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eorge Marshall's plan for rebuilding Europe-a bottom-up program developed with full European cooperation-provides a perfect blueprint for bird conser- vation in the new millennium. Although the state of birds in the United States in the 1990s doesn't come close to the state of devasta- tion experienced by Europe after World War II, Marshall's wisdom is equally applicable. In the early 1990s, a Foundation assessment of the state of birds found declining populations and disappearing habitats. But that wasn't the scary part. What concerned us most was the lack of infrastructure to address these declines. There was no strategic plan for bird conservation, scarce money for on-the-ground projects, a lack of awareness about the prob- lem by the public, and little coor- dination among the many groups with an interest in birds. Although many excellent organizations were involved with conservation, the rate at which populations were declining and habitats were disappearing was ^~~ t~ J 'i~ .' \\ -,. !_\~'} ,I)! i ~.\_, to' - ,~ h. ..... t If' ~ .... .\ .v ..-:,~.i 3~ 1997 Annual Report , NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION INITIATIVE . . . we SaW the neea to bring destined to overcome these stellar, but largely individual, efforts. In our eyes, the solution to this dilemma was not a heavy- handed mandate from Washington, but a commitment to sup- port a ground-up program fashioned by conservation groups, industry, government agencies, and the public. And, just as Marshall recognized the importance of a cooperative program agreed to by most European nations, we saw the need to bring together the many bird conservation players to create an initiative greater than any single group could carry out. The result? Partners in Flight, the Marshall Plan for birds. Since the Foundation launched Partners in Flight in 1990, North America has experienced perhaps the greatest period of growth in bird conservation awareness and activity in history. Marshall would be pleased to see dozens of working groups, formed at the international, regional, state, and local level to identify bird conservation priorities and implement needed actions. Several federal agencies have "hatched" migratory bird conservation initiatives, bringing long-overdue attention to nongame species. State natural resource agencies have become leaders in songbird conservation, bringing with them a rich reservoir of expertise, millions of acres of wildlife manage- ment areas, and a growing constituency of citizens enamored of the out-of-doors. Perhaps most dramatic has been the emergence of the forest products industry as a leader in research and monitoring efforts on America's vast industrial forest lands. '~ \ together the many bira conservation p layers to create an initiative greater than any single group coula wry 0 ut. ~