Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative

Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Name	Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Formation	2010
Type	Partnership network
Region served	Great Plains, United States, Canada
Parent organization	United States Fish and Wildlife Service

Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative

The Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative served as a regional collaboration linking United States Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partners with tribal, state, and non‑governmental organizations across the Great Plains (North America), Prairie Provinces, Great Plains (United States), and adjacent ecoregions. It coordinated science, planning, and on‑the‑ground action among entities such as the Nature Conservancy, National Audubon Society, Pew Charitable Trusts, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and numerous tribal nations including the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.

Overview

The Cooperative functioned as a landscape‑scale partnership connecting federal agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service (United States) and United States Geological Survey with state agencies such as the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks to address conservation priorities for species including the Greater Prairie‑Chicken, Lesser Prairie‑Chicken, American Bison, Whooping Crane, and migratory corridors used by the Central Flyway. It emphasized coordinated planning similar to initiatives by Landscape Conservation Cooperatives elsewhere, integrating data from programs such as the National Wetlands Inventory, Breeding Bird Survey, North American Waterfowl Management Plan, and the U.S. National Climate Assessment to support restoration, monitoring, and adaptation.

History and Formation

The Cooperative was established amid a nationwide network announced by the United States Department of the Interior in 2010 following dialogue involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and conservation NGOs like The Conservation Fund and World Wildlife Fund (United States). Its formation responded to landscape issues highlighted in reports from the National Research Council (United States), scientific assessments from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and regional planning exercises led by state entities such as the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and academic partners including University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Kansas State University, and Oklahoma State University.

Geography and Scope

The Cooperative covered a transboundary swath encompassing parts of Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, eastern Colorado, and southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It addressed ecosystems from the Shortgrass Prairie, Mixed‑grass Prairie, and Tallgrass Prairie to riparian corridors along the Platte River, Arkansas River, and Missouri River. The spatial scale paralleled initiatives like the Prairie Pothole Region conservation and intersected with landscapes managed by National Grassland units and Indian reservations such as the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Objectives and Programs

Primary objectives included sustaining native grassland habitats for priority species—Baird's Sparrow, Sprague's Pipit, Ferruginous Hawk—securing water resources in basins like the Ogallala Aquifer, enhancing prairie restoration, and building climate resilience using tools from the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit and the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy. Programs combined mapping and modeling from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, monitoring frameworks like the State Wildlife Action Plans, and capacity building through partners such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service and U.S. Forest Service.

Governance and Partnerships

The Cooperative operated with governance involving federal leads, state representatives from commissions such as the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, tribal government liaisons from nations like the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and NGO partners including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Quivira Coalition. Funding and oversight drew on instruments like the Land and Water Conservation Fund priorities, coordination with the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, and collaboration with research centers such as the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance and university extension programs.

Projects and Conservation Initiatives

Notable initiatives included prairie restoration projects informed by techniques promoted by the Society for Range Management and the Tallgrass Prairie Center, grassland bird monitoring aligned with the Partners in Flight strategy, wetland restoration linked to the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, and working lands conservation on private ranches leveraging programs from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and easements through organizations like Pheasants Forever. Projects targeted migratory pathways used by Sandhill Crane populations, habitat connectivity across corridors near Badlands National Park and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, and groundwater conservation tied to the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative.

Challenges and Criticisms

Critics pointed to concerns raised by organizations such as the Congressional Research Service and some state legislators about the Cooperative model's coordination, funding stability amid federal budget shifts handled by the United States Congress, transparency in priority setting involving partners like the Sierra Club (U.S.), and perceived overlaps with programs run by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and state wildlife agencies. Additional challenges included balancing interests of energy development in regions with shale and oil activity such as the Bakken Formation and Anadarko Basin, addressing invasive species linked to international trade routes like those passing through the Port of Corpus Christi, and integrating traditional ecological knowledge from tribal partners including the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation into science‑based planning.

Category:Conservation organizations