A hundred years ago, on August 16, 1916, the Migratory Birds Convention Act (MBCA) was signed by Canada and the US. Since then, the MBCA has been largely overlooked in economic practices, and the unlawful destruction of active nests during otherwise legal economic activities – “incidental take” – has been widespread. However, in recent years, the MBCA has been increasingly referenced in Environmental Protection Plans and in Environmental Impact Assessment Certificates.

Incidental take is now recognized as a major legal conundrum for many industries, including forestry, agriculture, mining, and utilities. Projects involving land clearing, or vegetation management being undertaken by developers, cities, and resorts now commonly commit to avoiding incidental take, and biologists are increasingly hired to mitigate nest loss due to land clearing activities. The risk of incidental take can be minimized by guidance from nesting models, and disturbance to nests is sometimes avoided by conducting pre-clearing nest surveys. However, all approaches for nest loss mitigation have shortcomings, and it’s unclear what is required under “due diligence” and how this can be demonstrated.

An upcoming Columbia Mountains Institute forum will provide an opportunity for dialogue between an environmental lawyer, industry, regulators, and biologists whose work involves the MBCA and relevant mitigation. On the first day, CMI is lining up a roster of invited speakers (to be determined) to discuss legal risks, due diligence, provide perspectives from regulators (Canadian Wildlife Service) regarding enforcement and possibly future solutions, provide the ecological justification of legislation such as the MBCA and the BC Wildlife Act, and possibly delve into potential for permitting of incidental take in the future and the pitfalls of offsetting practices. A panel discussion/question period will follow the presentations. On day 2, participants are invited to present talks on approaches being used by industry, and ideas, results, and experiences (trials and tribulations) with respect to incidental take avoidance and mitigation. Finally, interested participants will have the opportunity to engage in a working group to discuss pre-clearing nest surveys performed by biologists. What is the role of the biologist? What information should be provided to the client? And who bears legal responsibility in the event of incidental take following a survey?

For a list of invited speakers and event updates, see here

Who should attend this forum?

CMI events attract people from a variety of disciplines and professions. This forum caters specifically to the needs of stakeholders (e.g., forestry, mining, agricultural, and power generation companies) and their environmental specialists and managers, biologists, and government decision-makers, but all are welcome.

We welcome presentations and posters that address the following themes:

Day 1. Top Down: regulations, risks and recovery
The Day 1 presentations will consist of experts sharing perspectives and advice regarding high level topics such as avian population decline, bird management, regulatory interpretation, compliance, management of legal risks, enforcement, offset policy and practice, or MBCA reform. The list of (invited) speakers presenting on Day 1 has not yet been finalized; while these talks are generally invited, if you have a presentation of this nature we may consider including your talk on Day 1.

Day 2. Bottom Up: applications and approaches to mitigation
The Day 2 session will focus on applied management tactics regarding approaches to mitigating risk of incidental take and minimizing disturbance to nesting birds. We hope to engage in sharing of new information, highlight challenges and issues, share approaches being explored, and discuss the trials and tribulations with mitigating incidental take. We are now soliciting and registering presenters to give talks that highlight the realities of complying with the MBCA. We invite speakers interested in presenting on topics related to the following subjects:

• Current, proactive industrial approaches to the MBCA
• Challenges and issues of complying with the MBCA
• Pre-clearing nest surveys: methodologies, considerations, issues, and limitations
• Minimizing disturbance to nesting birds – tactics and recommendations
• Modeling incidental take – methods, examples, challenges, and successes
• Challenges and considerations of permitting incidental take

If you would like to give a 15 minute MS PowerPoint presentation at this conference (with 5 additional minutes for Q&A), please send title, abstract (max. 300 words), a short bio which will be used to introduce you at the event, and full contact information to the Columbia Mountains Institute by Friday, January 13, 2017. Longer presentations will be considered upon request. Written presentation summaries will be requested for inclusion in an events proceedings document. Presenters will receive a 10% discount off forum registration fee.

Submission guidelines for presentations, posters, and summary papers appear on our website here. Please review prior to making a submission.

Posters and displays are welcome and encouraged. Time will be available on both Day 1 and Day 2 for mingling, networking, and discussion focussed at poster presentations and displays. To guarantee that your poster or display can be accommodated, please send title, abstract, or description of your display, a short bio, and full contact information by Friday January 13, 2017. Your abstract will be included in the forum proceedings. The primary author of a registered poster or display will receive a 10% discount off forum registration fee.