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Currently our natural environment is threatened by climate change, habitat fragmentation, and other transboundary issues. To address these problems, it is thought that conservation organizations and land management agencies should attempt to manage at larger geographic scales and across political boundaries. The Crown Managers Partnership (CMP) and the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere Cooperative (SAMAB) are two such organizations that work at an ecoregional scale to support collaboration among agencies, aboriginal groups, conservationists, scientists, and other stakeholders for the conservation and restoration of the Northern Rocky Mountain and the Southern Appalachian regions in North America. Over the past decades, SAMAB and CMP have contributed to their long-term goal of connectivity throughout the landscape and have created inspiring visions for ecoregional conservation planning and management by sharing and communicating sound scientific information and strategizing and implementing conservation action among diverse partners from the local to international scale. Although landscapes are considered the suitable scale for conservation endeavors, developing a successful collaborative landscape-scale organization that can accomplish meaningful and sustained activities appears difficult. An in-depth analysis of SAMAB and CMP can help other landscape-scale organizations begin to understand the influence of both internal and external processes and factors that can impede or produce challenges to these types of organizations during different stages over the life of an organization. The presentation will present the case study findings from nearly sixty interviews, secondary documents, and observations and specifically provide guidance regarding how SAMAB and CMP are evolving over time and provide strategies for maintaining the vitality of the organization and the roles they can play in future transboundary management of their respective regions. In addition, the in-depth analysis can provide broader lessons for other emerging landscape organizations or mature organizations that are attempting to maintain relevance and thrive.

Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) feed on a variety of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. As top predators in their food chain, they may accumulate harmful concentrations of pollutants such as mercury, which can have detrimental effects on populations of this species. The stable isotope composition of feathers provides useful information about the food resources assimilated by bald eagles. The connection between mercury, (Hg), concentration and stable isotope concentration ( 13C and 15N) of feathers were measured to better understand the potential sources and pathways of Hg uptake by bald eagles living in the Great Lakes region of Michigan and Voyageurs National Park (VNP), Minnesota in two related research projects. A third project that evaluated the spatial and temporal exposure of nestling bald eagles across Michigan was also conducted. In the first project, adult bald eagle feathers were collected from around the nesting sites in the Lower Peninsula (LP) and Upper Peninsula (UP), Michigan and VNP in 2003 and 2004 to determine if parts and sections of the feather were chemically or isotopically distinct. When analyzing feathers for Hg, a combination of the webbing and rachis should be used instead of either part separately because the webbing has significantly greater Hg concentrations. There were significant differences in Hg concentrations found among the sections of the bald eagle feather. There was a significantly greater Hg concentration in bald eagle feathers analyzed from VNP compared with feathers from the UP and LP in Michigan. In the second project, feathers from nestlings from three lakes at VNP were analyzed from 2005. There was a significantly lower Hg concentration in feathers of nestling bald eagles from nests located along Lake Kabetogama compared with feathers from nestling bald eagles at Rainy and Crane/Sandpoint Lakes. 15N concentrations in feathers from eagles nesting along Rainy and Crane/Sandpoint Lakes differed significantly. In the final project, nestling feathers of bald eagles from Michigan collected in 1999-2003, were analyzed for Hg concentrations. We compared Hg concentrations between sex, among years of collection, and compared concentration to productivity/reproductive success among subunits at three geographic scales. There were significant differences in Hg concentrations between the watershed years of study, 1999- 2003 for all the geographic locations, with the years 2002 and 2003 having significantly lesser Hg concentrations. By performing this research, valuable information was obtained on developing appropriate methods for the analysis and interpretation of Hg in feathers. Potential exposure pathways for bald eagles to Hg in the environment, and spatial and temporal trends of Hg in the Great Lakes region and VNP have been found which can assist with future management and conservation of bald eagles.