Setting Conservation Priorities for Landbirds in the United States: The Partners in Flight Approach

Partners in Flight (PIF) was created in 1990 in response to concern for declining populations of Neotropical migratory songbirds (Robbins et al. 1986, Askins et al. 1990) and in the realization that conservation of these species required efforts beyond the ability of any single organization or agency (Finch and Stangel 1993). In subsequent years, PIF expanded its mandate to include all nongame landbirds and succeeded in raising awareness regarding the status of bird populations, but it had difficulty recommending which specific conservation actions were most warranted.