhauser

Forest Service

A

continued on p. 7...

MonarchLIVE: A Distance 

Learning Adventure

Forest Service International Programs is working 

with partners to save the butterfly, partly by 

spreading the news about its wonder—and 

its plight. In September 2008, Forest Service 

International Programs and Conservation 

Education, the Prince Williams School Network 

in Virginia, and other partners launched 

MonarchLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure, 

an electronic interactive field trip for students, 

educators, and communities. The program 

connected classrooms across Canada, Mexico, 

the United States, and other countries through 

the Internet, trailing the monarch migration in 

real time and showcasing related research and 

conservation efforts. Highlights included a look 

at winter habitat in Mexico, butterfly gardens in 

Chicago, and summer behavior in Minnesota. 

For more on MonarchLIVE, as well as archived 

broadcasts, go to http://monarch.pwnet.org.

Janet Kudell-Ekstrum is the district biologist at the Rapid 

River/Manistique district, Hiawatha National Forest, 

Michigan. Karen Oberhauser is an associate professor of 

Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.

spring 2008, the Hiawatha National Forest 

hosted a monarch monitoring and habitat 

restoration workshop, piloting a program 

that will be repeated elsewhere across 

North America.

On an even broader scale, International 

Programs has been key to developing the 

North American Monarch Conservation 

Plan. The plan provides a framework for 

local and regional conservation activities 

to protect monarch habitats. International 

Programs is also working with partners 

to conserve habitat around the Monarch 

Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, 

Mexico, and supporting the newly 

formed Monarch Joint Venture, which is a 

collaborative effort to coordinate actions 

throughout the United States to implement 

the North American Monarch Conservation 

Plan.

Any species as charismatic as the 

monarch butterfly offers teachable 

This inner-city student

and her class are

learning conservation

through building

and maintaining a

butterfly garden. Forest Service

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 4 6/23/09 6:18
5

ats have gotten a bad rap. 

In myth and fairytale, from 

Transylvania to Pennsylvania on 

a Halloween night, bats are often portrayed 

as blood-sucking fiends. Actually, bats play 

vital ecological roles as insect predators, 

pollinators, and seed dispersers. Many bats 

migrate seasonally, helping to sustain the 

ecosystems they depend on.

The world has more than 1,100 species 

of bats, most of which live in the tropics. 

Only three bat species, all in Latin America, 

consume blood. Ironically, saliva from the 

dreaded vampire bat helps save human 

lives: It provides a crucial glycoprotein 

called draculin—the strongest blood 

thinner known, used for patients suffering 

from strokes and heart attacks.

Many bats feed on nectar and pollinate 

countless important plants. Others eat fruit, 

playing a pivotal role in seed dispersal. Batdependent plants include banana, guava, 

papaya, mango, cashew, durian, dates, and 

figs. Many medicinal plants also rely on 

bats.

Fruit bats are also valuable allies in 

combating deforestation, a major element 

in climate change. Millions of acres of 

rainforest are cleared each year, and the 

first step in reforestation is the emergence 

of fast-growing, heat-tolerant pioneer 

plants in clearings. Tropical fruit bats, 

which favor the fruit of pioneer plants, are 

major dispersers of their seeds.

In North America, most bats eat 

insects. Each night, they consume up 

to their own body weight in insects, 

including such forest pests as gypsy moth 

and spruce budworm moth. They help 

control corn earworm moths, which cost 

American farmers about $2 billion a year. 

Researchers have estimated that 100 

million Mexican free-tailed bats roosting in 

Texas consume about 1,000 tons of insects 

every summer night. That’s tens of millions 

of pounds of insects that Texas doesn’t 

have to mess with each year!

Many bats migrate seasonally, including 

bats that feed on nectar. Their spring 

migration route from central Mexico to the 

Southwestern United States is called the 

“nectar corridor,” a thousand-mile stretch 

of cacti and agaves blooming in sequence 

from south to north. Bats pollinate these 

plants as they go, making the migration 

as important to the Mexican economy as 

tequila, which is made from agaves.

Despite their ecological importance, 

bats are threatened worldwide as their 

colonies and habitats are destroyed, mainly 

due to ignorance and misinformation. The 

two main agave pollinators, the Mexican 

long-nosed bat and the lesser long-nosed 

bat, are listed by the U.S. Government as 

endangered.

