Playa Lakes Joint Venture : 2007

It seems every day there is a burning news story on global warming. The media are quick to cover how climate change is causing the demise of the polar bear, loss of coastlines, and drought in Africa. But what you won’t see in the New York Times is a headline on how climate change is affecting the playa lakes region. That is where the Playa Post comes in.

Over the next several months, the Post will explore issues surrounding climate change as it relates to bird conservation in the playa lakes region. We will be interviewing climate and avian experts from around the nation and within our region to bring you the latest information, predictions and recommendations on how to plan and manage for birds in this age of global warming.

This first installment is a climate change primer of sorts – a gathering and summation of information and web sites that provide relevant background for our exploration.

Climate Change and Global Warming

Climate change refers to any significant change in measures of climate such as temperature, precipitation or wind lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). Global warming refers to average increases in the temperature of the air near the Earth’s surface (Environmental Protection Agency: Climate Change Basic Information). Sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably, but scientists prefer the term ‘climate change’, because it helps convey that there are other changes occurring in addition to warming.

Both natural and human influences can cause climate change. But scientists have found that human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels for energy production, transportation, industry and other uses, have caused a steady rise in global temperatures over the last 50 years. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas - into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the planet to warm. This is known as the “Greenhouse Effect” and is a naturally-occurring process. Without it, the Earth would be freezing and uninhabitable, but too much and the Earth warms beyond long term averages.

We are emitting carbon dioxide in greater quantities than the Earth can handle to sustain its current climate. Over the past five decades, CO2 emissions have risen from around 310 to over 380 parts per million. And as greenhouse gasses increase, so does global temperature. Over the last 100 years, temperatures have rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °C per year. Climate models predict that average global surface temperature will likely rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the 21st century.

Impacts of Climate Change on Natural and Human Systems and Birds

A growing body of evidence backed by an international group of climate experts indicates that climate change – particularly global warming - is already affecting natural and human systems worldwide. Glaciers are shrinking, ice caps are melting, ranges of plants and animals are shifting, and water supplies dwindling, among other impacts. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Climate Change 2001- Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability).

Among animals, birds are particularly impacted by climate change. Research has shown that the ranges of some birds are shifting northward and to higher elevations to stay within their ideal temperature ranges and habitat conditions as the climate changes. For example, several species of warblers have shifted their range northward by 65 miles over the past 24 years (American Bird Conservancy).

According to report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund last year that synthesized more than 200 studies, bird groups that are at high risk from climate change include: migratory, mountain, island, wetland, Arctic, Antarctic and seabirds. The report also suggests there is a trend towards a major bird extinction from global warming.

Climate Change and the Playa Lakes Region

Few studies exist on how climate change is impacting birds and bird habitats of the playa lakes region. Efforts are underway by the U.S. Geological Survey and a handful of others. Some scientists are predicting there will be similar shifts in migration patterns and timing as seen with birds elsewhere. Some say many playas of the Southern High Plains will dry up completely. And still others say sedimentation trumps climate change as the biggest threat to playas.

All these assumptions and more must be incorporated into biological planning models and habitat management strategies for birds. This is no easy task, but one that the PLJV is working toward.

Over the next several issues of the Playa Post, we will explore what is known and unknown about climate change and birds in our region, and share our thinking on how we plan to address these issues. Feel free to share your input with us.

Further reading and listening:

Playa Country Radio:
• Predicting the Future for Playas, Potholes and Birds

Climate Change:
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Environmental Protection Agency: Climate Change
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Climate
• National Center for Atmospheric Research: Climate Research
• Pew Center on Global Climate Change

Birds and Climate Change:
• American Bird Conservancy: Threats to Birds - Global Climate Change
• Partners in Flight: Global Climate Change and Birds Research Bibliography
• Ducks Unlimited: The Waterfowler’s Guide to Global Warming
• National Wildlife Federation: Birds and Global Warming
• National Audubon Society: Global Warming – Impacts on Birds and Wildlife
• World Wildlife Fund: Climate Change Impacts on Bird Species

The Nature Conservancy Buys Texas Ranch in Prime Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Texas made significant in-roads in the conservation of prairie birds with its purchase of a 6,000-acre ranch in the High Plains of West Texas. The Fitzgerald ranch is adjacent to more than half a million acres of contiguous prairie spanning from Roosevelt County in New Mexico to Terry County, Texas – a veritable habitat haven for Lesser Prairie-Chickens and other prairie birds. This is TNC’s first land purchase in the Texas Panhandle, and probably not its last.

“We’ve always wanted to do something in the Panhandle, but the projects weren’t available,” said Jeff Francell, Director of Land Protection for TNC Texas. “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was able to step up with some funding. That gave us the courage to do it. This deal is opening the door to others.”

The seeds of the deal were sown more than 10 years ago when Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists began working with area ranchers on Lesser Prairie-Chicken research projects. Trust developed between TPWD and landowners over the years, and when the Fitzgeralds were no longer able to ranch the property, they turned to TPWD for help to find a stewardship-minded buyer. TPWD was able to provide a $1.2 million grant through the Federal Aid Wildlife Restoration Program to help TNC purchase the ranch.

“We started off on a very good foot,” said Heather Whitlaw, Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group Coordinator with TPWD. “The people of Yoakum County seem to be very comfortable and agreeable with this purchase. They know the Fitzgeralds and trust our agency, and by extension granted that trust to The Nature Conservancy.”

“I’ve been really impressed with the stewardship ethic of landowners I’ve dealt with in the area,” Francell said. “They are proud of how this has all turned out.”

Local prairie-chicken advocates and conservation groups played a big role in drawing attention to this project by TNC. Individuals from organizations like the Sibley Nature Center, June Leland Wildlife Foundation, TNC New Mexico, TPWD and individual TNC Texas board members were integral to the success of the project.

“We kept hearing rumblings from all over. Everyone was talking about this project,” Whitlaw said. “This led TNC to see that there was a grass roots effort with a bunch of partners and variety of people interested. It’s quite powerful when you can motivate these people to speak their mind and support a project.”

Although this is TNC Texas’ first purchase in the Panhandle, the conservation group would like to do more in the area, including hiring a full-time staff position. TNC is currently fund-raising for a position and for additional acquisitions near the Fitzgerald Ranch.

“There is an awful lot of development pressure in the Panhandle. Conversion of grasslands to wind farms and irrigated cropland are just a few.” Francell said. “It’s nice to be able to hold onto some big chunks of good habitat.”

For more information on this project or how to contribute to TNC’s efforts in the Texas Panhandle, contact Jeff Francell.

Blocked Kansas Power Plant Confounds Conservation for Birds

Environmentalists may have lost one in their battle to score one to combat climate change by blocking an expansion of a coal-fired power plant in western Kansas that would have restored 34,000 acres of prairie habitat to benefit at-risk species like the Lesser Prairie-Chicken. This conflict between potentially negative and positive environmental outcomes underscores just how complicated land and resource-use decisions can be.

Sunflower Electric’s plans to expand its Holcomb-area plant are on hold after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) denied the company an air quality permit to construct two proposed coal-fired generators. The decision marks the first time a U.S. power plant proposal has been rejected for its potential contribution to climate change. Sunflower has filed its own lawsuit challenging the KDHE’s action which is being considered by the Kansas Supreme Court.

As plans to expand the plant are on hold, so too are Sunflower’s plans to restore thousands of acres of sand sage prairie. As part of the expansion, Sunflower purchased land and irrigation rights for 34,000-acres of cropland and is restoring the land back to native sand sage prairie. So far, Sunflower has restored about 10,000 acres, but plans to restore another 24,000 acres are on hold pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

The area planned for restoration is adjacent to another 20,000 acres of native sand sage which already provides habitat for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Northern Bobwhite Quail, Loggerhead Shrike and Cassin's Sparrow, among other prairie bird species. The Sunflower site and adjacent prairie combined could make a noteworthy impact on achieving the habitat goal for sand sage for western Kansas, according to PLJV planning.

The PLJV Area Implementation Plan for Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 18 of Kansas calls for the restoration of an additional 200,000 acres of sand sage. The 34,000 acre site will take a 17% bite out of that goal. Currently, there are an estimated 400,000 acres of sand sage in Kansas BCR 18.

