Section 11-2001. New York state bird conservation area program

1.  There  shall  be  created  a New York state bird conservation area
  program which shall  consist  of  such  state-owned  waters,  lands,  or
  portions  thereof  as are necessary to safeguard and enhance populations
  of wild birds native to New York state and  the  habitats  therein  that
  birds   are   dependent  upon  for  breeding,  migration,  shelter,  and
  sustenance.
    2. Any property designated shall be described and depicted upon a  map
  and  a  copy  of  any  and  all such documents shall be forwarded to the
  commissioner for inventory, research, and  reference  purposes  for  the
  general  public. A master inventory list and maps of properties that are
  designated as part of the New York state bird conservation area  program
  shall  be kept on file by the commissioner who shall also deposit a copy
  of such at the New York state museum and science  service,  and  at  the
  Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
    3.  For  purposes  of  this title the term "important bird area" shall
  mean a site providing habitat to one or  more  species  of  breeding  or
  non-breeding  birds  bounded  by  natural  or  anthropogenic features or
  boundaries. To be eligible for designation under  this  section  a  site
  must  be  an  important bird area. Any site that meets or matches one or
  more of the following criteria in this subdivision   shall  be  eligible
  for  designation  as  part  of the New York state bird conservation area
  program because it is an important bird area.
    a. Waterfowl concentration site: a location that regularly supports at
  least two thousand birds  such  as  loons,  grebes,  cormorants,  geese,
  ducks, coots, and moorhens.
    b.  Pelagic  seabird site: a location that regularly supports at least
  one hundred birds of open  water  such  as  shearwaters,  storm-petrels,
  terns,  fulmars,  gannets,  jaegers, alcids, and other like birds and/or
  ten thousand gulls at one time during some part of the year so  long  as
  the primary food source for such birds is not anthropogenic.
    c.  Shorebird  concentration  site:  a location that supports at least
  three hundred birds such as plovers, sandpipers, and  other  like  birds
  during some part of the year.
    d.  Wading  bird concentration site: a location that supports at least
  one hundred birds such as bitterns, herons, egrets,  ibises,  and  other
  like birds during some part of the year.
    e.  Migratory concentration site: a location that is a flight corridor
  rest stopover site for an exceptional number or diversity  of  migratory
  songbirds during either spring or fall seasons.
    f.  Diverse  species  concentration  site:  a location that supports a
  distinctive group of indigenous bird species that is the consequence  of
  local  habitats  that  are resultant of unique vegetational, geological,
  geographical, topographical, or microclimatological circumstances.
    g. Individual species concentration site: a location that supports  at
  least  one  bird  species  during  one  or more seasons of the year as a
  regionally unique, dense (for the species) population.
    h. Species at risk site: (1) a location that  supports  a  significant
  population  of  a species that is listed either federally or by New York
  state as endangered, threatened, or of special  concern,  or  (2)  which
  supports  a  species  that is verified by either the commissioner or the
  state ornithologist as being rare or declining within New York state, or
  (3)  an  exceptional,  rare,  or  remnant  native  habitat,   vegetative
  community,  or  landscape  segment that supports one or more significant
  habitat dependent populations of wild bird species.
    i. Bird research  site:  a  location  where  a  wild  bird  population
  research  and/or  monitoring  project of at least five consecutive years
  duration is conducted and contributes  to  the  science  of  ornithology

  and/or  bird  conservation  policy through publicly accessible scholarly
  and/or scientific publications.
    4.  Designation may be accomplished by the head of any state agency or
  entity  having  jurisdiction  over  state  lands  or  waters  for   such
  appropriate   properties   as   may   exist   within   their  respective
  jurisdictions and consistent with their respective missions.
    5.  A  designating  state  agency  or  entity  shall  publish   notice
  concerning the designation of a New York state bird conservation area in
  the environmental notice bulletin prior to such designation. Such notice
  shall   provide  for  a  thirty  day  public  comment  period  following
  publication of the notice.
    6. The head of any state agency or  entity  having  jurisdiction  over
  state  lands  or  waters  previously  designated  as New York state bird
  conservation areas may seek to remove all or a portion of such lands  or
  waters  from  such  designation  provided,  however,  that prior to such
  removal the commissioner publishes a finding that the designated area or
  portion of such area no longer meets the criteria in  subdivision  three
  of  this  section.  Such finding shall be published in the environmental
  notice bulletin and shall provide for a thirty day public comment period
  following publication of the notice.