Planning regions were created to allow planning at a scale that is practical yet provides landscape-level perspective. Regional boundaries are based on a combination of political considerations and ecological factors.

The Central American nations and their coastal zones are combined into one planning region, as are all of the Caribbean Islands. In Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, planning regions are based on composites of Bird Conservation Regions (BCRS) and Pelagic Bird Conservation Regionas (PBCRs).

BCRS are terrestrial geographic areas having similar habitats developed to provide a consistent spatial framework for the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. See the NABCI website.

PBCRs were created specifically for this Plan as marine analogs of terrestrial BCRS to address the conservation needs of seabirds. They are very similar to Large Marine Ecosystems with some practical modfications suggested by regional waterbird managers. See the Large Marine Ecosystem website.

List of All Regional Planning Contacts

Plan area also includes the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.