Nebraska's Tern and Plover conservation partnership - A model for sustainable conservation of threatened and endangered species

Implementing successful conservation programs is critical if we are to protect the earth's most imperiled species. These programs must respect state and federal legal concerns as well as local economic and social interests. Here we describe a sustainable partnership approach to Piping Plover and Interior Least Tern conservation in Nebraska, USA. Partners include industry groups, federal, state, and local agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The factor that unifies all partners is a desire to accomplish cooperative threatened and endangered species conservation. We believe that implementing this sort of partnership model could be useful in addressing the protection of other species of conservation concern.