Council Agencies Launch Development of a System to Improve Sharing and Analysis of Best Available Bird Data

Federal agencies who conduct activities that could impact migratory birds and/or work to conserve migratory birds need and want best available bird data and decision support tools to assist with better, more informed decision-making; and that is exactly what several federal agencies on the Council for the Conservation of Migratory Birds are partnering up to provide through the development of the Avian Knowledge Network National Node.

The Avian Knowledge Network (AKN) is an online system supported by over 100 partners sharing data, tools and solutions for bird conservation and management questions. The goal of the AKN is to increasingly improve awareness, purpose, access to, and use of best available bird monitoring and spatial data and decision support tools. These tools can provide insights at multiple scales in order to support the conservation of birds and their habitats and promote adaptive management based on best available science. The data within the AKN are dynamic and updated daily, monthly, quarterly and annually. In its current state, the AKN maintains several individual regional nodes, each of which offers a distinct set of data and decision support tools, which have been developed to meet the specific needs of the node contributors. The goal for the AKN National Node is to support the aggregation of data from each of the existing regional nodes and make those data available through one national level node, as well as continue to add to these data to improve its robustness and value across the nation for use in important bird conservation actions and decisions.

When the Council was established, a subcommittee called the Avian Resources Subcommittee was developed and tasked with exploring how to provide participating Council agencies access to the best available bird data and decision support tools. Federal agencies expressed the need to have access to tools that facilitate better and more efficient decisions to reduce agency actions that potentially impact migratory birds or their habitat. The primary needs of the Council to meet this objective were identified as follows:

• Help Council agencies collect, manage, aggregate and deliver the best available avian survey and monitoring data on a regional and national scale.
• Allow for data sharing and collaboration with state and local agencies, non-government institutions, and contractors.
• Develop customized decision-support tools to meet agency-specific bird conservation and assessment needs.

In 2014, the Avian Resources subcommittee agreed that the AKN was a growing hub for best available bird data and decision support tools, and was already well supported and used by many partners in the bird conservation community. It was therefore a logical system to build off of to meet the Council's needs. The decision spurred several agencies to contribute funding, which helped launch the first phase of development of the AKN National Node, which officially began in January 2016 and is expected to continue through late 2017.

To see information about what has been funded for the first phase of development for the AKN National Node, please see the AKN National Node Development Funding Status handout (attached below). If you are a member of a federal agency who is a participant on the Council for the Conservation of Migratory Birds and would like to explore how the AKN National Node can benefit your agency or learn more about how to join the partnership, please contact Meghan Sadlowski at Meghan_Sadlowski@fws.gov or Eric Kershner at Eric_Kershner@fws.gov .

Please stay tuned for continuing updates on the development of the AKN National Node.