In Missouri, the IBA process began in November 2002 with the hiring of the IBA Coordinator and the creation of an IBA Steering Committee and an IBA Technical Committee. Composed of individuals from Audubon chapters, state and federal agencies, and other conservation-oriented organizations, the IBA Steering Committee guides the overall implementation of the Missouri IBA program. The IBA Technical Committee, composed of amateur and professional ornithological experts, is responsible for insuring the scientific credibility of the IBA program.

IBA nominations were solicited in Missouri between December 2003 and June 2004. In all, 55 nominations were received from Audubon chapter members, land managers, biologists, and other citizen scientists. Based upon the review of these nominations by the IBA Technical Committee, 47 IBAs were officially identified in the summer of 2004. In some cases IBA boundaries superimpose those of public or private conservation lands. However, most IBA borders include landscapes well beyond the scale of individual reserves, where important bird conservation opportunities or appropriate habitats exist, as determined by the IBA Technical Committee. The boundaries and general ornithological information of these IBAs were used to create a GIS-based IBA data layer, which has already been used extensively by the Missouri Department of Conservation and other conservation partners during the Comprehensive Wildlife Strategy process. (Literature cited information for citations appearing in Missouri IBA site reports can be provided upon request.). In 2006, Audubon Missouri completed the Missouri IBA Technical Report, which includes a description of the ornithological resources and conservation status of all 47 IBAs in Missouri. Since the identification phase of the Missouri IBA program is complete, the Missouri IBA Steering and Technical Committees have focused on the implementation of bird conservation through the IBA rubric. As such, a three year IBA implementation strategy was drafted which highlights the projects that the Missouri IBA program will focus on over the next three years. A few of those projects are described below-

1) Audubon Missouri will work with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), the Cole Camp Chamber of Commerce, and the Missouri Department of Agriculture to deploy a "Community Conservationist" position located in Cole Camp, MO, adjacent to the Cole Camp Prairies IBA. This position will focus on facilitating restoration of grassland habitats for Greater Prairie-chickens and other grassland wildlife within the IBA through various funding sources and partnerships, work with agricultural producers to explore the possibility of market-based approach to "conservation-branded" beef, and also work with the community of Cole Camp to develop ecotourism opportunities connected with the grassland ecosystem present within the IBA.

2) The Greater Ozarks Audubon Society, Audubon Missouri, MDC, and Missouri State University have initiated a project at the White River Glades and Woodlands IBA to begin restoration of giant cane stands on public lands within the IBA. In 2004, Audubon Missouri and Greater Ozarks Audubon purchased a backhoe attachment through two grant programs to purchase a backhoe attachment, which was subsequently donated to MDC and is now being used to restore canebrakes at Drury/Mincy Conservation Area within the IBA. The eventual goal is to restore @ 150 acres of food plots dominated by non-native cool season grasses to cane-dominated stands on the conservation area. This restoration will provide habitat for Swainson's Warblers, Hooded Warblers, and many other species of wildlife.

3) Audubon Missouri is collaborating with the Columbia Audubon Society to manage a Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) bird banding station at the Manitou Bluffs IBA. The MAPS station began operation in summer 2006, where a total of 118 individuals were banded. In addition to contributing meaningful ornithological data to a national bird monitoring program, this effort may also provide the springboard to a to-be defined international collaboration with conservation partners based in the wintering grounds of "our" neotropical migratory songbirds.