Resources
A Full Life Cycle Conservation Plan for Bobolink

Dr. Rosalind Renfrew (Vermont Center for Ecostudies) was the primary author of this Plan, but dozens of other conservation professionals made major contributions to the overall Plan and to particular sections. The Plan also summarizes the outcomes of seven workshops, including three in South America, and incorporates the products of three specialized working sub-groups.
Chapter 1 of the Plan summarizes Bobolink biology, especially what is currently known regarding migration and non-breeding season distribution—as well as current population status, breeding ecology, and an exhaustive review of current threats. Chapter 2 describes the range-wide population goals of the Bobolink Working Group and provides a tool for stepping down those goals to ecoregional objectives. A scenario from the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture illustrates the translation of trend-based population goals into grassland habitat objectives. The Bobolink Conservation Opportunity Map, hosted by the Midwest Grasslands Network on DataBasin, provides a tool for evaluating spatially explicit grassland conservation opportunity areas; products from South American partners and migratory connectivity research highlight areas for critical non-breeding season conservation. Chapter 2 (with an associated appendix) concludes with an outline and discussion of potential conservation strategies and actions in both textual and graphical format. Twenty-five pages of Literature Cited and an 18-page (non-exhaustive!) descriptive compendium of other grassland initiatives add to the impressive lineup of grassland conservation resources.
The Plan authors and sponsors hope that the Bobolink Plan will stimulate grassland conservation by providing an extensive pallet of context and tools from which regional and local conservationists may draw in creating more specific and targeted action strategies.