November 2007:

Cattlemen "Stampede" for Chance to Run Smith Ranch

More than 100 cattlemen from seven states showed up to tour the Smith Ranch in Lincoln County, Colorado, in the hopes of one day running the 50,000-acre property. The tour, which took place Sept. 21, was organized by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Colorado in an effort to find a suitable rancher to manage the property for cattle and conservation.

“It was a crazy day,” said TNC Smith Ranch project manager Frogard Ryan. “We had some 40 pickup trucks lined up. We piled people into more than a dozen passenger vans to try to reduce the impact on the land.”

The Smith Ranch is an exceptional property with more than 200 playas, thousands of contiguous acres of pristine short grass prairie and the headwaters of Steel’s Fork creek. The property is owned by the Colorado State Land Board. Partners involved in the acquisition recently submitted a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant to assist with the purchase. TNC holds the lease on the land, and the conservation group plans to sublease it to a ranching family to run the property according to a wildlife-friendly management plan.

The huge turnout of potential operators signals that there is strong demand for properties of this size and condition, said Ryan.

“It doesn’t happen very often that there is a large lease that becomes available. Around here, a big property is 5,000 or 10,000 acres. People jumped at opportunity to explore a 50,000-acre property,” she said.

Several young ranchers – in their 30s and 40s – also showed up for the tour.

“That was encouraging to me and a sign that we should explore ways to find opportunities for young ranchers in Colorado,” Ryan said.

The tour was mandatory for those planning on submitting a proposal to lease the ranch. The proposal deadline closed Oct. 22 and now TNC and partners are reviewing applications. The original owners, the Smith family, have first right of refusal if they should decide to continue operating the ranch under the plan. Ryan expects that a ranch manager will be in place by March 2008. For more information on this project, contact Frogard Ryan.

Ranchers - Our Best Hope for Bird Conservation?

Conservation-minded ranchers are breathing new life into the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition (KGLC). Ranchers like Ted Alexander of Sun City who is the recipient of the 2007 National Environmental Stewardship Award.

“Ranchers are getting themselves organized, which is good,” said KGLC Coordinator Tim Christian. “They want to kick new life into this coalition. It all stems back from the desire to bring producers to a higher level of management and improve conservation.”

The KGLC formed more than a decade ago by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). But the group had stagnated over time. That is, until two years ago when Alexander and a few fellow ranchers asked NRCS to hire a coordinator to revive the coalition, which they did.

The agency hired experienced coalition-builder Tim Christian, who helped create and serves as coordinator for the Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams (KAWS), and who, as an NRCS employee, helped secure funding for the KGLC 10 years ago.

The KGLC serves as the coordinating body for Kansas’ six local grazing associations. KGLC helps ranchers by providing opportunities to learn, a network of peers to learn from and improved communications, and by creating new local grazing groups. Four grazing associations operate within the PLJV boundaries: Comanche Pool, Kansas Graziers Association, Smoky Hills Graziers and Post Rock Graziers.

Some of the ranch management issues KGLC is educating its members on are: prescribed burning, removal of invasive woody vegetation, and managed grazing to keep grasslands healthy – all of which can benefit birds.

“There is a lot of genuine interest from ranchers in what they are doing for habitat and how they are impacting species at risk,” Christian said.

There are more than 53 million acres of grasslands within the PLJV boundaries, making up 33% of the total area. In the Kansas portion of the JV, about 6 million acres are in grass, or 15%. Much of these lands are used as pasture by private ranches. Providing education, incentives and opportunities for ranchers to manage their land in harmony with wildlife is a major strategy of KGLC, the PLJV and partners.

“Private ranches constitute some of the best remaining expanses of native prairie habitat in the PLJV region,” said PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. “Keeping those ranchers in business is good for birds.”

For more information on KGLC, contact Tim Christian.

Playa Country Radio will feature an interview with Ted Alexander on Nov. 26.

Land Trusts Help Preserve Land Legacy

With more than half of the farmers and ranchers in the PLJV region at or past retirement age, significant acreages are destined to change hands in the near future. Land will be sold off to other producers and developers, passed down to heirs, and rented out to other operators. But what about landowners who don’t want to lose control of their land, don’t have heirs and don’t want to see it lost to development? That’s where land trusts come in.

Land trusts can help preserve the natural legacy of land forever. They do this by entering into conservation easement agreements with landowners that place permanent limitations on land use, like prohibiting development. Landowners can either sell or donate easements to trusts, generating income and multiple tax benefits at the same time conserving their land.

There are several land trusts that operate in the PLJV region. Below is a partial listing. Also, learn more about how land trusts are helping rural communities on a recent Playa Country Radio interview with Lynne Sherrod, Western Policy Manager for the Land Trust Alliance.

Region-wide:

• The Nature Conservancy
• Natural Resources Conservation Service (Wetlands Reserve Program, Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program)
• Ducks Unlimited
• Pheasants/Quail Forever
• American Farmland Trust
• National Wild Turkey Federation
• Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

State-based:
• Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust
• Arkansas Valley Preservation Land Trust (CO)
• Colorado Open Lands
• Kansas Livestock Association Ranchland Trust
• Kansas Land Trust
• Nebraska Land Trust
• New Mexico Land Conservancy
• Taos Land Trust
• Land Legacy (OK)
• Natural Area Preservation Association (TX)

For a more complete listing of land trusts operating in the PLJV region, view the state listings from the Land Trust Alliance.

National Joint Venture Communications Team Formed

It was only five years ago that Joint Ventures began hiring communications professionals. Now, 11 JVs have either full or part-time outreach staff, and a national JV communications team was recently formed. The team held its first meeting in October where they elected PLJV Communications Team Leader Debbie Slobe as Chair for a two-year term.

“Joint Ventures have come a long way in their thinking about communications. More are realizing that strategic communications is integral to successful bird conservation,” Slobe said. “I am excited to lead this team. We have exceptionally talented people who have been yearning for a means to collaborate for some time.”

The team – called the National Joint Venture Communications, Education and Outreach (CEO) Team - includes representatives from the Arctic Goose, Atlantic Coast, Black Duck, Central Valley, Intermountain West, Playa Lakes, Rainwater Basin, San Francisco Bay, Sea Duck, Sonoran and Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes Joint Ventures – will develop communications strategies and products to help raise awareness of and support for JVs to achieve their conservation goals.

The team is currently developing a national JV fact sheet, a white paper on the communications planning process, and a website to house JV communications plans, products and other resources of use for all JVs.

For more information, contact Debbie Slobe.

Kansas to Host Winter PLJV Board Meeting

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) will be hosting the next PLJV Management Board meeting Jan. 22-24 in Dodge City.

The Board will hold its Executive Session on Wednesday the 23rd, and full meeting on Thursday the 24th. Teams (Education and Outreach, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Research) will meet Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the full board meeting. Reception and recreational activities are being organized by KDWP and details will be forthcoming.

Agenda, hotel and other logistical information will be available soon. Contact Mike Carter for more information.

Sept/Oct 2007:

Building Capacity for Conservation in the PLJV Region

The PLJV firmly believes that conserving habitat at the level necessary to sustain bird populations in the JV region requires lasting local support, collaboration and leadership. To that end, the JV has invested considerable funds and staff time into helping partners increase their capacity to collaborate locally to conserve habitat. Much this investment has come through the State Capacity Grants program.

Since its inception in 2002, the Capacity Grant program has awarded $700,000 to member states ($20,000 per state per year) to improve their ability to carry out local conservation projects over the long term. The program is one of the JV’s most successful generators of habitat accomplishments. To date, Capacity Grants have helped create and support nearly a dozen local conservation partnerships resulting in more than 160,000 acres protected, enhanced and/or restored for wildlife value. Summaries of recent Capacity projects can be found on the PLJV web site.

It is through these “local conservation partnerships”, or LCPs, that the lion’s share of the habitat work takes place. The PLJV highly encourages states to use Capacity Grant funding to develop such groups. The PLJV defines LCPs as groups of resource managers, landowners, community leaders, conservationists and others that work collaboratively to conserve the natural resources in their area – be it playas, prairie-chickens or everything in between. Partnerships can be formal – complete with bylaws and boards of directors – or informal, so long as they possess certain attributes that PLJV believes will lead to successful and sustained conservation.

