The existing problems that wetland birds face and the potential applications of ecological data must be considered in the light of current structure and approaches in wildlife conservation. Historically, conservation and management efforts have focused on legal protection, habitat management, population management, and human dimensions, and all must be used concurrently to be effective. Our focus here is habitat management, which has been used for different purposes but is often aimed at species management when, at least for wetlands, most management influences the entire community.

Early efforts of habitat preservation in the USA, and probably in most countries, focused on wetland habitat protection. Direct purchase for refuges, sanctuaries, and preserves has been common, but leasing and legally binding conservation easements and agreements have been more common recently as a means of controlling more areas at lower cost per unit area, especially when multiple ownership is involved. Protection of small basins or patches of habitat has worked well for wetlands because many birds are habitat-island species that use several habitat units and fly between them. In the USA, there are over 500 National Wildlife Refuges operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service involving over 92 million acres, most of which include major wetlands (Riley and Riley 1992). Other federal agencies such as the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management also hold title to and manage similar areas, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service program accomplishes similar protection on private lands through the Soil Conservation Reserve Program (Johnson and Igl 1995). Many states, counties and cities have protected additional and generally smaller but no-less valuable areas through refuges, public hunting areas, nature centers, and green belts.