The good news is that awareness is 

growing that bats are in trouble—and that 

it matters. Forest Service International 

Programs is working with partners such as 

Bat Conservation International to protect 

bat habitat by building the necessary 

scientific knowledge and training natural 

resource managers in bat conservation.

International Programs’ support has 

allowed Bat Conservation International 

to fund special scholarships for bat 

conservation research in developing 

countries over the past 3 years. These 

awards are helping prepare students to 

become future leaders in bat research and 

conservation. 

In January 2009, International Programs 

and Bat Conservation International 

jointly conducted a Spanish-language 

workshop in Nicaragua, with hands-on 

training for land managers and biologists 

from throughout the region. A similar 

workshop is planned in Paraguay. Such 

training promises far-reaching benefits for 

neotropical bats facing a host of threats.

So the next time you raise a margarita 

to your lips, you can thank the bat for the 

tequila you are about to drink—and the 

conservationists who are protecting bat 

habitat.

Bats and Ecosystems: A Critical Connection

by Dennis Krusac and Bob Locke

B

Forest Service

Dennis Krusac is an endangered species specialist for the 

Forest Service, Southern Region, Atlanta, GA. Bob Locke 

is the director of publications and grants coordinator for 

Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX.

Bats play vital ecological roles as

insect predators, pollinators and seed

dispersers; in fact, they serve as the main

re-seeders in deforested tropical areas.

Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 5 6/23/09 6:18
6

thing is right,” Aldo Leopold 

wrote, “when it tends to 

preserve the integrity, stability, 

and beauty of the biotic community. It is 

wrong when it tends otherwise.” These 

words are true for the human community 

as well. Partnerships based on conserving 

migratory species strengthen human bonds 

by building biotic communities.

Take, for example, Alaska’s Copper 

River delta, one of the world’s richest 

feeding grounds. Each spring, up to 5 

million shorebirds pass through the delta 

on their way to summer breeding grounds, 

some coming from as far away as Chile 

and New Zealand. The Copper River 

International Migratory Bird Initiative— 

founded by Ducks Unlimited and Forest 

Service International Programs, Pacific 

Northwest Research Station, and Chugach 

National Forest—is based on the belief 

that migratory bird habitat should be 

protected throughout the birds’ range. The 

partners have funded shorebird surveys, 

habitat restoration, capacity building, and 

conservation education.

Another example is the Grassland 

Bird Initiative, designed to protect birds 

that come from the pampas of Argentina 

to breed on the Great Plains of Canada 

and the United States. Partners include 

Forest Service International Programs, 

and Northern, Rocky Mountain, and 

Southwestern Regions; The Nature 

Conservancy; Pronatura; and Birdlife 

International. Projects have included 

survey/monitoring and conservation 

education in Mexico and expansion of 

an organic beef campaign in Argentina, 

Brazil, and Uruguay. Such programs bring 

communities together across borders to 

protect the birds they care about in their 

own backyards.

In yet another example of an 

international partnership for migratory 

species protection, the Forest Service 

brought a community group in Chicago 

together with a group in the Mexican State 

of Michoacán, the winter home of the 

monarch butterfly. El Valor, a nonprofit 

organization that serves the Latino 

community in Chicago, and the Forest 

Service’s Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie 

have been helping connect Latino youth 

and their families to the land.

El Valor takes a keen interest in 

monarch butterfly conservation because 

the species migrates in the summer 

through Chicago neighborhoods where 

many immigrant families from Michoacán 

reside. In 2008, a group of four MexicanAmerican students and two instructors 

from the Chicago area spent a week in 

Michoacán near the Monarch Butterfly 

Biosphere Reserve, an oyamel fir forest, 

where the butterfly overwinters on 

trees. Their host was Alternare, a local 

nongovernmental organization that 

trains community members in conserving 

butterfly habitat while honing such skills 

Community Partnerships Get It Right

by Jim Chu, Michael Rizo, Margee Haines, and Guadalupe del Río Pesado

Forest Service

"A

Western Hummingbird Project

Hummingbirds are the feathered jewels of 

the migratory bird world, but some species 

appear to be in decline. In response, the 

Forest Service worked with the Hummingbird 

Monitoring Network to develop the Western 

Hummingbird Project, to protect hummingbirds 

and their habitats across Western North 

America. The project will include monitoring, 

research, education, and outreach through 

a broad coalition of universities, nonprofit 

organizations, and State/provincial, as well as 

Federal, agencies in Canada, Mexico, and the 

United States. In April 2009, the first Western 

Hummingbird Project workshop was held in 

Arizona to create a common understanding of 

hummingbird conservation, identify knowledge 

gaps, and recommend actions and projects that 

might best advance hummingbird conservation.