These are:

• Connections to landowners and local agency representatives
• A structure for collaboration
• Awareness of conservation needs
• Access to habitat management options and information
• Knowledge of and ability to access programs and funding
• Ability to fund-raise
• Ability to self-promote
• A plan with measurable goals
• Ability to understand and implement a biological plan
• Ability to self-evaluate against stated goals
• Long-term collaboration on a variety of conservation issues.

The intent of the program is not to support individual LCPs indefinitely. The aim is to help get these groups off the ground, provide them support and tools to conserve habitat, help develop their ability to sustain themselves, and then ‘set them free.’

Examples of LCPs that the State Capacity Grant program is currently assisting are the Prairie and Wetlands Focus Area Committee in southeast Colorado and the Platte River Basin Environments in western Nebraska. There is a whole host of other LCPs operating independently of direct PLJV involvement that are also achieving incredible results – such as the Comanche Pool in south-central Kansas and the South Platte Focus Area Committee in northeastern Colorado. PLJV works to engage these ‘unaffiliated’ groups as well by promoting their conservation successes, providing access to our planning, and offering similar habitat conservation resources and tools as the JV does with LCPs ‘on the books.’

The PLJV plans to continue its support of LCPs and is always looking for new groups to take from hatchling to fledgling. If you have questions about the State Capacity Grant program, contact PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. If you have a project or partnership you’d like to propose for funding through the program, you MUST contact the PLJV management board representative from your respective state wildlife agency. DO NOT send unsolicited proposals to the PLJV. The state agency management board members decide which proposals will ultimately be forwarded to the PLJV office. The PLJV is now accepting applications through Dec. 1, 2007 from states whose final proposal has been vetted through and approved by their board member.

Mike Carter talks about the importance of locally-led conservation efforts on Playa Country Radio.

Opportunity Knocks with NAWCA Small Grants

PLJV partners are discovering one of the easiest sources of wetland conservation funding - the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) Small Grants program. The deadline to submit proposals is around the corner. If you are working on a project, it may not be too late submit it and the PLJV can help.

NAWCA Small Grants can help fund small-scale wetlands projects anywhere within the PLJV boundaries. Principal conservation actions supported by the program are: acquisition, establishment, enhancement and restoration of wetlands, streams or wetland-associated uplands, as well as long term leases of these habitats. Up to $75,000 in matching funds is available per project and the deadline to submit proposals is November 30.

“Often partners are unsure of what makes a good proposal,” said PLJV Conservation Delivery Leader Christopher Rustay. “Generally, if a project has good wetland conservation value, brings partners together, and contributes to conservation plans, the project will rank well. The PLJV can help direct applicants to planning efforts and help determine the value of the project to birds in the area.”

NAWCA Small Grants have been used to fund all kinds of wetland conservation practices in the PLJV region, from straight-out acquisition like the Shaffer Playa project in Oklahoma, to invasive species removal like in the Huerfano Lake restoration project in Colorado.

The national proposal-review committee relies on Joint Ventures to rank and evaluate proposals, so it is essential that applicants work with the PLJV to put proposals together. The PLJV has developed a NAWCA Small Grant Checklist to help applicants stay on top of proposal requirements. For more information contact Christopher Rustay.

You can hear more from Christopher about NAWCA Small Grants on Playa Country radio.

Approved NAWCA Projects to Protect 12,000 Acres in KS, OK, NE and WY

The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission recently awarded $2.17 million in North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) funds for three projects within the PLJV region during its Sept. 12 meeting in Washington, D.C. The combined projects will protect and restore nearly 12,000 wetland and upland acres in critical bird migration areas in north-central Kansas, central Oklahoma, western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming.

The Oklahoma Dept of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) and Ducks Unlimited (DU) are leading partners in a four-phase, multi-million dollar project to restore Drummond Flats, a 7,000-acre historic wetland in the heart of the Central Flyway. When completed, this project will make significant contributions to bird population goals of the PLJV Area Implementation Plan for Bird Conservation Region 19 of Oklahoma. Benefits include providing about 4 million duck-use-days (DUDs), which represents 7% of the DUD objective for fall and 4.4% for spring, plus 39% of the recommended 7,770 new acres of waterfowl foraging habitat, 97% of the shorebird foraging objective and the complete crane foraging objective.

Phase I of the project, for which this NAWCA grant is helping to fund, involves the acquisition and protection of 3,000 acres of wetlands and uplands. More than a dozen partners are involved, including ODWC, DU, ConocoPhillips, Oklahoma Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Groendyke Transport and the National Wild Turkey Federation, plus several local conservation groups, utilities, municipalities and private landowners. In all, 17 partners are contributing $1,407,482 for phase I which was matched by an additional $700,000 from NAWCA.

In Kansas, $468,000 in NAWCA funding was awarded for phase II of the Jamestown Wildlife Area restoration project. This project is being led by the Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks and Ducks Unlimited, and involves The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever and several other conservation groups, municipalities and companies. Partners’ combined contributions for this phase total $940,682. For phase II, partners will continue wetland restoration and acquisition work underway on two large marshes totaling 1,130 acres. Once all phases of the project are completed, a total of 7,000 acres will have been restored and/or acquired. This area contains migration and wintering habitat for four high priority waterfowl species and more than 20 other high priority wetland-associated birds.

Along the North Platte River watershed, Ducks Unlimited is leading a project to restore and place conservation easements on 7,800 acres of wetlands and uplands in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. The project includes permanent protection for 61 playas through a conservation easement on a private ranch. Partners involved in this project include the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Platte River Basin Environments, the Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation and more than $2 million in donated easements from private landowners. In all, 12 partners are contributing $2,326,747 and the project was awarded $1 million in matching funds from NAWCA. Over 225 species of migratory birds will benefit from this project, including four federally-listed species.

The PLJV congratulates its partners on putting together these successful projects, and encourages others to work with PLJV staff on future projects. Partners considering or developing NAWCA proposals should notify the PLJV well in advance (a year or more is ideal) of submitting. PLJV can provide critical biological planning data and NAWCA proposal-writing expertise that will make proposals more competitive. Read the PLJV’s Standard NAWCA Timeline for an idea of what is involved in the proposal-writing process, and when and how to interface with the PLJV.

PLJV Seeks Proposals for ConocoPhillips Grant Program

The PLJV recently issued a request for proposals for the ConocoPhillips Grant Program for habitat, research and education/outreach projects that address stated priorities of the Joint Venture and the PLJV mission. Since 1990, ConocoPhillips has donated more than $1.5 million to the program which has generated upwards of 300 projects and leveraged more than $5 million in partner funding.

Initial proposals are due Nov. 15 to PLJV state representatives who will review proposals and work with applicants as necessary to improve them. Final proposals from each state are then sent to the PLJV office by Dec. 15. Habitat and research proposals are then reviewed by the PLJV Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Team, and education/outreach proposals by the Education and Outreach Team. Teams will make recommendations as to which proposals merit funding to the PLJV Management Board during the board’s winter meeting in January, and successful applicants will be notified shortly thereafter.

Summaries of projects funded through the program in recent years can be found on the PLJV web site.

New Photo Book Showcases Colorado Prairie, PLJV Partners

Colorado might be best known for its towering mountains, but the Colorado prairie holds a kind of beauty every bit as mesmerizing. Photographer and writer Dave Showalter celebrates this beauty and efforts to conserve the grasslands in his new book, Prairie Thunder.

The scope of Showalter’s visual journey is both geographic and seasonal. Traveling from the Chalk Bluffs near the Wyoming border all the way to the Comanche National Grassland in southeastern Colorado, Showalter tracks the ever-changing landscape through chapters dedicated to each of the seasons.

Prairie Thunder is far more than just a pretty picture book, however. While Showalter’s photographs are the foundation of the book, he also writes about the threats to this most endangered of natural landscapes, such as playas, and the many conservation success stories generated through partnerships between conservation groups, government agencies and private land owners. One effort highlighted is the Central Shortgrass Prairie Assessment and Partnership, in which many PLJV partners are involved, such as: The Nature Conservancy of Colorado, Colorado Division of Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory as well as the PLJV staff. Prairie Thunder is available for purchase for $19.95 from Skyline Press.

