The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient and Connected Landscapes project is the first study to comprehensively map resilient lands and significant climate corridors across Eastern North America. Released in October 2016, the study took eight years to complete, involved 60 scientists, and developed innovative new techniques for mapping climate-driven movements.

by David Augustine, Ana Davidson, Kristin Dickinson, Bill Van Pelt

The current complex pattern of land ownership and use of Great Plains grasslands challenges native species conservation. Approaches to managing both public and private grasslands, frequently focused at the scale of individual pastures or ranches, limit opportunities to conserve landscape-scale processes such as fire, animal movement, and metapopulation dynamics. Using the US National Land Cover Database and Cropland Data Layers for 2011
2017, we analyzed land cover patterns for 12 historical grassland and savanna communities (regions) within the US Great Plains. Read more

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced approximately $4 million in available funding to develop partnerships to leverage USDA and local, state, and private sector resources to address challenges for limited resource, socially disadvantaged, and veteran farmers and ranchers, and communities.

The rapid spread and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a sharp reminder about how closely connected we are to each other and our environment.

The world’s digital GIS data is like a huge library with no index, and books of every conceivable topic scattered in random piles. The problem is not a lack of data, it is a lack of organization. The Nested Hexagon Framework (NHF) can provide a solution to this lack of organization. By providing a global, standardized, multiscale grid to reference and summarize datasets, the NHF can serve as an annotated spatial index to make datasets more discoverable and provide summaries of the information known about an area. Read more …

We see a bright future for America’s grasslands. A future where ranchers can pursue success in their enterprises and known for the good they do to protect lands and waters and the improvements they seek. A future where wildlife thrives and we continue to feed the world. A future where all our verdant grasslands are celebrated and protected so they will always meet the needs of nature and people. Read More …

Our team is developing a large-scale collaborative conservation planning initiative for North America’s central grasslands. This effort focuses on black-tailed prairie dog (BTPD) ecosystems. Prairie dogs are keystone species and their conservation and management often lies at the core of many conservation efforts across the region. Through mapping and ecological modelling, our team is working to identify potential landscapes for conservation …

Grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in the world. They supply vital resources for society, support an abundance of wildlife species, and store rich carbon reserves beneath their surfaces. Despite this, only a fraction of original grasslands in the United States now remains, and their rate of conversion to cropland has recently reaccelerated. This paper discusses opportunities that are immediately available to reduce the loss of U.S. native grasslands (i.e., prairie) and advance toward collective goals in grassland conservation. Read More …

from the USDA NRCS South Dakota

This profile in Soil Health follows the journey of the Neuharth Family as they have worked to build soil health and increase diversity in both the plants they grow and the animals they raise, near Fort Pierre, SD. Levi Neuharth’s father David, began by transitioning the farm to no-till and the family has since worked together to increase diversity in their crop rotation, plant full season and after harvest cover crops, integrate livestock onto cropland, as well as to utilize various grazing management practices. With an overarching goal of preserving and enhancing the land for the future, all generations continue to learn and work together to increase the diversity and health of the entire operation. View our playlist of this series.

Pronatura Noreste developed two Business Plans for wintering grounds for two priority species, Spragues’s Pipit and Mountain Plover, both in 2016. The two documents are in Spanish only, and are solid planning instruments that have been the guidelines for projects focused on these species.

from Drovers News Source

As global demand for protein increases, ranchers, agribusinesses, restaurants and conservation partners are coming together to feed a growing population, address climate change and protect the planet. Burger King® restaurants and Cargill are teaming up with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and ranchers within the Northern Great Plains to launch a three-year grasslands restoration program. This initiative brings together two major companies who deliver beef to Americans to support the rehabilitation of less productive soil into thriving ecosystems– with cattle playing a critical role. Read more …

As a convener of corporations, conservation organizations, and conservation-interested individuals, the Wildlife Habitat Council specializes in restoring undisturbed lands for the benefit of wildlife. The WHC’s “Native Grasslands Conservation” report includes seven case studies detailing specific conservation approaches led by corporations such as Boeing, BP Energy, and General Motors.

In 2019, American Bird Conservancy and Pronatura Noreste put together a report about the status of the grasslands in the Chihuahuan Desert in English and Spanish.

By Dr. Silke Nebel, Vice-President, Conservation and Science, Birds Canada

The State of Canada Birds, 2019 confirmed that Canada has lost nearly 60% of our grassland birds since 1970. This is crisis for bird life and sounds an alarm for our broader biodiversity as well. But, there is hope thanks to an inspiring new project. Read more …

Stemming out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is a tri-national organization working to execute the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. In 2013, the CEC published a conservation framework focused on the “spine” of North America: the North American grasslands.

A 5-year special Initiative by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Working Grasslands Initiative delineates Montana’s role in the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Business Plan for the Northern Great Plains. The state program aims to institute a non-regulatory, incentive based strategy to grassland conservation, partnering with private landowners and other cooperators.

The Boyle Lab states that their work centers around two fundamental questions about ecology: why do species do the things they do in nature, and why are they in trouble? Answering these questions, Boyle Lab says, requires a multidisciplinary approach including the fields evolution, behavior, physiology, and conservation biology.

Published in 2014, the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s (RMBO) Conservation Plan for the Chihuahuan Desert is the result of a direct partnership with the Rio Grande Joint Venture (RGJV). The RGJV commissioned the RMBO to center a comprehensive addition to the RGJV’s current plan around five priority bird species: the Baird’s Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Lark Bunting, Loggerhead Shrike and Sprague’s Pipit.