The Important Bird Areas (IBA) program was initiated by BirdLife International in Europe in the 1980s. National Audubon began participating in 1995, and IBA has since become a major program.

The global program identifies areas that are most important for maintaining bird populations and focuses conservation efforts on protecting these sites. To date, more than 1,200 IBAs in 40 states have been identified.

The Important Bird Areas Program recognizes that coupled with global warming, habitat loss and fragmentation are the most serious threats facing populations of birds across America and around the world. By working to identify and implement conservation strategies at Important Bird Areas, we hope to minimize the effects that habitat loss and degradation have on birds and other wildlife.

Virginia’s IBA program got underway in 2001 with help from the Virginia Society for Ornithology (VSO) and then, in 2002, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF).

A steering committee comprised of representatives from the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV), the other Virginia Audubon chapters, the VSO, and the VA DGIF guides the activities of the VA IBA.

A technical committee comprised of birders, ornithologists, academics, governmental and non-governmental agency staff, and business representatives from various regions of the state establish criteria to determine which areas will be IBAs.

The goals of the VA IBA are to:

• Identify, document, and publicly recognize Virginia’s most important areas for birds.
• Engage people in citizen science and avian conservation cooperative projects with land managers to benefit birds and their habitats at IBAs.
• Partner with others to bring conservation tools and resources to IBAs in need of conservation.
  
• Base all action on the best available scientific criteria.

To date, the Virginia IBA Technical Committee has recognized 19 IBAs that span the broad diversity of habitats from the sandy coastal beaches to the rugged mountains of the Appalachians and everything in between.

These IBAs support diverse communities of birds of conservation interest and provide unique habitats for these species.

Learn more about Virginia's IBA on the National Audubon site.