August 2007:

Introducing Ceratinella playa - New Spider Found on Texas Playa

Researchers recently discovered a new species of spider on a playa in Briscoe County, Texas. They weren’t even setting out to survey spiders in their study. This finding goes to show just how much biological diversity exists on playas, and how much probably remains undiscovered.

“We hope this will show again how important playas are not just to bird and amphibians - but to everything,” said Dr. Loren Smith, Head of the Zoology Department at Oklahoma State University and one of the study leaders. “There are species out there we haven’t described yet. If we lose playas, we risk the chance of losing things we never knew we had.”

The spider, which Smith and his colleagues aptly named Ceratinella playa, is a 1.5 millimeter-long spider of the Linyphiidae family. Researchers captured the species as part of a food web study of playas in Texas.

The discovery of the spider was a bonus for researchers whose study was focused on aquatic invertebrates and amphibians. The spider was picked up during net-sweeps of the playa floor. During the sweeps, nets pushed down wetland plants, and consequently picked up spiders and other land-based invertebrates from the plant canopy.

After careful examination and research of both male and female specimens, Smith and his colleagues were able to find physical distinctions between the new spider and similar species. Details of the discovery were recently published in Zootaxa.

Smith has studied plant and animal life on playas for 25 years, and wasn’t surprised to find a new spider species on playas.

“We had a pretty good idea that there were new species of spiders on playas because they are so under-surveyed. This spider isn’t particularly rare. I’m sure if we survey more we’ll find additional spiders,” Smith said.

This inadvertent discovery highlights the importance for more research on and conservation of playas, and just how incredibly prolific the wetlands are for plants, insects and animals.

Read on for more examples of playa productivity.

Wet or Dry, Playas are Just Plain Productive

One might think that a dry playa doesn't have much to offer for nature - or people, for that matter. It is a perfectly excusable assumption that a wetland is at its best when it is, well, wet. But the truth is that playas require periods of drying out to produce food for wildlife and recharge the Ogallala Aquifer. It is simply the nature of playas to go through these seasonal wet and dry cycles, and what makes them the most thriving ecological assets of the Southern High Plains and Western Great Plains.

Here are some reasons why:

Dry Playas are Refuges for Life
The next time you are out on a dry playa, scoop some soil from the basin and put it in a sealed glass jar. Take it home add some water. In a few weeks, tiny life forms – water fleas, fairy shrimp, and tadpole shrimp – will begin to appear. The playa soil you collected could have been dry for months or years. But it is full of life nevertheless.

Playas are refuges for a diverse mix of invertebrate and plant species that would otherwise cease to exist if a playa was wet all the time. Some of wetland birds’ favorite foods – smartweed, toads and other treats – depend on the wet/dry cycle of playas for their survival.

If a playa were wet all the time, some of these species – like smartweed which requires periods of flooding and drying to germinate – would not grow at all. While others – like spadefoot toads – would be eaten up by predators before they had the chance to reproduce enough to sustain their population. Toads can lie dormant in dry playa basins for several years, basically taking refuge until the next storm hits the playa.

“In some of the playas that we sample that have been dry for a couple of years, amphibians show up as soon as it starts raining. It’s amazing,” commented renowned playa researcher Dr. Loren Smith. (You can hear more about Smith’s research on and observations of toads on playas on Playa Country Radio.)

The length of time a playa is wet or dry – or a playa’s hydroperiod – is extremely important to maintaining its productivity.

“A playa has got to dry out to be productive, but you don’t want them drying too rapidly,” Smith said. “If a playa dries out too quickly, amphibians, water fleas and other species can’t reproduce. Sooner or later that playa becomes a population sink.”

Sedimentation - the number one threat to playas – can cause playas to dry out too quickly. Sedimentation occurs when rain or other runoff event carries loose soils into playa basins, gradually filling them. This happens especially on playas in cropland. Sedimentation reduces the amount of water a playa can hold, and spreads it out to a larger surface area which increases water loss by evaporation. Playa researchers estimate that more than 50 percent of all playas have been effectively “fossilized” by sedimentation and have lost most wetland functions.

Seasonal Wetlands Support More Ducks
Because of the seasonal flush of plants and inverts, playas and other temporary wetlands actually produce more food for birds and other wildlife than do permanent wetlands. According to PLJV biological modeling, a playa will produce 428 “duck-use-days” - or the amount of food needed to sustain a duck for one day – per acre as compared to 225 use-days provided by one acre of reservoir or freshwater lake. Even more productive are “moist-soil units”, wherein a wetland is managed to create cyclical wet/dry conditions – which yield 4,223 DUDs per acre.

Dry Playas Set the Stage for Aquifer Recharge
Recharge to the Ogallala Aquifer would be significantly compromised if playas never dried out. Playa basins are lined with clay soil. When this layer dries, it develops deep cracks and fissures which are channels for recharge.

Current research on recharge indicates that most infiltration through playas happens when the wetland is first inundated with water. Once full of water, the clay layer expands, cracks close, and the basin forms a seal to hold water and recharge slows. Once these cracks are sealed, recharge is primarily limited to the playa perimeter where the clay layer meets upland soil.

Playas are the primary source of recharge for the Ogallala, contributing up to 95 percent of the overall return of water to the aquifer. Given the region’s dependence on the aquifer for farm and municipal water, and the drastic decline in the water table over the past century, maintaining the natural functions and cycles of playas is crucial for sustaining economies and communities of the High Plains.

For more information on playas’ link to aquifer recharge, click here.

July 2007:

PLJV Helping Partners Target Bird Habitat Conservation

Over the past five years, the PLJV has developed a suite of biological planning tools to help partners target and evaluate bird habitat conservation efforts. These tools include everything from complete land cover data on the region, to a database that models bird responses to habitat changes. The JV works closely with partners to use these tools to help increase conservation efficiency.

Here are some recent examples:

Evaluating effects of CRP on priority birds in BCR 19:
It is well known that the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) supports many grassland birds - but to what extent? In order to answer that question, the Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service is partnering with the PLJV and Great Plains GIS Partnership on a Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to evaluate the effects of CRP on priority birds in the mixed-grass prairie. The process involves using the JV’s Geographic Information System (GIS) and Hierarchical All-Bird Strategy (HABS) database.

The PLJV incorporated CRP land cover data into its GIS so biologists could analyze CRP in context with surrounding habitats. Landscape configuration is especially important when evaluating the program’s effects on Lesser Prairie-Chickens, which require large blocks of habitat to maintain their population. CRP can help create these large blocks of habitat by connecting areas of native prairie, sand sage and shinnery. Using GIS, PLJV is locating these areas and tabulating total acreage, which is then used in HABS to estimate landscape carrying capacity for the species.

For other priority species such as Dickcissel, Upland Sandpiper, Eastern Meadowlark and Northern Bobwhite, which may not require large block analysis, CRP acre figures are used directly in HABS to generate carrying capacities. In all, the CEAP results will be able to show how CRP affects 14 species within the mixed-grass prairie.

Initial results indicate that CRP is hugely important for most priority bird species by increasing habitat and providing connectivity of large blocks of native habitat. Results of the CEAP will be reported in more detail in a future Playa Post. Later this month, PLJV will be presenting initial CEAP findings at the Soil and Water Conservation Society conference in Tampa.

Targeting CRP for Lesser Prairie-Chicken conservation:
The PLJV is helping Environmental Defense and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory on a study to characterize CRP conditions within the range of Lesser Prairie-Chickens. The project involves taking vegetation point surveys across the birds’ range. The field data is then given to the JV to plot on the GIS CRP land cover layer to determine what vegetation is occurring on different CRP practices. The analysis will help biologists and Farm Bill administrators determine if CRP is providing suitable habitat for the birds.

The PLJV is also helping The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico and New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish as well as the Colorado Division of Wildlife on CRP State Areas for Wildlife Enhancement proposals to benefit Lesser Prairie-Chickens. The JV provided GIS maps showing the species’ range and CRP statistics to help them determine where CRP could be most effectively targeted to benefit the species.

