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~ exemplifies both the spirit "d and the mechanics of the 3: [Marshall Plan than , ~ !Partners In Flight, our o i Neotropical migratory bird grant ~ ! portfolio. Since we launched our '-'-.' [ Neotropical Migratory Bird "-, = : Conservation Initiative in Atlanta in 4-, , ~ ! 1990, NFWF has awarded 311 grants 0.... ! totalling $28.8 million, including , ! $12.6 million throughout Latin 0, ~ : America and the Caribbean. As with "- o the Marshall Plan, this initiative was ~ -< conceived on a continental scale, with the realization that to stem the decline of migratory songbirds we needed !action simultaneously in North , : America-both u.S. and Canada-and on the birds' wintering grounds: the countries bridging North and South America from Mexico to Colombia, including the small insular habitats of the Caribbean islands from Cuba to Puerto Rico. Partners In Flight is a true partner- ship of interested investors, bringing together the u.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Agency for International Development, state agencies, and over 150 other conserva- tion partners. It is a mechanism for achieving coordination and targeted investments across jurisdictional boundaries without creating either a new bureaucracy or another conser- vation organization. Like the Marshall Plan, it provides an overarching strate- gy-it is a vehicle for identifying local investment opportunities, and it pro- vides a coordinated investment stream for project implementation, which is q 1997 Annual Report managed by the Foundation. It is worth tracing the lineage of som of our Neotropical bird grant streams to understand their evolution and continental linkages. To the uninitiated reader of our annual reports, NFWF's Neotropical bird gra may appear as a hodgepodge of allocations, when in fact, our grants have been can fully selected to achieve a number of strategic objectives. The Neotropical initiativ< has more than 300 grants addressing priorities ranging from monitoring intercont nental raptor migrations to mapping bird distributions at the state level, to under- standing how silvicultural practices affect nesting birds to conserving key prairie habitats in the American Midwest. NFWF grants to benefit birds of prey are a good example of our hemi- spherewide approach to conserving migratory birds. Indeed, the Foundation's ver first Neotropical bird grant was made in 1988-even before we adopted the nomer clature for our program-for the Goshutes Raptor project. The Goshutes Mountair in eastern Nevada is the western equivalent of Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania. Establishing a hawk monitoring station atop the Goshutes promontory provided the first capability to assess population trends and movement patterns for western raptors from Alaska to Latin America. Most migratory birds of prey nest in the U.S. and Canada, then migrate soutt along specific routes, sometimes concentrating in fantastic numbers. Once past Central America, they disperse into the fields and forests of South America. Here on the breeding grounds, we have funded grants to better understand foraging ane habitat requirements for raptors-critical information f, forest managers. The northern goshawk, a species of m; agement concern, was a prime beneficiary of our fundir in 1997. Breeding bird atlases, which NFWF has fundee thirteen states (from 1993 to 1997), reveal raptor distrib tion at the state level, helping guide both conservation and development activities. NFWF grants to HawkWat International (in 1997) and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association (in 1992 and 1994) have helped illuminate raptor migration routes, particularly in remote areas su, as the American West. Identifying migration routes dOl more than help guide conservation efforts. Raptors oft~ concentrate at key sites, providing unique opportunitie: monitor these otherwise secretive birds. These sites are also bonanzas for the birding tourism industry, as anyone who has ventured to Hawk Mountain on a fall weekend can attest. Two recent NFWF grants have helped develop what is now considered the site of the largest Since we launched our Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Initiative in Atlanta in 1990, NrWr has awarded 311 grants totalling $28.8 mil- lion, including S1Z.6 million through- out Latin America and the Caribbean.