Great Plains LCC

Great Plains LCC
Name	Great Plains LCC
Formation	2010
Type	Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Headquarters	Lincoln, Nebraska
Region served	Central United States, Great Plains

Great Plains LCC

The Great Plains LCC operated as a regional partnership focused on conserving landscapes across the central North American prairie and mixed-grass regions, coordinating with federal and state agencies, tribal nations, universities, and non-governmental organizations to address climate change, habitat fragmentation, and water resource challenges. The cooperative collaborated with agencies and institutions to align conservation planning across ecoregions and river basins, linking science, monitoring, and management to support species such as prairie chickens, sandhill cranes, bison, and migratory shorebirds while integrating climate adaptation, restoration, and land-use planning.

Overview

The initiative convened partners including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service alongside state departments such as the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Academic collaborators encompassed institutions like the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M University, University of Kansas, and Iowa State University. Non-governmental stakeholders included The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society of the Great Plains, Prairie Plains Resource Institute, Sierra Club, and National Wildlife Federation. Tribal partners included the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and Oglala Sioux Tribe. The partnership also coordinated with river organizations like the Missouri River Recovery Program, Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, and Big Bend Conservation Initiatives.

History and Formation

Established in 2010 during a national rollout of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives under the U.S. Department of the Interior, the cooperative built upon earlier prairie conservation efforts such as the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, Conservation Reserve Program, and the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture. Founding meetings engaged representatives from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, National Fish Habitat Partnership, and regional science centers like the USGS Fort Collins Science Center. Early initiatives referenced legacies of landscape-scale work tied to projects like the Missouri River Recovery Program, Platte River Strategic Habitat Conservation Plan, Central Flyway Council, and research programs at the Smithsonian Institution and Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Geographic Scope and Participating Partners

The cooperative spanned the central plains from the Canadian Prairies border through Montana and Wyoming across South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico, incorporating ecoregions such as the Shortgrass Prairie, Mixed-grass Prairie, Tallgrass Prairie, and riparian corridors of the Missouri River, Platte River, Arkansas River, and Red River of the North. Participating federal laboratories and centers included the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center, USFWS National Conservation Training Center, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regional offices. Partners for land management and restoration involved the Bureau of Reclamation, The Conservation Fund, Pheasants Forever, Quivira Coalition, Ducks Unlimited, and state universities including University of Oklahoma and University of Texas at Austin.

Conservation Goals and Programs

Goals prioritized sustaining native prairie, restoring wetland complexes, reconnecting riverine systems, supporting native ungulates such as bison, protecting breeding habitat for Greater Prairie-Chicken, and conserving migratory corridors used by Whooping Crane and Sandhill Crane. Programs integrated tools and frameworks from the Landscape Conservation Design approach, climate vulnerability assessments like those developed by the National Climate Assessment, and species-focused initiatives such as the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and Partners in Flight. Restoration projects drew on techniques promoted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and collaborated with landscape initiatives including the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative network peers and the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture.

Research, Monitoring, and Data Management

Science activities included cumulative effects analyses drawing on datasets from the USGS National Land Cover Database, National Hydrography Dataset, and climate projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Monitoring protocols aligned with standards from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, National Ecological Observatory Network, and the Long-Term Ecological Research Network while employing tools from the Landfire program and spatial data services such as The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient and Connected Landscapes. Collaborative research involved faculty and labs at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Kansas State University, Colorado State University, University of Missouri, Oregon State University (modeling collaborations), and policy groups like the Environmental Law Institute.

Governance and Funding

Steering committees included representation from federal agencies, state fish and wildlife agencies, tribal governments, and NGOs such as The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, and Audubon Society. Funding streams combined appropriations managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with grants from foundations including the MacArthur Foundation, Packard Foundation, and programmatic support from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Department of the Interior offices. Administrative oversight intersected with regional councils like the Central Plains Regional Partnership and advisory input from research institutions including Smithsonian Institution units and university extension services such as those at Iowa State University.

Major Projects and Regional Impact

Signature projects addressed Platte River habitat for migratory Whooping Crane and Piping Plover; grassland restoration corridors supporting Greater Sage-Grouse range research; wetland restoration guided by the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture; and resilience planning for agricultural landscapes influenced by Climate Resilience initiatives. Collaborative outcomes informed management actions for Missouri River system flow regimes, supported conservation easements with partners like Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, and advanced decision-support tools used by state agencies including the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The cooperative’s work linked to national conservation strategies such as the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and landscape efforts by The Nature Conservancy and influenced policy conversations involving the Department of the Interior and Congress.

Category:Conservation organizations