Overview of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association believes knowledge is the first step in effective conservation.

The Sanctuary's Conservation Science Program…

• Uses biology and environmental science to develop adaptive management strategies to protect the world's migrating raptors, their migration systems, and the natural habitats upon which they depend.
• Works with world-class raptor scientists and other conservationists, graduate students and international interns at the new Acopian Center for Conservation Learning in order to share ideas, collect and analyze new information, and formulate and test new conservation strategies.
• Exposes the next generation of raptor conservationists to experts in the field by hosting visiting scholars and scientists from specialized disciplines.
• Acts as a global information hub and catalyst for raptor biology and raptor conservation.
• Hosts and coordinates special symposia at which leading conservation scientists discuss, analyze and report their findings.
• Trains hawkwatchers in data-management to increase electronic access of valuable short- and long-term raptor migration databases.
• Works with local and regional colleagues in Appalachian Mountain ecology.

 Overall, Conservation Science provides important new insights into the "why" and "how" of raptor migration, as well as significant information on the status of raptor populations, and how they function in the ecosystems they inhabit.