Accounting of waterfowl benefits for NAWCA projects:
The PLJV worked with Ducks Unlimited’s Southern Regional Office to use HABS to help determine the waterfowl conservation contributions of two recent North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) proposals. The results were incorporated into the proposals to demonstrate the projects' value for waterfowl.

One project was Jamestown Phase II in north-central Kansas. The work there will provide approximately 1.1 million duck-use-days, or DUDs, (DUDs are the amount of food energy needed to keep a duck alive for one day) in fall and spring, representing 2.6 percent of the DUD objective for fall and 1.6 percent for spring when flooded for Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 19 of Kansas. The recently-funded Drummond Flats project near Enid, Oklahoma, will provide a whopping 4.0 million DUDs in fall and spring, representing 7 percent of the objective for fall and 4.4 percent for spring when flooded for BCR 19 of Oklahoma.

Modeling biological accomplishments of the USFWS Partners Program:
USFWS Region 6 Partners Program worked with PLJV to model the biological accomplishments of the Program's five-year habitat objectives for priority birds. JV staff took the projected bird conservation accomplishments for each Partners Focus Area and used HABS to conduct the analysis. The results will be included in the soon-to-be-completed Partners Program Strategic Plan.

Nebraska's Wildcat Hills Protection Expands by 8,800 Acres

Platte River Basin Environments (PRBE) is making headway in preserving Nebraska’s Wildcat Hills for future generations. The conservation group recently closed several deals to protect 8,800 acres of contiguous ranchlands on the escarpment’s western edge. The area is the largest expanse of native range to come under PRBE’s protection since the group began working with Wildcat ranchers in 1995.

“This new acquisition is significant,” said Hod Kosman, PRBE President. “The entire property is large, has a diverse range of escarpments and canyons and includes wheat production which is important winter grazing for big game animals. The Bighorn sheep already decided this is one of their favorite places.”

The Wildcat Hills are a unique feature in western Nebraska. The tabletop escarpment juts out of the flat prairie and stretches 55 miles between the North Platte River and Pumpkin Creek. The Wildcat’s mix of woody and prairie vegetation attracts a wide diversity of wildlife, and is the convergence point for many eastern and western birds such as the Indigo and Lazuli Bunting and Eastern and Mountain Bluebird.

These latest purchases put conservation holdings in the Wildcat at around 22,000 acres of ranchland in two contiguous areas of about 11,000 acres each. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, The Nature Conservancy of Nebraska and the Nebraska Environmental Trust have all been key players along with PRBE in raising money, buying properties and easements, and developing management plans that benefit wildlife and ranching operations.

Ranchers are just as interested as conservation groups in preserving the Wildcat Hills, and owners on more than 5,000 additional acres are currently in negotiations to sell with PRBE.

“It’s exciting for us every day to work on these projects and meet the needs of ranching families and conservation,” Kosman said. “They have all been wonderful stewards and love this land. It is comforting for them to know this same vista they have looked on as a child will still be there in the future.”

PRBE’s overall goal is to acquire and manage 60,000 acres of ranchland and place easements on 60,000 acres of conservation buffers. They are getting help from the PLJV in drumming up landowner interest through the JV’s State Capacity Grant program.

“PLJV has really been instrumental in helping us and being a resource for us,” Kosman said. “We have received Capacity Grants which have allowed us to do some of the outreach, education and extension for the region. They are consistently a resource for us to contact when we need support or guidance. We look forward to working with PLJV as we move forward.”

For more information on PRBE and the Wildcat Hills conservation project, email Hod Kosman. You can also listen to a recent Playa Country Radio interview with Kosman here.

PLJV Board Sets Direction for Partnership

The PLJV Management Board recently completed a strategy-development workshop to take an introspective look at how the JV operates and to set direction for the future. The Board convened the workshop June 13 – 15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Much has happened in the last two years that affects how we operate,” said PLJV Board Chairman Jeff Ver Steeg. “In addition to all the usual drivers like habitat loss and modification, we are in the midst of a Farm Bill reauthorization, burgeoning wind energy and ethanol industries, and increasing demand on the Ogallala Aquifer. Combine all that with the Board wanting to digest and respond to the NAWMP Assessment, it was a great opportunity to slow down and take a good close look at the JV and its future.”

"We made good progress on the capacity grant program, NAWCA grants, the ConocoPhillips funding program, our approach to the Farm Bill, and crafted an internal response to the NAWMP Assessment,” said PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. “We also spent time on how to drive proper management of playas rather than responding to threats. We even had some fun with nearly the entire Board attending an evening Albuquerque Isotopes Triple-A baseball game against the Oklahoma City Redhawks. ”

Later this summer, the PLJV Education and Outreach (EOT) and Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MERT) Teams will also hold strategy-setting workshops in Clovis, New Mexico, where they will begin to address the Board’s directives.

PLJV to Host Education and Outreach Evaluation Workshop

As part of the EOT strategy-setting workshop in August, there will be a free, day-long Education and Outreach Program Evaluation session facilitated by Professor Joe Heimlich of the Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources.

The workshop is for JV partners directly involved in creating, conducting and evaluating outreach programs targeted to landowners, policy-makers, resource professionals, educators, students and other key audiences within the PLJV conservation region. Together with the EOT, participants will dissect outreach programs into their core components, evaluate if they are designed to reach habitat conservation goals and identify appropriate measures of success toward reaching goals.

The workshop will take place Wednesday, August 22 from 8am to 5:30pm at the Best Western Inn and Suites in Clovis, New Mexico. There is still room for a few more attendees. Contact Debbie Slobe if you are interested in participating.

Partners Appoint New Board and Team Members

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Director Bruce Thompson appointed Lief Ahlm, Northeast Area Operations Chief, to represent the agency on the PLJV Management Board. NMDGF also appointed lesser prairie-chicken biologist Grant Beauprez to the MERT, replacing migratory bird manager Tim Mitchusson, and editor and writer Mark Gruber to join the EOT.

Other new team appointments include threatened and endangered species biologist John Sidle who will represent the U.S. Forest Service on the MERT, and wildlife diversity specialist Lesley McNeff who will represent the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation on the EOT, replacing Outdoor Oklahoma TV show producer Steve Webber.

The PLJV thanks Tim and Steve for their valuable service to the JV, and extends a warm welcome to our newest members!

June 2007:

NAWCA Staff Tour Projects and Playas in OK, KS and CO

North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) Council staff got a first hand look at two proposed NAWCA projects and gained insight on playas' values to migratory birds during a whirlwind three-state tour hosted by PLJV partners May 28 - June 1.

"This trip helped us get a feel for the PLJV region, its resources, projects and partners," said Karen Kreil of the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust and NAWCA Council staff member. "We saw a wide diversity of playas and they are all important."

Other Council staff members on the tour were Mike Rabe of the Arizona Game and Fish Department and David Mehlman of The Nature Conservancy, as well Guy Foulks - the new National JV Program Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The tour started in Oklahoma with a visit to Drummond Flat, a 7,000-acre historic wetland in Garfield County which over the years has been modified for farming and grazing use. The first phase of the project, which was submitted for a NAWCA grant in March, involves acquiring and restoring hydrology to 3,000 acres of the wetland.

Drummond Flat is located in north-central Oklahoma in the heart of the Central Flyway and near other major wetland areas such as Hackberry Flat, and is of major importance to migratory birds and waterfowl. Main project partners are Ducks Unlimited (DU), Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), ConocoPhillips, and many others. Representatives from the ODWC and DU led the tour, which also included a visit to the Shaffer Playa small NAWCA project and other playas in the eastern edge of the Oklahoma Panhandle.

From Oklahoma, the group was flown by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) to Dodge City, Kansas, which served as base camp for an all-day exploration of playas in Ford and Meade Counties led by representatives from the KDWP, NRCS and Pheasants Forever.

First stop was Heron Playa, which was part of 1993 NAWCA project. The playa is owned by KDWP which continues to work with local landowners to acquire entire basin. On the day of the tour, the playa was full of water and birds, including Northern Pintails, American Avocets, White-rumped Sandpipers, Black Terns, American Coots, Redheads and a Black-crowned Night-Heron.

