Heermann’s Gull in flight, courtesy of Dave Krueper.

A note from Jennie Duberstein

The objective of the Sonoran Joint Venture Awards Program is to provide support for the conservation of birds and their habitats in the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. Since 2001, we have awarded over $1.3 million dollars to partners in the United States and Mexico in support of 138 different projects (see Adam Hannuksela’s article for more details). These grants are small in dollar amount, but large in impact. SJV funds have supported everything from conservation planning and implementation in the Colorado River Delta to coordinated bird monitoring in Arizona, from habitat restoration to training and capacity building.

Currently the SJV is collaborating with the International Community Foundation to help make the Awards Program easier and more accessible for applicants and recipients of SJV Awards. This new partnership will simplify the application process and will allow partners to submit proposals in English or Spanish, with a more straightforward application process. It will also make management of grants easier for SJV staff.

However, establishing this new system will take some time. Therefore, this year we are pausing the Awards Program while we get the new system up and running. The updated program will resume in early 2022, and we anticipate having more funds than usual available, since we are not providing any Awards this fiscal year. We recognize that this may inconvenience some of our partners in the short term, but we feel that this new system will bring greater benefits for our partners and for bird conservation throughout the SJV region. We thank you for your patience and support, and please contact SJV Coordinator Jennie Duberstein with any questions or concerns.