Intensified wild bird monitoring for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been expanded beyond Alaska through cooperative agreements and projects made with the lower 48 states, Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

“We are working on several fronts to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza around the world and here at home,” Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said. “Because we cannot control wild birds, our best protection is an early warning system and this move to test thousands more wild birds throughout the country will help us to quickly identify, respond and control the virus, if it arrives in the United States.”
 
Interior Secretary Kempthorne noted that a robust monitoring effort helps to ensure early detection should migratory birds carry this virus to North America. “These coordinated federal and state testing programs will be important this fall as birds now nesting in Alaska and Canada begin their migration south through the continental United States,” Kempthorne said.

As part of the “An Early Detection System for H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wild Migratory Birds — U.S. Interagency Strategic Plan,” USDA has completed cooperative agreements with 48 states thus far and is finalizing agreements with two states, which cover all 50 states in the four major U.S. migratory bird flyways. These agreements provide $4 million for state agencies to sample specific species of migratory birds at appropriate sites under plans coordinated through national flyway councils.

Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized cooperative agreements with California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, as well as an agreement with Hawaii, which will be completed soon. Thus far, these states and other cooperators have received $1.9 million from the Service to implement monitoring strategies in each state’s plan.

USDA and Interior collaborated with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic Flyway Councils to develop the national wild bird monitoring plan. Under the plan, the funding level for each state is based on species-specific wild bird migratory patterns, historic disease prevalence, habitat availability and other biological and physical criteria.

Specific wild bird sampling locations in each state depend on the weather and habitat conditions at the time of bird migration. State wildlife agencies, working through interagency groups, will determine the locations of the sampling sites as migration occurs, and areas are identified where large groups of migratory birds are congregating. Sampling areas will include public lands (such as national and state wildlife refuges, and national and state parks) private lands with landowner approval and urban/suburban areas (such as ponds and city parks).

For more information about USDA’s and DOI’s avian influenza efforts, go to http://www.usda.gov/birdflu, http://www.nwhs.usgs.gov and http://www.doi.gov/issues/avianflu. For information about the U.S. Government’s efforts and guidance related to human pandemic preparedness, go to http://www.pandemicflu.gov.