Shorebird populations are declining due to habitat loss, disturbance, unregulated hunting, and wetland drainage

The copper river delta in alaskas chugach national forest is a vital stopover site for 12 million northward migrating shorebirds. Birdwatching tourism and related activities are significant economic contributors in the region and contribute to the livelihoods of local communities. The united states forest service copper river migratory bird initiative (crimbi) supports conservation efforts across the pacific coast from alaska to chile to ensure coordination and efficiency for shared bird species. This award provides a community based bird tourism training for small communities in alaska (virtual and in person) during the fall of 2025 into the spring of 2026. This training will focus on building community support for bird festivals that merges biologists, community stakeholders and businesses. A focus of the festivals are migratory shorebirds which travel across the hemisphere to and from alaska along the pacific migratory flyway all the way to chile. Key to this work is linking communities with shared birds via festivals. This model is built on the success of the copper river delta shorebird festival in cordova, alaska where participants can see the model in action first hand.