The U.S. Forest Service has honored Dr. Carol Bocetti, a professor in Cal U’s Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, and her team with the 2016 Wings Across the Americas Bird Conservation Partnership Award.
The award was presented to the Kirtland’s warbler recovery team, a partnership of public agencies and private organizations that has worked to save the endangered songbird species.
This is the second time that Bocetti has received a national award for her efforts on behalf of the Kirtland’s warbler. She was honored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011 for her work as recovery team leader, a role she has held since 2006.
She also received the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2013 Recovery Champion award for her work with the Delmarva Fox Squirrel Recovery Team.
“It is very gratifying to be recognized as a team,” said Bocetti of the 2016 U.S. Forest Service award. “It has always been a collaborative effort.”
About the Kirtland’s warbler
The Kirtland’s warbler, which breeds only in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, was one of the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 2015, the population was estimated at 2,366 pairs, the largest ever recorded for the species and 10 times larger than when the species first was protected.
The songbird soon may be considered for “delisting” as an endangered species, which means that emphasis would shift from recovery to sustainability.