About NPABC

Background

The NPABC is a 6-year-old super-partnership. That is to say, to date, over 100 conservation organizations and agencies have united to better understand and manage the bird resources of Nebraska. And even more broadly, this group recognizes that birds are the ultimate gateway to managing system health.

Mission Statement: The Nebraska Partnership for All Bird Conservation will promote a coordinated, science-based, landscape approach to land stewardship that will conserve, improve, and expand habitat for all bird species within sustainable rural communities. An ecosystem-based approach will be supported through partnerships unified by a common need for communication, education, and a broader appreciation for the diversity of bird habitats and bird species within Nebraska.

The partnership recognizes and even embraces the broad differences among members. We understand that if we focus on our parallels and similarities among the various missions of the partners, there is much that can be achieved. The resource will benefit the greatest when we focus
on our shared objectives and manage systems for greater health.

The groundwork was laid for the partnership through a series of well-attended and energetic meetings. The broad based partnership has established a steering committee as well as seven working groups. These three "branches" of organization will work in concert to set the scope and direction of the partnership's efforts.

Goals

By building a statewide partnership among diverse organizations and agencies with some interest in bird conservation, the NPABC will be able to do the following:

Focus planning efforts to reflect needs, priorities, and opportunities within Nebraska
Generate synergy among conservation efforts at the local level so that they can achieve more and work on a larger scale than they could otherwise
Attract funding to support local activities and initiatives, and better prepare participants for taking advantage of funding opportunities as they arise Provide a forum for partners to learn about each other's missions and capabilities, and thereby find common ground for working together
Serve as a clearinghouse for sharing tools, ideas, and lessons learned among local partnerships
Funnel project ideas, lessons learned, and technical expertise from bird conservation programs outside the state to local initiatives within Nebraska
Create a more unified and stronger political voice for conserving birds in Nebraska
Educate a broader public, including fellow professionals, about the needs and opportunities for bird conservation in the state
Broaden the impact of bird conservation activities and garner wider public support through habitat-directed local partnerships
Coordinate local initiatives with regional (e.g. joint venture) initiatives

Sharing Existing and Gathering New Information

A key to the success of the partnership is bringing together existing information and reducing duplication of efforts in such arenas as inventory and planning. Drawing together the resources for gathering information should streamline the process and allow for greater efficiencies and improved timelines. Additionally, the partnership will pave the way for enhanced communication among partners and the public. To facilitate this goal, the NPABC holds Science Symposia periodically, bringing in speakers from across the US to share their knowledge with NPABC partners. We have also created a Partners Database, listing the expertise and resources of forty NPABC partners in a searchable format, so that partners are better able to coordinate their efforts with one another. Additionally we have created a bird habitat associations matrix for the entire State, a useful tool for scientists and conservationists working with any bird or avian community in Nebraska.

Developing Capacity

A key component of the partnership is the acknowledgement that delivering conservation at the local scale requires significant local buy-in and involvement. Therefore, significant efforts will be made to help local grassroots organizations thrive. Our efforts will be based in providing assistance in the form of training and nurturing to existing and beginning local efforts. We expect to help them by exposing them to state of the art ideas and systems for initiating, completing and maintaining locally conceived projects. Our Capacity Building symposia, held periodically, bring in speakers from a variety of organizations to share ideas with our partners. Additionally, our Strategic Planning Grants help to fund budding organizations.

Delivering Conservation to the Land

In the end, nothing good happens in conservation until something is done to improve the health of the land. The partnership is setting out on a course to never lose sight of this truism. Working together, we believe that we can do more and better things on the landscape. We also believe that we will be more competitive at bringing grants for conservation to Nebraska.