Agricultural lands - the land area that is either arable (under temporary crop use), under permanent crops, or under permanent pastures

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Audubon: a national society that protects birds and the places they need throughout the Americas by using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. Their mission is to restore and conserve natural ecosystems by focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biodiversity

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Audubon California - a dynamic field program of the National Audubon Society that works to protect birds and nature in California 

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Avicides - substances used to kill birds 

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Bequest Value - the value of satisfaction from preserving a natural environment

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Biodiversity - the variety of genes, organisms, species and ecosystems in which organisms exist and interact 

Climate change - a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns; often referring to the rise in global temperatures from the mid 20th century to present

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Broods - the young hatched at one time 

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Biotic potential - The potential growth a population of living things can expect if it were living under ideal environmental circumstances

 

Clutch - the number of eggs released during a single spawning event

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Colony - several individual organisms (especially of the same species) that live together in close association

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Crop yield - a measurement of the amount of agricultural production harvested per unit of land area 

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Ducks Unlimited - an American non-profit organization 501 that is dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and upland habitats of water foul, other wildlife, and humans

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Ecological value - level of benefits that the space, water, minerals, organisms, and all other factors that make up natural ecosystems provide to support native life forms

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Ecosystem - one or more communities of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up their nonliving environment

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Endangered species - Wild species with so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct in all or most of its natural range

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Excrement - matter excreted and ejected from an organism generally in the form of waste 

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Farm Bill of 2014 - Funding for farmers to help protect tricolored blackbirds that may live on their farmland, its goal was to bring together partners with shared conservation causes. 

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Fledge - A bird with wing feathers well developed enough for flight

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Habitat - Place where an organism or a biological population normally (or is adapted to) live, reside or occur

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Intrinsic Value - a perception of the inherent value of an asset, traditionally thought to lie at the heart of ethics

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Marshlands - A tract of soft wet land usually characterized by monocotyledons (such as grasses or cattails)

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Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 - United States federal law to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain.

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Mutualistic relationship: a type of symbiotic relationship were two organisms of different species work together to benefit each other 

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Native species - A species that has been in its ecosystem for lots of time or originated in that ecosystem

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Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) - Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service, is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.

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Population - Group of interbreeding organisms inhabiting a particular locality

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Sustainable - Using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources - an organization that works in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources

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Tri-Colored Blackbird Working Group - Agency and non-agency groups that have worked to accumulate and disseminate information on the population status of the species, identify and suggest management actions for land managers to improve conditions for the species, and develop short- and long-term conservation strategies. 

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Urban sprawl - The spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city

 

USDA - The United States Department of Agriculture, also known as the Agriculture Department, is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food.

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Vertical farming - the practice of growing crops in vertical stacked layers 

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Western United Dairymen - Western United Dairymen (WUD) is a trade association, with 1,100 of the state’s dairies as members, they represent approximately 60 percent of the milk production in California. Members decide the direction of state and federal legislative efforts affecting the dairy industry

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Wetlands - Land or areas (such as marshes or swamps) that are covered often intermittently with shallow water or have soil saturated with moisture, habitat to many species and natural processes

 

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