Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are exactly what their name implies: places or habitats that are essential for bird populations. The goal of the IBA program is to conserve birds by identifying, monitoring, and protecting critical bird habitats. Because habitat loss is the most serious threat facing bird species across North America and around the world, Audubon’s IBA program is a site-based initiative to address habitat loss through community-supported conservation.

The IBA Program began as an initiative of BirdLife International in the mid-1980s. Since then, more than 3,600 sites in 51 European countries have been identified as IBAs. Today, IBAs are being identified on nearly every continent.

Audubon launched its IBA Program in the United States is 1995. An IBA Technical Committee consisting of prominent ornithologists, researchers, and agency personnel from both North and South Dakota was formed to assist in evaluation and prioritization of nominated areas. The IBA Technical Review Group accepts or rejects IBA nominations based on the Global IBA criteria and information provided on the nomination form. 

What is an IBA?

IBAs are sites that provide essential habitat to one or more species of birds during some portion of the year, including nesting areas, crucial migration stop-over sites, and wintering grounds. IBAs may be a few or even thousands of acres, but usually are discrete sites that stand out from the surrounding landscape. IBAs may include public or private lands, or both, and may or may not already be protected.

Goals of the IBA Program:

• Identify the most essential areas for birds.
• Monitor those sites for changes to birds and habitat.
• Conserve these areas for long-term protection of biodiversity.

Science-based Conservation

IBAs are designated and ranked against a rigorous set of scientific criteria, set and interpreted by local and national committees of leading bird experts convened by Audubon. For a place to qualify as an IBA, it must either support a large concentration of birds, provide habitat for a threatened or rare species, or provide habitat for a bird with a very limited or restricted range. Once nominated and selected as an IBA, a site is then ranked as significant at either the state, continental, or global level.

Global Currency for Conservation

The IBA’s of North and South Dakota have become part of a growing global network of designated IBAs, spanning 156 countries around the world and 26 countries in the Western Hemisphere alone. This international effort is led worldwide by BirdLife International and in the United States by the National Audubon Society. Because every IBA across the planet has been designated and ranked against the same criteria, we often refer to IBAs as a Global Currency for Conservation. Globally, thousands of IBAs and millions of acres of avian habitat have received recognition and better protection as a result of the IBA program.