After Heron, the group got a sneak preview of a potential NAWCA project in Meade County which involves restoring hydrology within a 12,000-acre watershed that drains into a 1,400-acre playa basin. The basin provides important migratory bird habitat, and is stopover distance from Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira Wildlife Refuge in central Kansas. Two years ago when those well-known wetland sties were dry, the playa provided refuge for more than 100,000 Sandhill Cranes.

NRCS has been working with about half a dozen local landowners over the past 10 years to conserve the area, and a NAWCA grant could significantly help the agency and its partners seal more deals.

The day wrapped up with an aerial tour of southwest Kansas playas onboard two single-engine Cessnas at sunset when the playa and prairie landscape was in its full glory.

The next day the group flew to Limon, Colorado, where they were met by representatives from The Nature Conservancy of Colorado who shuttled the crew to Steel's Fork Ranch - a multi-playa and prairie project site under consideration for NAWCA funding. At the ranch, the group was met by a cadre of project partners, including representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Colorado Land Board and Colorado Natural Heritage Program.

Steel's Fork involves permanently protecting 22,000 acres of native prairie and 1,300 acres of wetlands on a 49,000-acre ranch operating under a wildlife-friendly management plan. The entire property has a total of 1,900 acres of streams, marshes, reservoirs, playas and other wetlands, including the headwaters of Horse Creek and Steel's Fork, two groundwater-fed streams and 214 playas - the most number of playas ever protected by a single project in the JV's history.

The PLJV sincerely thanks Council staff members for taking the time to tour JV projects and learn more about playas, and the many JV partners who helped make this tour memorable and enjoyable.

Fate of Playas in CRP Uncertain

Spring is in the air and so is the fate of playas embedded in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The future of these and other playas not in CRP depends largely on the outcome of the 2007 Farm Bill debate. While playas are not specifically targeted for conservation by CRP, except by practice CP23a, it is estimated that 5 to 9 percent of all playas are ‘coincidentally conserved’ within CRP contracts.

Barth Crouch, Pheasants Forever regional biologist and PLJV board member, says there could be consequences as playas on nearly 7 million acres of CRP land start to come out of the program in a massive wave of expiring contracts expected over the next few years.

Click here to listen to this audio report from Playa Country Radio.

Partners Pilot Creative Playa Conservation Tactics

PLJV partners in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico are trying out a variety of tactics to engage landowners and USDA field staff in a quest for increased playa conservation.

In Texas, Ducks Unlimited is focusing on Ochiltree County - home of nearly 500 playas – with its new program, the Playa Lakes Private Lands Initiative. The program is supporting landowner meetings, one-on-one site visits and technical assistance, plus coordination among agencies to capitalize on Farm Bill and other programs for playa conservation.

“We recognize there are a lot of places we can do a whole lot more if we can focus on existing Federal and other government programs, and fully utilize them in places where it is important to our mission,” said Keith McKnight, DU Regional Biologist and member of the PLJV Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Team. “The Texas Panhandle is one of those places. There is a high concentration of playas and our plan is to find out if there is landowner interest out there to conserve them that goes unfulfilled.”

So far, there seems to be quite a bit of interest from landowners and project coordinator Luke Lewis is keeping busy conducting site visits and writing management plans.

“The response has been great,” McKnight said. “Luke has not disappointed us. He has put together a good team of agency professionals and local experts. He’s had 16 requests for site visits. At the end of this thing, we’ll have 10 or more conservation plans written in the format useful to the NRCS. In the long term, if this initiative pans out like it looks like it may, DU has to figure out how to do this on a larger scale.”

In eastern Colorado, the Prairie and Wetland Focus Area Committee, led by representatives from the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, Colorado Division of Wildlife and Natural Resources Conservation Service, is taking the message of playa conservation to USDA field offices. Committee members recently met with state-level USDA officials to present information on playas and ask permission to take their playa-conservation message to USDA field staff and offer assistance in working with playa landowners. State officials gave them the go-ahead and Committee members will be making presentations at USDA area offices soon.

“There are only so many wildlife biologists that do this kind of work in southeast Colorado. If we can have field offices as an extra set of eyes and ears then we can be more effective in delivering these kinds of projects,” said Seth Gallagher of the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and co-coordinator of the Prairie and Wetlands Focus Area Committee.

In eastern New Mexico, momentum is building behind the newly-forming Sandhills Partnership – a network of county-based landowner associations focused on playa and other wildlife habitat conservation and local economic sustainability. Groups leading the development of the Partnership are the New Mexico Environment Department, The Nature Conservancy, local Resource Conservation and Development and NRCS offices. Recently, organizers hosted a landowner meeting in Lea County where representatives from various agencies spoke with producers about Farm Bill programs, groundwater recharge, water quality issues and playas.

“Landowners were most concerned about recharge when talking about playas – more so than wildlife,” said Tish McDaniel of The Nature Conservancy. “Landowners have a lot of concerns about groundwater contamination and depletion and the importance of playas.”

This was the second meeting held in Lea County, and organizers’ goal is to help landowners develop a working group. Efforts are beginning to crystallize and landowners have adopted a group name, the Lea County Prairie Partnership. The next county on organizers’ radar screens is Roosevelt, where they will host a start-up landowner meeting in Portales on August 29.

Playa Exhibit and Photos at the Wildlife Experience

Starting June 16, the traveling playa exhibit Playas: Gems of the Plains will be on display at the Wildlife Experience museum in Denver. Along with the exhibit will be a collection of playa images by nature photographer Brian Slobe who captured the beauty of the wetlands in the Texas Panhandle the summer of 2005. The exhibition runs through August 26.

This is the fourth and final stop in Colorado for the playa exhibit, which has made appearances at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Lamar Snow Goose Festival and Fort Morgan Museum since last December. After August 26, the exhibit will travel to New Mexico where its first stop will be at the Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum starting around September first.

This is the third photography exhibit by Brian Slobe at the Wildlife Experience, and Slobe’s playa images are featured extensively on the PLJV web site and partner publications.

May 2007:

TNC Protects 200+ Playas with CO Ranch Purchase

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Colorado is making history by being the first to protect a major playa complex in one fell swoop. Last month, TNC announced it was purchasing the 23,000-acre Smith Ranch in Lincoln County, Colorado. The property adjoins another 26,000 acres of conserved ranchlands, which together contain more than 200 playas.

“This is a unique property in that there are so many playas, and so many large playas, none of which have been substantially altered,” said TNC’s Peak to Prairie Project Manager Frogard Ryan. “That’s quite unusual. Most of the time we are looking at properties with just one playa, and in many cases it’s been pitted. This property certainly got our attention.”

The Smith Ranch purchase marks the first, major on-the-ground accomplishment of the newly formed Shortgrass Prairie Partnership – a coalition of wildlife agencies, conservation organizations and landowner groups working to protect native grasslands, rivers and wetlands of the Central Shortgrass Prairie in harmony with working landscapes and local economies. The partnership includes representation from the Colorado State Land Board, The Nature Conservancy, Playa Lakes Joint Venture, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, among others.

The Smith property’s uniqueness extends beyond playas, and includes the headwaters of Steel’s Fork, a groundwater-fed stream, and is home to a multitude of species of conservation concern, including: Mountain Plover, Burrowing Owl, Cassin’s Sparrow, Swift Fox, Plains Leopard Toad and Arkansas Darter. The property and adjacent ranch make up nearly 50,000 acres of native grassland, and is one of the largest contiguous expanses of native prairie in the area.

Once the purchase is finalized, the property will be transferred to the State Land Board which will lease it to TNC. TNC intends to sublease the agricultural management to a ranching family. Ranching operations will be run according to a management plan which will be developed by the State Land Board, TNC, Natural Resources Conservation Service and local agricultural producers. The arrangement will be similar to the neighboring ranch which is also owned by the State Land Board and leased to a ranching family.

Project organizers expect that the ranches will serve as a model to attract other landowners to consider conservation easements.

