The science of setting conservation objectives for birds in California’s Central Valley: an introduction

The papers in this special issue provide the scientific methods used to develop quantitative population and habitat objectives for birds in the Central Valley of California as part of the Central Valley Joint Venture’s (CVJV’s) Implementation Plan update (CVJV 2006). The approaches described in the papers are meant to provide a methodology that is transparent, repeatable, and can be applied to other ecosystems and taxa. Topics include focused approaches to conservation objective setting for non-breeding and breeding shorebirds as well as non-breeding and breeding waterbirds. Two papers outline the process for setting population and habitat objectives for riparian and grassland– oak savannah ecosystems. At-risk bird species are treated separately. A final paper provides an overall framework for quantitative objective setting that can be more generally applied to wildlife conservation.