Bird monitoring education programs for the public, which have been very successful across the country at IBAs in Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, will be an important part of the outreach to the community (Audubon Society). Training hundreds of volunteers that are invested in conservation and the future success of the program is essential for long term viability. At other sites, building a committed team of citizen scientists allows the program to carry out its many goals, including assessing breeding success and threats to bird populations (Audubon Society). Monitoring the number and diversity of birds that use the IBA and evaluating the results will initially be in the hands of the conservation experts at the Audubon Society, but will ideally shift to the new team of citizen scientists built through outreach and education events. Monitoring procedures will involve monthly events to count birds and identify which species are using the site most often for breeding. In addition, during peak migration periods in the fall and spring, monitoring events will be held more often to evaluate whether this site is being used by certain species for migration practices. Migration periods are some of the best times to get people who may not usually be invested in avian conservation to come out and see the work the IBA program is doing. At these events, there would ideally be representatives from the Audubon Society or local scientific or educational institutions like Middlebury College to teach interested visitors about conservation practices. The IBA would also be a great location for a science field trip for local grade-school students, as well as college students interested in environmental science and community participation. For example, as part of this project, our class visited the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Addison, Vermont to see snow geese migrating South for winter. 

The data collected at monitoring events will be used to assess the success of the program through changes in bird population, whether a large diversity of species are using the site, and how this site is being used differently than other IBAs in the state. For this particular IBA, the data collected and analyzed will be publicly available online in easy-to-understand formats for all citizens, scientists, and stakeholders. The entire IBA program is moving over to a new data management and web map platform through ESRI, which hopefully could be implemented at a smaller scale in Vermont (Audubon Society). Success of the program will be determined based on both whether a significant diversity of bird species are using the space during migration and other times, as well as how many volunteers are committed and the number and quality of educational and outreach events. It is very important for future conservation for citizens without a vested interest in birds or children without prior experience to be involved in monitoring and management of an IBA. While there will be quantitative measures used to determine the change over time and across space of avian populations, the assessment of the impact on the community will also be necessary. 

An important recurrent step in management of IBAs is the "conservation action phase," which Wells et al. describe as improving avian conservation efforts through "increasing rates of land acquisition for conservation by state wildlife agencies" or "changing land-use policies that are detrimental to birds" (Wells et al.). Once the IBA becomes well-established, it is important to try to make real change on the state level in terms of future conservation of both bird habitats and habitat important for all life. This is where a committed and invested team of citizens has a real voice and can make change.