Jim Chu is a migratory bird program specialist for the 

Forest Service, International Programs, Washington, 

DC; Michael Rizo is the Latin America, Caribbean, and 

Canada Urban and Community Program Specialist for 

the Forest Service, International Programs, Washington, 

DC; Margee Haines is the Latin America, Caribbean, and 

Canada program specialist for the Forest Service, International Programs, Washington, DC; and Guadalupe del Río 

Pesado is the President of Alternare, A.C., in Mexico.

as raising livestock, growing organic 

fruits and vegetables, reforesting cutover 

lands, building energy-efficient stoves, and 

constructing buildings from homemade 

adobe bricks rather than wood. The 

group formed lasting friendships with 

their Mexican hosts while gaining a new 

appreciation for monarch conservation and 

its connection to rural development. Later, 

Alternare sent five community instructors 

and a project coordinator to Chicago 

as part of their training to be future 

conservation leaders.

In Seattle, WA, the International 

District Housing Alliance, formed to 

meet the housing needs of low-income 

Asian immigrants, also seeks leadership 

opportunities for young people from the 

Asian community.

In the nearby Cascade Mountains, the 

Housing Alliance joined the Forest Service 

in a partnership to connect Asian youth 

Working with partners in

innovative ways, the Forest Service

is conserving the grassland homes

of many birds in South America. A

good example is current work to

expand an organic beef campaign in

Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.

continued on p. 7...

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 6 6/23/09 6:18
7

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

It is imperative to conserve habitat

and stopover sites ranging from

South America to the Copper

River Delta in Alaska. They

are critical to the survival of

millions of shorebirds, including

this plover.

Visit these Web sites for more information related to articles in this issue:

Forest Service’s Wings Across the Americas—http://www.fs.fed.us/global/wings/

Forest Service Monarch Butterfly Web site—http://www.fs.fed.us/monarchbutterfly/index.shtml

MonarchLIVE—http://monarch.pwnet.org/

North America Monarch Conservation Plan—

http://www.fs.fed.us/monarchbutterfly/news/conservation_plan.shtml

Monarch Watch—http://www.monarchwatch.org/

Alternare, A.C.—http://www.alternare.org

El Valor—http://www.elvalor.org/

Bat Conservation International—http://www.batcon.org/

PRBO Conservation Science—http://www.prbo.org/cms/index.php

International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, Latrun—http://www.birds.org.il

Palestine Wildlife Society—http://www.wildlife-pal.org/

Hula Valley Birding Center—http://www.hula-birding.com/

...continued from p.1

Migratory birds are charismatic enough 

to win support on their own, offering 

excellent opportunities for economic 

development through bird-related tourism. 

In Israel’s Hula Valley, for example, the 

Forest Service is working with land 

managers to balance agriculture against 

bird conservation and ecotourism. Agency 

specialists are also helping Egypt’s Wadi El 

Gemal National Park develop recreational 

programs based on birds, both resident and 

migratory.

It is commonly said in the Middle East 

that birds know no boundaries. Information 

sharing and cooperative conservation 

programs all along the Great Rift Valley 

Flyway are critical to restoring habitat, 

sustaining migratory birds, and promoting 

ecosystem health. The Forest Service is 

committed to such international efforts—to 

promoting bird conservation, cross-cultural 

dialogue, and economic development 

throughout the Middle East.

moments. International Programs is 

working with partners to establish 

inner-city butterfly gardens at schools 

in metropolitan areas such as Chicago, 

Houston, and St. Paul and to support 

associated science and educational 

activities. Programs such as Monarch 

Watch, Monarchs in the Classroom, 

and Journey North utilize monarchs 

to convey science and conservation 

concepts to young people. In collaboration 

with and support of programs like 

these, International Programs initiated 

MonarchLIVE, a remote learning project 

for 500,000 children in classrooms across 

Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

The monarch is one of nature’s few 

migratory insects—and the only butterfly 

to make such a long two-way migration. 

