Bird Protection Fund

The Bird Protection Fund supports the highest priority conservation needs for Wisconsin’s birds throughout their lifecycle – from their breeding grounds in Wisconsin to their migratory habitat in Central and South America.

Projects supported by the Bird Protection Fund include conservation of Wisconsin’s most threatened and endangered bird species; creation and protection of critical breeding, stopover, and overwintering habitat; research and monitoring; and education and outreach.

Grantmaking Priorities:

• Projects that directly address high priority conservation needs for Wisconsin’s birds.
• Projects that align with state, regional, and national bird conservation plans and strategies.
• Projects that leverage resources and partnerships.

How to Apply:

• This program does not accept unsolicited proposals.

2025 Projects

1. Advancing Bird Conservation within Wisconsin’s Important Bird Area System

Wisconsin’s Important Bird Area (IBA) system brings partners and stakeholders together to coordinate and plan management, stewardship, and monitoring activities that will benefit vulnerable bird species, ensuring access to essential habitat. Funds will provide financial and technical support for IBA partnerships that address widespread bird population declines, with a special focus on grassland birds. Partner: Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership

2. Audubon Conservation Ranching 

Over the last three years, Audubon Great Lakes has improved grazing and grassland habitat management practices across more than 12,500 acres in Wisconsin. This work primarily occurs on farms within Important Bird Areas, Wisconsin Grassland Bird Conservation Areas, and priority areas identified in the Wisconsin State Wildlife Action Plan. These working lands will deliver significant benefits to grassland birds, wildlife, water, soil, and people, and specifically address rapid population declines of species such as upland sandpiper, Henslow’s sparrow, eastern and western meadowlark, and bobolink. Partner: Audubon Great Lakes

3. Bird Conservation, Research, and Outreach with Tribal Partners

This funding will support habitat work, research, and education in partnership with several Wisconsin Tribes. One will enhance bird habitat by opening the forest canopy to support species like the Canada warbler and northern goshawk. Another will support grassland bird populations on former industrial land that is being converted into native habitat. Another project will engage tribal youth and community members through bird-focused field trips and educational programs. We’re excited to share more details in partnership with the Tribes as the projects progress.

4. Building an Inclusive Bird Conservation Partnership for Milwaukee

This project will develop a partnership to achieve Urban Bird Treaty City designation, enabling Milwaukee partners to access more funding and pursue landscape-level initiatives needed to reverse bird declines. A special focus will be on diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure historically underrepresented groups in bird conservation and birding are a part of the process from the beginning. Partner: Lake Michigan Bird Observatory

5. Bus to Nature Program

The BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin hosts monthly birding events in Madison and Milwaukee and special events around the state that bring BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and allies together to enjoy and experience the birds and natural wonders of Wisconsin. This year’s grant will support the club’s efforts to make meaningful connections with schools and organizations in the Madison area and provide birding experiences for students. This will occur via grants to provide transportation to green spaces through the club’s pilot program, “Bus to Nature.” Partner: BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin

6. Climate Lifeboat Initiative: Building Climate Resilience for People and Migratory Birds

This project will restore and enrich forest habitat along Costa Rica’s Amistosa Biological Corridor, creating an elevational pathway critical for bird survival, including many of Wisconsin’s most treasured migratory birds. Through native tree planting and strategic reforestation, it will strengthen a climate-resilient corridor linking lowland and highland ecosystems. Partner: Osa Conservation

7. Endangered Bird Conservation

Wisconsin is home to both the piping plover (federally endangered) and the Kirtland’s warbler (state endangered). The Lower Green Bay area home to one of only three Wisconsin piping plover populations. Last year for the first time, four chicks were captive-reared and then released at Cat Island. Additionally, the overall Great Lakes piping plover population had the most nesting pairs (80) since they were listed as endangered in 1986. Funding will support the Lower Green Bay team and contribute to a multi-partner collaborative endangered species recovery project.

The Kirtland’s warbler has nested in Wisconsin for over 15 years. Funding will support continued population recovery and conservation of the species in Wisconsin, including through monitoring efforts. The state is crucial for the birds’ population expansion beyond its core breeding range in Michigan because it provides the 5- to 20-year-old jack pine stands necessary for breeding. Partner: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources – Natural Heritage Conservation

8. Long-term Bird Monitoring at Restoration Sites on the Oneida Nation Reservation

This collaborative volunteer bird monitoring program, co-led by Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Bird Alliance, has an impressive track record of surveying birds at restoration sites on the Oneida Nation Reservation. This year’s funding will support community outreach events and data collection and analysis at existing bird monitoring locations. It will also help provide land management guidance for the Oneida Nation, expand understanding of what constitutes bird conservation though a formalized Oneida cultural exchange, and build bridges between the Oneida and non-Tribal communities. Partner: Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Bird Alliance

9. Neotropical Flyways Project – Creating Stepping Stones for Migratory Birds in Urabá, Colombia

This project will identify and delimit a series of habitat islands, designed to act like stepping stones for migratory landbirds stopping over in a major migratory bottleneck in NW Colombia. Through a participatory process with local communities, the project will promote the protection of native forests and the restoration/enrichment of the native tree cover associated with agroforestry systems and degraded lands. Partner: SELVA Investigación para la Conservación en el Neotropico

10. Restoring Historical Grassland in the Badger Army Ammunition Plant Important Bird Area

The Badger History Group, Inc is working to expand and connect critical grassland tracts by forestry mowing, hand-cutting, and treating non-native and encroaching species. They will monitor the effects of this work on breeding birds and small mammal populations within and adjacent to the project area. Partner: Badger History Group, Inc

11. Smith-Reiner Drumlin Prairie Grassland Bird Habitat Enhancement

This project seeks to improve habitat for rare and threatened grassland birds by improving the floristic quality of the non-remnant areas through interseeding and removing non-native invasive weeds that threaten to degrade existing habitat quality. Partner: The Prairie Enthusiasts

12. Save our Songbirds: Bird Protection in Southern Wisconsin through Community Outreach

SOS Save Our Songbirds and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance are working to raise awareness about songbird decline in Wisconsin and spur action at home. By providing basic Wisconsin-tailored information, hands-on events, and discounts and supplies, they’re helping people make small changes at home to give birds the habitat they need year-round and to reduce threats. Partner: Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance

13. Whooping Crane Reintroduction

The International Crane Foundation is committed to the long-term reintroduction and protection of migratory whooping cranes in eastern North America. Grant funding will support captive breeding and rearing of chicks using costume-rearing and parent-rearing methods, specialized veterinary care, research and monitoring of reintroduced whooping cranes in Wisconsin, and community education and outreach. Partner: International Crane Foundation

14. Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II Book Publication

The Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II is a comprehensive field survey documenting the distribution and abundance of birds breeding across our state. This funding will help the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology price the atlas below $50, which surveys show would put the Atlas in the hands of a greater audience. Partner: Wisconsin Society for Ornithology

Great Wisconsin Birdathon

Ways to Give

• You can help us help the birds by making a donation to our Bird Protection Fund.
• Consider making a gift to the Birds of Wisconsin Legacy Fund, an endowment fund that provides sustainable funding for priority projects of the Bird Protection Fund.
• A majority of the funds raised through the Bird Protection Fund come from the Great Wisconsin Birdathon annual fundraising event. Help out by forming a team to count birds and raise money for bird conservation.

Banner photo by Hillary Thompson.

Great Wisconsin Birdathon photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt.