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 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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

Conserving “working wetlands” is difficult without ranchers’ buy-in to solutions, however, the ranchers’ input is often absent from discussion. This study, published by the Intermountain West Joint Venture in collaboration with Virginia Tech, University of Montana, and Partners for Conservation, collected information from ranchers to find out what factors they consider in managing their land.

The 2019 Audubon North American Grasslands & Birds Report evaluated the need for conservation in the age of rising global temperatures. Similar to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s 2016 Business Plan, the Report used representative species especially vulnerable to climate change to identify the areas most susceptible to habitat loss and population declines.

The North American Intergovernmental Committee on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Areas Conservation (NAWPA) held discussions from 2015-2017 to analyze the state of North American grasslands and their future resiliency. In support of these conversations, NatureServe, a Virginia-based conservation resource nonprofit, published a conservation plan with NAWPA and alongside other conservation groups such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the USGS Gap Analysis program, and others.

"Plow-up decreases overall, while South Dakota’s grasslands are converted at an accelerating rate” reads the WWF’s 2018 Plowprint Report. The annual publication is a concise summary examining the general state of US grasslands and grassland conservation from the year prior: in this case, 2017 grassland data and information were used to synthesize the report.

The Chihuahuan Desert Ecoregion has been subject to livestock grazing for hundreds of years given its lengthy civilized history. This assessment by Pronatura Noreste in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund is an extensive report on the “most robust dataset possible on the state of conservation projects throughout the Desert.

by Jeremy Pittman

A presentation on collaborative conservation efforts and their results on farmers. The presentation details the implementation of land securement, conservation easements, and considers the barriers present to cooperation from farmers and other stakeholders.

of North American Great Plains Migratory Bird Joint Ventures, Prairie Potholes.

Another effective collaborative conservation effort, the Prairie Pothole joint venture recently led an assessment of critical grasslands to address land degradation and subsequent declines in migratory bird populations. The team used satellite landcover data to carry out the assessment and reached concerning findings about the decline of PUDL (potentially undisturbed land).

from the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance

It can be difficult to encourage farmers to farm sustainably while helping them achieve a profit at the same time. A prime example of community-based conservation, the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA) is a cooperative working to simultaneously support both farmers and the sagebrush ecosystem in Phillips County, Montana.