A truly amazing creature, the monarch 

is well worth every effort to save. By 

working together across borders and 

boundaries, we can give future generations 

the opportunity to marvel at butterflies 

clustered on trees, year after year.

...continued from p.4

...continued from p. 6

with their elders, giving both the learning 

experience of a lifetime. The focal point 

is the bald eagle, a magnificent migratory 

bird that gathers seasonally on the Mt. 

Baker–Snoqualmie National Forests to 

catch migrating salmon. By capitalizing 

on Seattle’s rich outdoor heritage and 

its wealth of migratory species, the 

partnership is not only building community 

ties, but also strengthening community 

interest in conservation.

Partnerships like these, whether 

spanning continents or communities, 

help preserve the “integrity, stability, and 

beauty” of the biotic community while 

doing the same for the human community.

Global Leaflet No. 9.indd 7 6/23/09 6:18
8

2010 International Seminar on 

Watershed Management 

Dates: Spring 2010

Arizona, USA

The International Seminar on Watershed 

Management will be held in Southwestern 

United States. Because of the increasing 

demand, legal conflict, and competing uses 

and practices that place tremendous pressures on its extremely scarce water supply, 

the Southwestern United States is an excellent case study for watershed managers. 

The seminar is designed for mid-career 

watershed management professionals who 

desire to take part in an interactive and 

intensive training and exchange program 

on integrated watershed management. 

The program is sponsored by the Forest Service International Programs. For 

details, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/global/

is/watershed/welcome.htm.

2009 International Seminar on 

Protected Area Management 

Dates: July 13–August 1, 2009

Missoula, Montana, USA

This seminar—jointly offered by the University of Montana, University of Idaho, 

Colorado State University, and Forest Service International Programs—is geared 

for senior-level managers and policymakers working in protected areas. The 

program examines and stimulates debate 

on management strategies, policies, and 

innovative institutional arrangements to 

address the conservation and use of the 

world's most special places. For application 

details, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/global/

is/ispam/welcome.htm.

Bulletin Board

The Global Leaflet presents highlights of policy, research, 

technical cooperation, development, and conservation 

activities in which the Forest Service is involved worldwide. 

Its purpose is to demonstrate the breadth and importance of 

international collaboration on natural resource management 

issues and to share information within the Forest Service and 

with our partners in the United States and around the world.

International Programs applies the wealth of skills within 

the Forest Service to foster sustainable forest management 

globally. We help to link the agency’s researchers, foresters, 

wildlife biologists, hydrologists, policymakers, and disaster 

specialists with partners overseas to collaborate on technical 

assistance, policy and disaster coordination, and mitigation. 

In more than 70 countries around the world, we focus on 

mitigating climate change, promoting sustainable natural 

resource policy, conserving and restoring migratory species 

and their habitats, and protecting the United States from 

destructive invasive species. International cooperation 

results in improved natural resource practices in partner 

countries as well as domestically, develops the skills of 

Forest Service personnel, and brings back knowledge and 

innovations to the United States.

Secretary of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack

Chief of the USDA Forest Service: Thomas Tidwell

International Programs

USDA Forest Service

1099 14th St. NW, Suite 5500W

Washington, DC 20005-3402

Web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/global

Director: Val Mezainis

Phone: (202) 205-1650

Art Director: Jeff Baldwin

Editor: Hutch Brown

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

International Programs

2009 International Field Course 

on Wildlands and Protected Area 

Management

Dates: July 7–August 9, 2009

Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Co-hosted by the Center for Protected Area 

Management and Training at Colorado 

State University and Forest Service International Programs, this course, held in 

Spanish language, presents key concepts 

and methods of protected area management while emphasizing field-based 

practical exercises. For application details, 

visit http://www.fs.fed.us/global/is/field_

course/welcome.htm.

2009 Latin America Seminar on Forest 

Administration and Management

Dates: June 14–27, 2009

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

Offered by the University of Florida, in 

collaboration with U.S. Agency for International Development, Forest Service 

International Programs, and other partners, 

this seminar is designed to promote the 

transfer of knowledge and examine ideas 

and approaches to improve the management of forests resources in Latin America. 

For application details, visit http://www.

fs.fed.us/global/is/lasfpm/welcome.htm.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, 

color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual 

orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any 

public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative 

means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 

Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is 

an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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