Our Mission
The Playa Lakes Joint Venture’s mission is to conserve playas, other wetlands and associated landscapes through partnerships for the benefit of birds, other wildlife and people.
Who We Are
The PLJV is a non-profit partnership of federal and state wildlife agencies, conservation groups, private industry and landowners dedicated to conserving bird habitat in the Southern Great Plains.
What We Do
We provide science-based guidance and decision-support tools for all-bird conservation throughout the region, as well as outreach, coordination and financial support to our partners and local groups to conduct on-the-ground habitat work.
Where We Work
The PLJV works in the Southern Great Plains which includes eastern Colorado and New Mexico, western Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. The region largely encompasses the shortgrass and mixed-grass Bird Conservation Regions (BCR) 18 and 19.
Our Habitats
The most notable and numerous wetlands in the PLJV region are playas. There are more than 60,000 playa wetlands scattered across the area, with most concentrated in the Southern High Plains. (More...)
Our Birds
Playa lakes may be the most important wetland habitat type for waterfowl in the region, hosting about 20 species of waterfowl during wintering and migrating seasons. (More...)
Conservation Concerns
Native grasslands, wetlands, rivers and streams are the most ecologically valuable lands in the PLJV region. Together they provide habitat for a myriad of plants, insects and amphibians and continentally important populations of waterfowl, shorebirds, waterbirds and many other migratory and resident birds. (More...)
Our Beginnings
Cooperation among nations sharing the wildlife resources of North America began August 16, 1916, when representatives of Great Britain (for Canada) and the United States signed the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds. (More...)