A decision support tool for setting population objectives for priority landbirds in the Central Hardwoods and West Gulf Coastal Plain/Quachitas Bird Conservation Regions

Setting and achieving population objectives for priority landbirds must be informed by, 1) the quantity, quality, and spatial confi guration of available habitat, 2) an explicit linkage between habitat condition and population response, and 3) expected future habitat conditions. Based on this philosophy, the Central Hardwoods and Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Ventures collaborated on development of a process to set habitat-based population objectives for priority forest and shrubland landbird species in the Central Hardwoods and West Gulf Coastal Plain/Ouachitas Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). This process used multi-scale Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models to assess available habitat for each species based on characterizations of site- and landscape-scale conditions depicted in national geospatial datasets.