“We are already getting lots of calls from neighboring landowners,” Ryan said. “I think this project will be a catalyst of things to come. We are creating a hub for nature and agriculture alike, and conservation will radiate out from there.”

Playa Country radio recently aired a program on the Shortgrass Prairie Partnership. Click here to listen.

NAWMP Assessment IDs JV Strengths, Weaknesses

The North American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee recently completed the first continental assessment toward achieving the Plan’s goals and objectives. Among its purposes, the assessment looked at each Joint Venture and identified its strengths and weaknesses and provided recommendations for improvement.

According to reviewers, the PLJV is “better poised to implement NAWMP today than at any time in its history,” and was commended for its strong management board, technical teams and policy work, and for making dramatic improvements in JV leadership, accomplishment tracking and biological planning since 2001.

“We’re happy that we have improved,” said PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. “I think we have even made great strides since the assessment was conducted.”

Singled out for its uniqueness was the JV’s establishment of the Great Plains GIS Partnership in Grand Island, Nebraska, which, according to reviewers is “an innovative approach to meeting several program needs in an efficient manner.”

When defining the characteristics of effective Joint Ventures, the review team cited several attributes that are PLJV’s strengths, including: having a diverse and active waterfowl technical committee and dedicated science staff, policy expertise and activity, biologically-based planning and communications.

Reviewers identified areas that needed improvement, including the JV’s ability to document accomplishments prior to 2001, monitor wetland losses, and assess the region’s seeming dependence on Farm Bill programs and policies.

Reviewers also recognized that aquifer recharge is a huge issue related to waterfowl conservation in the playa lakes region, and urged the JV to continue to push the message to the media and other outreach venues that playas are the primary source of recharge for the Ogallala Aquifer, and that “this may be the single most important and far-reaching influence and function of your JV.”

“We think we are on track and are making additional efforts to directly address our short-comings,” Carter said. “For example, our management board is meeting in a retreat format this summer to have time to take an introspective look at how the JV operates. This will be followed by all our teams doing the same later in the summer.”

The “Rechargers” Promote Playa Conservation in West Texas

The Rechargers - it sounds like the name of a football team, but it is actually the name of a group of 8th grade conservationists from Whiteface, Texas. The group is working with their science teacher, Laura Wilbanks, to lead a public outreach campaign to raise awareness about playas in their local communities.

Four students make up the “Rechargers” – J.R. Hernandez, Mary Sluss, Keaton Thomas and Zach Wilbanks. The students have a history of leading community projects together, starting in the 6th grade when they developed and led a hands-on science program for K-2 kids that went on to win a national award.

“As you might imagine, the boys are pretty motivated to solve problems with the success they've had in the past,” said Wilbanks. “This year, they noticed a lot of news coverage being given to the Ogallala Aquifer. Upon further study, they learned the role playa lakes play in its recharge - thus the name Rechargers. They have decided to promote playas and also wetlands in general so that these areas can be appreciated.”

The students are creating an outdoor classroom at a local wetland and playa education kits to be used by surrounding elementary schools. They are also leading field days and tours of playas in Cochran County, as well as distributing and hosting public showings of the PLJV’s playa film.

“If we don’t take care of playas now, they won’t be around in the future,” said Recharger J.R. Hernandez. “No one thinks it matters what they do. But it does matter because people are the ones that can help.”

The project is receiving financial support from a PLJV/ConocoPhillips Grant and Apache Oil Corporation, as well as donated supplies and services from Whiteface Independent School District, Texas Tech University, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Texas Cooperative Extension Agency.

Listen to a Playa Country radio report about The Rechargers.

PLJV Welcomes New USFWS Board Members

Two new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representatives recently joined the PLJV Management Board. Deputy Regional Director Todd Jones will represent Region 2, replacing outgoing board member and Assistant Regional Director Nancy Gloman. Assistant Regional Director Emily Jo Williams will represent Region 6, replacing John Cornely who recently retired from the Service as acting Assistant Regional Director and Director of the Migratory Bird Program. The PLJV extends its heartfelt thanks to Nancy and John for their dedicated service, and extends its warmest welcome to our newest board members! The PLJV Management Board will hold a retreat-style meeting June 13 - 15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

April 2007:

Texas Partners Work to “Bring Back the Boom” of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken

As part of its PLJV State Capacity Grant, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is working with the June Leland Wildlife Foundation (JLWF) to provide incentive payments to landowners in the western Panhandle to enroll in Farm Bill programs to benefit Lesser Prairie-Chickens and other wildlife, as well as create a landowner-based conservation group focused on “Bringing Back the Boom” of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken.

“Most wildlife in Texas is found on private land, and the lesser prairie-chicken is found exclusively on private land – especially in the south plains,” said David Crum of the JLWF. “The only way we can keep it from being listed under the ESA is to work together. I really detect people are coming around to it. Landowners are realizing we have to work together to maintain the populations of wildlife.”

Meetings among project organizers began last month, and TPWD is already soliciting landowner participation in the incentive program.

The program pays $20/acre ($2,500 maximum per applicant) to help cover the cost of habitat restoration and enhancement for Lesser Prairie-Chickens and other wildlife to enrollees in the Environmental Quality Incentives (EQIP) and Wildlife Habitat Improvement Programs (WHIP). The EQIP and WHIP generally provide 50 percent cost-share for restoration and enhancement of wildlife habitat, which, for some landowners, isn’t enough to make it worth it for them to participate.

“Texas Parks and Wildlife held several landowner meetings a few years ago to find out landowner opinions on state-offered private lands and federal Farm Bill programs and how they were working,” Crum said. “Overwhelmingly, their response was that they could not afford their part of the cost share. This program helps them with some of that cost share.”

The eight counties eligible for the incentive program are: Cochran, Yoakum, Bailey, Lamb, Hockley, Gaines, Andrews and Deaf Smith, which make up the Lesser Prairie Chicken’s southwestern range. TPWD is using a State Wildlife Grant (SWG) to fund the incentive payments, and plan to pursue an additional SWG to continue the program.

In addition to the incentive program, the JLWF will host a landowner meeting on its ranch in Cochran County to promote wildlife habitat conservation, showcase projects on the JLWF property and encourage the development of a landowner wildlife management cooperative.

The new cooperative would be the second of its kind in the area and similar in form to the Sandhills Area Recreation Association that recently formed in Bailey and Lamb Counties with the help of TPWD, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local landowners.

The JLWF will also start a local, landowner and business-based organization to support the conservation of Lesser Prairie Chickens tentatively named “Bringing Back the Boom”.

For more information, contact Bill Johnson or Heather Whitlaw of TPWD, or David Crum of JLWF.

Mitigation Dollars Proposed for EQIP-Like Playa Program in NM

New Mexico partners are tapping into an innovative source to fund traditional conservation programs. Partners are advocating for a playa protection program in Curry County which would use $459,000 in Superfund site mitigation money to start an EQIP-like program to pay private landowners to enroll playas in 10 to 30-year conservation easements. If successful, this may be a new funding model for PLJV partners in other states.

The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Curry County Soil and Water Conservation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and staff from the Playa Lakes Joint Venture have been hard at work for the past few years conceiving the program and urging the USFWS and New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee – the agencies in charge of deciding how mitigation funds are used in the state - to select the playa program from the two options currently under consideration.

Both options are detailed in the “Natural Resources Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the AT&SF (Clovis) New Mexico Superfund Site, Clovis, New Mexico.”

The Curry County playa restoration project is the preferred option of the deciding agencies, largely because the project would benefit natural resources within the vicinity of the Superfund site.

“The Trustees sat down and the playa lakes project ranked out ahead,” said Laila Lienesch of the USFWS Ecological Services Division, and who serves on the Trust Committee. “The project is very closely tied to the area that was impacted to begin with and the resources that were injured – playas and migratory birds. This gives it a higher ranking.”

The Clovis Superfund Site is a 140-acre area located one mile south of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad yard in the city of Clovis in Curry County, New Mexico. Santa Fe Lake, a 40-acre playa on BNSF-owned property, was used for wastewater discharge from the yard beginning in the early 1900’s when the yard was first constructed. In the late 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a site investigation which found heavy metals, including cyanide, and the area was designated a Superfund site in 1983.

