Written by Meredith Gutowski/Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
The University of Saint Thomas’s Environmental Sciences Research Center (Santiago, Chile) and the Wildlife Conservation Society–Chile have received funding from the National Environmental Commission of Chile (CONAMA by its Spanish acronym) to design a Management Plan for Bahía Lomas, located in Chile’s Magellan and Antarctica region. Bahía Lomas, recognized as a WHSRN Site of Hemispheric Importance and as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, is the most important wintering area in South America for the rufa subspecies of Red Knot (Calidris canutus), and second-most for the Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica).
Red Knot. © Jan C. Wegener
Developed during the course of a 12-month participatory process, the Plan will allow for the identification, coordination, and implementation of those strategies and actions necessary for the effective conservation of the site. The Plan’s most notable objectives include identifying critical habitat to conserve, delineating and mapping the area’s zones and their associated uses and activities, and proposing diverse programs (research, education, fundraising, etc.) to be implemented in the area. An important part of the process for developing the Plan will be application of the WHSRN Site Assessment Tool, which will provide the baseline information for the shorebird component of the Plan.
The Bahía Lomas Management Committee facilitates a forum for discussion about the Management Plan being initiated. © Diego Luna Quevedo
View Bahía Lomas in a larger map
This initiative to develop the Bahía Lomas Management Plan is an integral part of a project being supported by the Ramsar Convention’s Small Grants Fund and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences’s Shorebird Recovery Project.
For more information, please contact Diego Luna Quevedo (diego.luna@manomet.org), Southern Cone Program Coordinator, Shorebird Recovery Project, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.