There is a growing movement within natural resource management to view wildlife health as a cumulative outcome of many different factors, rather than simply the absence of disease. This inclusive understanding of health opens the door to management options that are more creative than traditional techniques to prevent or mitigate pathogens. The public health field uses a determinants of health framework to understand the physical, social, and cultural systems that impact health at the individual and community levels (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2016). Applying a similar framework to wildlife can help managers focus on tangible actions to positively impact wildlife health in the absence of disease (Wittrock et al. 2019). In the south-central United States, changes in water availability and quality resulting from changing temperature, precipitation, and land-use patterns can have significant impacts on the health of migratory birds that depend on wildlife refuges as seasonal habitat. These data were collected in partnership with several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges across Oklahoma (n=2), New Mexico (n=3), and Louisiana (n=1, 8 individual refuges administratively grouped within the Southeast Louisiana Refuge Complex) to examine how managers define determinants of health for migratory birds and assess how those determinants may be impacted by local changes in water regimes. This data release contains nineteen (19) related datafiles and their associated metadata. For each participating refuge there are three files: an image file of the final conceptual diagram, a .csv file containing information about the elements in the diagram, and a .csv file containing information about the connections in the diagram. The conceptual diagram of migratory bird health was constructed using information collected through interviews with refuge personnel and supplemented (to gain additional context, when necessary) with refuge management documents and information on their public-facing websites. The diagrams are provided as .jpg files exported from the free system mapping and visualization program Kumu, in which they were created. Each diagram consists of nodes (referred to as elements) and relationships (referred to as connections). The elements and connections represent elements of the refuge system that were highlighted by personnel as playing an important role in migratory bird health or water availability. Detailed, narrative descriptions for each system component are provided in their respective .csv files. There is also a .csv file containing data from a pre-interview survey sent to each refuge to gather basic information about the high-priority migratory bird guilds on their refuge, their management objectives in relation to migratory birds, and the water-related threats they consider highest concern.

This contains data from 1,030 surveys returned in 2017 from across the United States. Data were collected via a mail-out survey stratified by the population of each state. Data collected include nature-related activity participation, attitudes and barriers to hunting and birdwatching, knowledge of others who hunt and birdwatch, preferred birds, involvement in conservation activities, preferences for information channels on nature-related topics, trust in sources on nature-related topics, wetlands knowledge/visitation, evaluation of wetlands' ecosystem services, and demographics. The purpose of this survey was to inform the 2018 update of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

Complete dataset that comprised the manuscript, "Shallow lake management enhanced habitat and attracted water birds during fall migration" by Danelle M. Larson and others. The data collection and processing was funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Complete dataset that comprised the manuscript, "Shallow lake management enhanced habitat and attracted water birds during fall migration" by Danelle M. Larson and others. The data collection and processing was funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

This data release includes water quality and habitat data collected at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR). Monitoring water quality, water-level changes, and bird-use relationships in BSNWR is important to the long-term sustainability of these aquatic resources for use by visitors and aquatic life in these habitats. This data release includes datasets of continuous and discrete water quality, water level, and habitat data at 14 sites from October 2019 - December 2021.

This data release includes water quality and habitat data collected at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR). Monitoring water quality, water-level changes, and bird-use relationships in BSNWR is important to the long-term sustainability of these aquatic resources for use by visitors and aquatic life in these habitats. This data release includes datasets of continuous and discrete water quality, water level, and habitat data at 14 sites from October 2019 - December 2021.

Mitchell, M.E., Anteau, M.J., Pearse, A.T. et al. Modeling Wetland Resources for Spring Migratory Waterbirds Under Different Agricultural Management Scenarios in the Iowa Portion of the Prairie Pothole Region, USA. Wetlands 45, 48 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-025-01930-y. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Mitchell, M., M. Anteau, A. Pearse, T. Newcomer-Johnson, J. Christensen, W. Crumpton, B. Dyson, T. Canfield, M. Helmers, D. Green, and K. Forshay. Modeling Wetland Resources for Spring Migratory Waterbirds Under Different Agricultural Management Scenarios in the Iowa Portion of the Prairie Pothole Region, USA. WETLANDS. The Society of Wetland Scientists, McLean, VA, USA, 45: article number 48, (2025).