If approved, implementation of the playa protection program would begin right away. The Natural Resources Conservation Service and Central Curry Conservation District field offices in Clovis would take the lead in marketing and administering the program – an unprecedented commitment from the agencies which are already hard at work implementing Farm Bill programs to benefit playas and other natural resources in eastern New Mexico.

PLJV partners in New Mexico are urging playa conservation advocates to submit letters of support for the project. The USFWS and New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee are accepting public comments on the proposed options now through April 16, 2007.

Letters can be emailed or mailed to:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Southwest Regional Office
Ecological Services
PO Box 1306, Room 4012
Albuquerque, NM 87101
Attn: Laila Lienesch
Laila_lienesch@fws.gov

All Three PLJV Small NAWCA Proposals Approved for Funding

The North American Wetlands Conservation Council recently approved $168,000 in funding for all three North American Wetlands Conservation Act Small Grant proposals submitted by PLJV partners in 2006. The combined projects will conserve more than 1,500 acres of wetlands and grasslands and benefit dozens of priority bird species in Oklahoma and Colorado.

Projects include Shaffer Playa, Oklahoma, which involves acquisition and restoration of a 140-acre playa and associated buffer near the Panhandle town of Gate. Major partners include the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, High Plains RC&D, Oklahoma Wildlife and Prairie Heritage Alliance, Seaboard Farms and the local landowner.

Two projects were approved in Colorado. The Lower South Platte River Wetland Initiative will restore 1,060 acres of shallow seasonal wetlands, associated uplands and salt grass meadows along the river. Major partners include the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, Ducks Unlimited, South Platte Focus Area Committee, USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife and private landowners. In southeast Colorado, the Huerfano Lake Conservation and Restoration Project is focused on enhancing a 400-acre saline lake and surrounding uplands in Pueblo County. Major partners include the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Prairie and Wetland Focus Area Committee, USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the private landowner.

The PLJV congratulates project leaders on these successful proposals!

The next deadline to submit NAWCA Small Grant proposals is November 30, 2007. The PLJV strongly advises that applicants notify the PLJV well in advance of developing a proposal and review the JV’s Small NAWCA Checklist.
For partners working on NAWCA Standard Grant applications for the July 27, 2007 deadline, now is the time to be gathering letters from financial partners, assigning grant-writing duties and other important tasks. Make sure you are on track for a well-developed proposal by reviewing the PLJV Standard NAWCA Timeline.

Landowner Profile: Pioneering Playa Conservationist and Rancher in Colorado

Third-generation rancher Gary Paul of El Paso County, Colorado, has worked with a number of PLJV partners over the years to conserve playas and other wildlife habitat on his property. Now Paul is considering putting his land into a conservation easement. Paul talked about his positive experience working with JV partners and why a conservation easement makes sense for his operation in a recent episode of Playa Country radio.

March 2007:

Playa Post, PLJV Web Site Get Face-Lift

You may notice a new look to the Playa Post and our web site. We've updated the design, created new features like funding and project databases, and added navigation tools like search to help you find what you are looking for. We hope you enjoy the new site and let us know what you think!

Partners Submit Record Number of NAWCA Proposals

On March 2, the PLJV expects partners to submit four Standard North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) proposals – the most number of proposals that the Joint Venture has ever submitted during a single funding cycle.

“This is sort of unusual for the Joint Venture. Partners generally submit one or two proposals every few years.” said PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter. “But we are expecting this trend of submitting one to four proposals every year to continue.”

NAWCA projects – which generally put large tracts of land into permanent protection - don’t come easy in the playa lakes region where more than 90 percent of the landscape is private farms and ranches. Most wildlife habitat projects are smaller (less than a few hundred acres, and in many cases only a few dozen) term contracts on working lands, usually garnered through Farm Bill conservation programs.

The four proposals slated for submittal in March, if funded, will make a considerable impact on the JV’s conservation goals in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.

In north-central Oklahoma, the Drummond Flat Wetland Restoration Phase I proposal seeks to acquire and restore about 7,000 acres of wetlands and associated uplands over several phases, which, when complete, will achieve about 80 percent of the wetland acreage conservation goal for the area according to current JV planning.

In north-central Kansas, the Jamestown Wildlife Area Phase II proposal seeks to continue the effort started last year to acquire and protect 7,000 acres of wetlands and uplands over four phases, which, when complete, will greatly boost the number of shorebird use-days in the area according to current JV planning.

On the Colorado eastern plains, the Steel’s Fork Prairie and Playas proposal seeks to protect, restore and manage nearly 50,000 acres of native prairie rangeland and 164 playas. And in western Nebraska, the Platte River Confluence Phase I proposal seeks to protect and restore 1,741 acres of wetlands - including 61 playas - and 6,062 acres of associated uplands. These two projects are the first Standard NAWCA proposals in PLJV history to include protection for playa complexes.

PLJV Welcomes Megan McLachlan as GIS Team Leader

The PLJV’s newly-hired GIS Team Leader Megan McLachlan will be joining the Great Plains GIS Partnership office in Grand Island, Nebraska, later this month. McLachlan comes to the JV most recently from Oklahoma State University where she is nearing completion on her Master’s Thesis on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land as breeding bird habitat in the northern short grass prairie.

"Megan has that very rare combination of knowledge of birds and their habitats and GIS. Not to mention good knowledge of programs like CRP," said PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter.

McLachlan has extensive experience in GIS analysis and grassland bird biology, having worked as a lead GIS analyst, Prairie Conservation Biologist, and Biological Technician for several leading bird conservation organizations and federal wildlife agencies.

McLachlan replaces former PLJV GIS Analyst Karin Callahan who was instrumental in developing PLJV’s initial land cover data, including playa location information. Callahan will be honored for her three years of service to the JV at the upcoming Rivers and Wildlife Celebration in Kearney, Nebraska.

Birding is Booming in Southeast Colorado

Despite the threat of yet another blizzard in eastern Colorado, more than 100 determined birders made it to the 5th Annual Snow Goose Festival in Lamar Feb. 23-25. A line-up of great indoor events – including presentations from renowned birder and author Pete Dunne and the PLJV’s playa exhibit - kept bird watchers happy when they couldn’t get outside.

A highlight of the weekend was the dedication of the new Colorado Birding Trail (CBT), a system of driving loops on public roads that lead to the best public and private bird watching areas in the state. The trail is being developed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, Colorado Field Ornithologists, Audubon Colorado and other organizations in cooperation with local communities and landowners.

The southeast portion of the trail was officially opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the festival presided over by CDOW Director Bruce McCloskey, Colorado Senator Jim Isgar, and CDOW Watchable Wildlife Coordinator and trail organizer John Koshak.

The southeast trail consists of 13 driving loops covering 230 sites on more than 1500 miles of roadway in eastern Colorado. Nearly a quarter of the sites are on private farms and ranches where visitors can see everything from Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens to Mountain Plovers. Several local landowners were present at the festival to promote their sites, including Rod and Sharon Johnson (representing the Kiowa County Economic Development Foundation's Jackson property), Chuck and Sherri Bowen and Fred and Norma Dorenkamp (all featured in photo below) who were all recognized during an evening banquet where they received official CBT road signs.

Landowners were brought onboard the trail project through the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s Prairie Partners program, which hosted a series of landowner workshops last year funded in part through the ConocoPhillips/PLJV Grant program to promote the trail and nature-based tourism. These meetings also generated more than 20 potential habitat conservation projects.

More and more, landowners in eastern Colorado are embracing wildlife and heritage tourism as a way to diversify their income. At the Lamar festival alone, landowners advertised a multitude of local attractions, including the Sand Creek battleground, Santa Fe Trail, Lesser Prairie-Chicken leks, wagon rides, and bald eagle viewing - just to name a few. In Karval, local landowners and the community are hosting the first annual Mountain Plover Festival on April 28.

The growing interest and opportunity in wildlife tourism is taking many local landowners by surprise, including Pat Palmer of Lamar who was recently interviewed on Playa Country.

Playa Post Archive 2007

Top Stories

December 2007:

Playa Post Series to Cover Climate Change and Birds