This award would provide funding to estimate the Pacific Brant population on their primary wintering grounds in northwestern Mexico.

These data are the primary component of the Pacific Flyway Mid-Winter Brant Survey required by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish hunting regulations

credit: Fish and Wildlife Service

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in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

The grant will provide the necessary support to conduct the Mid-Winter Survey in northwestern Mexico, and will promote continued international conservation stewardship and collaboration with our state agency partners.

This grant directly addresses Secretarial Priorities 1 and 3. Central to the Secretary¿s conservation stewardship priority (#1) is the goal to increase access to hunting opportunities for all Americans.

Implementation of the grant promotes this goal by fulfilling the highest priority data collection need identified in the Pacific Flyway Management Plan.

The Mid-Winter Brant survey is the primary method used by Western State agencies to develop annual hunting regulations that maximize harvest opportunity and maintain sustainable wildlife populations.

The number of Brant counted in northwestern Mexico during mid-winter directly governs the bag limits and season dates for hunters in the United States, as described in the Pacific Flyway Management Plan.

By implementing the Mid-Winter Brant survey in northwestern Mexico, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service establishes trust with local communities (Priority #3) by instituting management practices developed at the local level throughout the Pacific Flyway states.

The grant further promotes the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service¿s commitment to collaboration with State Agency and international conservation partners.