The Tennessee Important Bird Areas program is part of an international effort to identify the most critical bird habitat within the state of Tennessee. The goal is by properly managing these critical habitats, bird populations can be stabilized and increased. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has partnered with the National Audubon Society's Audubon Important Bird Area program to compile a list of such sites within Tennessee. Audubon is the U.S. partner with BirdLife International, the organization that created the international IBA program.

An IBA must meet one of the following requirements from the Criteria For Site Selection.

    The site is important to Tennessee’s Endangered Species or Threatened Species.

    The site is important to Tennessee’s In Need of Management species.

    The site contains rare or unique habitat within Tennessee or is an exceptional representative of a natural habitat,
        and hold important species or species assemblages largely restricted to a distinctive habitat type.

    A site has a significant number of birds concentrate for breeding, during migration, or in winter.

    A site is important for long-term research and/or monitoring projects that contribute substantially to ornithology, bird conservation, and/or education.

The nomination form is then submitted to the Technical Committee for review and approval.  Birders are encouraged to nominate sites that they consider meet the criteria for an IBA. Documentation records on all sites, even if already accepted, are needed.

See IBA Sites or IBA Map for a list of approved sites.

See Summary for an explanation on the outline of each site.

See Working Sites for proposed, nominated, in review, and disapproved sites, and suggestions on Endangered/Threatened/In Need of Management species, wading birds, and waterfowl. Also, see Wading Birds for a list of sites on this group of birds.

This page was last updated on 02/16/06.