22 January 2010 – Bird Studies Canada and Nature Canada are thrilled to announce the launch of a new website for the Canadian Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program. The site’s main goals are to share information about IBAs in Canada, and to empower more Canadians to reconnect with nature as volunteers for the IBA Caretaker Network.

The new, fully bilingual website provides information, tools, and mapping features to help IBA partners and volunteers more effectively monitor birds and assess conditions at key sites. There are nearly 600 Canadian IBAs, many of which are not legally protected.

IBAs are internationally agreed-upon sites that support threatened birds, large groups of birds, and birds restricted by range or habitat. The Canadian IBA Program is led by BirdLife International co-partners Bird Studies Canada and Nature Canada, with critical support from a suite of regional organizations (including BC Nature, Federation of Alberta Naturalists, Nature Saskatchewan, and Nature Québec), and hundreds of volunteers nationwide. TransCanada Corporation and a U.S. Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act grant provided funding for the new website.

To learn more or get involved, visit the IBA Canada website (http://www.ibacanada.ca) or contact Bird Studies Canada’s IBA Technical Coordinator, Janet Moore, at jmoore@birdscanada.org.

In Saskatchewan, contact Karen McIver, Nature Saskatchewan, 306-780-9481, kmciver@naturesask.ca